# What song hit you like a thunderbolt when you first heard it **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [July 2, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065 "2020-07-02T14:19:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/161 "2020-08-12T00:47:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I have a history with Gerry Rafferty’s “Baker Street” that doesn’t involve thunderbolts, though there was plenty of other weird weather when it was playing on the air and I had to trudge out to the radio towers in the wee hours to take readings. > > At a previous (and not as shitty) radio job, a fellow DJ and I schemed to sneak the song into the rotation past the likely objections of our stick-up-the-ass station manager/owner. To accomplish this, I performed surgery to excise the screaming guitar instrumental break, an act for which I still feel mild shame. ☹ At a company I worked at about 7 years ago, Baker Street was the first song on our audio conference “on hold” playlist. It was always the same songs in the same order starting with Baker Street while waiting for a conference to begin. My first job, Building a Mystery by Sarah Mclachlan and Sunny Came Home by Shawn Colvin held a similar status, but it would play randomly. In fact, sometimes we would just set up a conference call to play some random music. ---
**Author:** ![Pheonix1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pheonix1/32/4236_2.png) [@Pheonix1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pheonix1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/162 "2020-08-12T01:14:43Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I found Been Caught Steeling by Jane’s Addiction That’s one of my favs but Ocean Size and Coming Down the Mountain are more “hit by a lightning bolt” type songs. Imho ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/163 "2020-08-12T01:29:18Z")
That was the first one I heard. Also “Stop” by JA. That and the other songs I mentioned were all a refreshing change from the mostly “hair metal” bands that were popular while I was in high school. Although alternative bands like U2, REM, The Cure, etc were also popular at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/164 "2020-08-12T05:14:30Z")
You can NOT be serious with that. That’s a crime against my ears. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/165 "2020-08-13T03:30:03Z")
Abouretum’s live version of _Sister Ray._ Hell, their whole catalog. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/166 "2020-08-13T04:17:10Z")
March of the Pigs - NIN. Saw it on MTV late one night during a sleepover in my early teens. At first it was “WTF”, then later I knew music had changed. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/167 "2020-08-13T12:06:30Z")
Absolutely agree with “Vincent Black Lightning 1952” jaw-dropping, [this is my favourite version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kJdrfzjAg), how does so much music come from one guitar? Also, a song I heard for the first time the same week as the one above (for obvious reasons), [“who knows where the time goes?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN466dm93Z0) by Fairport Convention. How the hell had I not heard that before? almost reduced me to tears and that never happens for _anything_. Two others that slapped me in the face and were simply unignorable were [“Lazy Eye”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-mxBDuRaZ8) by Silversun Pickups and [“Go with the flow”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw1Fm61HBA8&t=15s) by Queens of the Stone Age. Both of those gain brownie points for having great videos. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/168 "2020-08-13T13:07:49Z")
Oh I love Lazy Eye. So good. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/169 "2020-08-15T19:27:42Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TvMS_ykiLiQ/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGHIgVyg4MA8=&rs=AOn4CLBMN0PPzMyikKNuX1d3GVPmEUWs-w "Arlo Guthrie - City of New Orleans") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMS_ykiLiQ) _City of New Orleans_, Arlo. Not to mention _Alice’s restaurant._ ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/170 "2020-08-16T04:37:52Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > Might seem silly to some. I’ve mentioned it here before, but it would have to be, “My Sharona” by The Knack. It’s, to me, a serviceable garage-band song with an epic, two-minute solo sat down in the middle of it. I still consider that one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. The song that did it for me was Rush’s “Freewill”, in 1980. I was 14 years old, and a friend from school played it for me. At the time, I’m pretty sure I had never heard any music that wasn’t in 4/4 or 3/4 time, so the odd time signatures immediately caught my ear as something new and interesting. But what sealed it for me was Geddy Lee’s bass playing during the instrumental solo section. I had already been a musician for several years at that point, and had just recently added guitar to the list of instruments I could play, but somehow I had never heard of a “bass guitar”. That bass line was the coolest thing I had ever heard, and when I was told it was a bass guitar, I knew on the spot that I was going to be a bass player. That song completely changed my musical outlook. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/171 "2020-08-28T20:29:29Z")
