what were you listening to at 15?

I was very into music but was teased for basically having advanced tatses for my age (due to cool parents and sisters)

...more or less...

For me, the Smashing Pumpkins had pretty much taken over my life, and I listened to Dark Side of the Moon almost every night before I went to bed. Also, I loved CCR, and didn't know music got much better than Live's Throwing Copper, Dookie, Weezer, and KISS: MTV Unplugged.

How much of everyone's tastes then was heavily influenced by what was available in the "Alternative" section of those music clubs?

oh, man...i could just go on and on. this was right smack at the peak of OCD record/tape buying.

Japan
Bauhaus
the Cure
Cocteau Twins
the Waterboys for some reason
the Church
Echo & the Bunnymen
the Alarm (arrrrgh! wtf I was obsessed with them)

OK that was embarrasing.

Later in the same year I was listening to:
The Sex Pistols
The Ramones
The Clash
Blondie
Devo

and the next year 1980, well *that* was golden. 16 in 1980, going to ALL the punk/new wave shows....I'll have to wait for the "what were you listening to when you were 16" thread to tell you about that, old coot that I am.

...but it took me a while to own up to the stuff that I didn't WANT to remember...

Hothouse Flowers - Home [was on a weird Celtic kick, their Gaelic song prompted me to try to teach myself Gaelic with aid of a library book, failed miserably as you can imagine]
Simple Minds - greatest hits [same Celtic kick. patchy, I know]
Pink Floyd - Momentary Lapse Of Reason (ugh. a guy I had a crush on copied it for me. I listened to it all the time while smitten. I still can't listen to it to this day without cringing)
The Cream of Eric Clapton (same guy got me into this. but I actually still enjoy Cream, and fuck it, I can predict the tracklisting for this in my sleep!)
U2 - Achtung Baby
Ratcat - I didn't like Blind Love much, but I was still wearing out the Tingles EP
Twin Peaks soundtrack (wore this one OUT. Was even given the 'Secret Diary of Laura Palmer' book for my 15th birthday.)

alice cooper - killer & schools out
led zeppelin - III & IV
peter frampton - wind of change
atomic rooster - death walks behind you
humble pie - smokin
the guess who - so long,bannatyne
the who - who's next
fleetwood mac - bare trees
rory gallagher - rory gallagher
deep purple - machine head
capt. beefheart - clear spot

...i am sure most kids in nanaimo,bc were listening to this stuff save for the beefheart. CKLG-FM used to be a lot more eclectic back then and "lo yo-yo stuff" [which i loved] was on pretty steady rotation back then.

Pretty much mainstream, you might say.

TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO TECHNO!

And Europop and rap too.

And (*gasp*) The Cranberries and Bangles.

Oh, and it was the year of "Music for the Jilted Generation", that was massive! It made the number one spot on the Finnish charts, the first time (I think) a techno record made such a feat back here, and I remember thinking, "OK, this the beginning of a new era! No more boring rock'n'roll!".

mighty lemon drops
echo and the bunnymen
cure
new order
chameleons
the the
forgotten rebels
clash
p/i/l
ultravox
book of love
bauhaus
love and rockets
depeche mode
violent femmes
jesus and mary chain
front 242
the cult
CFNY (toronto radio station)

fuck knows what else. 1977

The Beatles, Mega City Four, Green Day... I can't really remember I was 16/17 when i started going mad for all sorts of different things.

Pixies
The Cure
Ride
Jesus & Mary Chain
The Smiths
Wonder Stuff
Carter USM
Nirvana
Senseless Things
Slowdive
Spacemen 3
Sisters of Mercy
Ned's Atomic Dustbin
The Police
"The Sound of the Suburbs" compilation
Beatles/Stones/Animals/Monkees
The Stranglers

This was the age I really became a CIF I think!! Prior to 15 I primarily listened to house/hip hop and Queen.

Never Understand in the spring, You Trip Me Up in the summer, Just Like Honey in the autumn, then Psychocandy just before Christmas. Interspersed with these were a couple of John Peel sessions, the first Primal Scream single, the Shop Assistants ep, and several attempts to dye white school shirts black.

Beatles
B-52s
Living Colour
classic rock radio
pop radio

I didn't actually buy my first album until November of that year, so I guess I wouldn't say I was a hardcore music fan yet.

The Cult, U2, Microdisney, Duran Duran, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, The Cure, The Sugarcubes, A-ha, The The, Erasure, Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti..

Sisters of Mercy
Joy Division
Nirvana
Bauhaus
New Order
March Violets
Alien Sex Fiend
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Fields of the Nephilim
Sex Gang Children
Throbbing Gristle

bad years.

no ZTT yet, no J&MC, had yet to discover foetus, on-u, cabaret voltaire, shriekback, devo.

subsequently my listening was pretty dire. having said that Madness/2 tone still featured, little did i realise just how big an influence that Herbie Hancocks Future Shock and Malcolm McLarens Duck Rock would have on my future life.

mbv, blur, j&mc, sonic youth, cure, smiths, joy division, rem, huskers, clash, happy mondays, daisy chainsaw...the best stuff being played on 120 minutes and WPRI

All very typical really

Cocteau Twins
Depeche Mode
Diamanda Galas
Neubauten
PTV
Current 93
Chris and Cosey
pretty much anything on 4AD
Prince
my mum raised me on disco, so that never went far away from me...
New Order
Siouxsie
Erasure
A-Ha
Nocturnal Emissions
Severed Heads
Jesus and Mary Chain
Sheila E.
other things that I can't remember as I am at work.

Sisters of Mercy
Joy Division
Nirvana
Bauhaus
New Order
March Violets
Alien Sex Fiend
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Fields of the Nephilim
Sex Gang Children
Throbbing Gristle"

Blimey, with the possible exceptions of The Nephs, that could have been '83-'84.