[1977](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiQ7S38nKog) by Ana Tijoux. Something about it hits the cool/sexy latina rap vibe just right. Heard it on Breaking Bad and I had to shazam it immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/172 "2020-08-30T18:18:23Z")
Cephalic Carnage’s [Nine Feet of Smoke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbXI6fwwZ6o) ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/173 "2020-10-04T12:46:53Z")
As a teenager, either _Life on Mars_ or _Ashes to Ashes_, don’t remember which I heard first, the second came shortly after and they got blurred in my mind. _Anarchy in the UK_ and _Love will tear us apart_ have already been mentioned, I concurr. And _Avalanche_, by Leonard Cohen made me swallow hard. And then, as a twen, _Jockey full of Bourbon_, by Tom Waits, in the intro to Jim Jarmush’ movie _Down by Law_. I bought the album, _Rain Dogs_, and on the first side there were three songs in a row, one after the other, that still blow me away: _Cementery Polka, Jockey Full Of bourbon_ and _Tango Till They’re Sore_. And then the A-side ends with _Time_, and I rest speechless. Tom Waits in the 80s was quite something. ---
**Author:** ![TAmnesia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TAmnesia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TAmnesia)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/174 "2020-10-04T13:02:50Z")
Whole Lotta Love -Led Zeppelin ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/175 "2020-10-04T13:44:04Z")
Resilience by The Town Pants - composed by the fiddle player, Johanna So. We saw them play at the Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania last year. She said that she wrote it for a friend that was fighting cancer. I think the eyes of everyone in the audience were watering by the end. The video from a different festival gives you some idea but seeing/hearing it live was amazing. Such talent! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hY0WoHfQs0Y/maxresdefault.jpg "#925 The Town Pants - "Resilience", Heron 2018") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY0WoHfQs0Y) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/176 "2020-10-04T16:29:39Z")
Phish - “Rift”. I heard this song on the radio on my way home from work one day and sat in the driveway listening until it was over, then had to sit and listen to the next two or three songs until the DJ came on and rattled off the song IDs. Because I _had_ to know what it was. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MlbTI4er_uA/maxresdefault.jpg "Rift") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlbTI4er_uA) ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/177 "2020-10-05T03:44:08Z")
My sister and I listened to American Top 40 a lot as little kids. I 'member and still like a lot of those late 70’s early 80’s songs. My Sharona, Another One Bites the Dust, Let’s Go etc. Also liked some of the early New Wave songs like Cars by Randy Newman, Pop Music by M, Call Me by Blondie. Another Brick in the Wall pt.2 was my first 45 record as child. Man I loved that song! But the first song that completely blew me out of the water 100% and made me want to learn guitar (which I eventually did) was Whole Lot of Rosie by AC/DC, the live version from If You Want Blood You’ve Got It. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/A01Tsv-xdWk/maxresdefault.jpg "Whole Lotta Rosie (Live at the Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, Scotland - April 1978)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A01Tsv-xdWk) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/178 "2020-10-05T13:31:32Z")
^ Nitpik: It’s Gary Numan, but I had a good laugh imagining Randy Newman singing “Cars” so thanks for that! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/179 "2020-10-05T18:54:55Z")
Oops! =p ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065/180 "2020-10-05T19:00:16Z")
The energy of that song…just wow! And I never really considered myself a huge AC/DC fan, but I remember that song coming out when I was in high school and was just amped the first week or two it was on the radio. Reminds me of my reaction to Motley Crue “Kickstart my Heart” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-song-hit-you-like-a-thunderbolt-when-you-first-heard-it/914065.md?page=10)