Where it all began.
- Mickey Miller
- Feb 4, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: May 11, 2025
Hi and welcome back to Harmony Heartbeat by Mickey.
I was tossing back and forth on what I should blog about this week. Should it be my current views or how it all began? Well, I settled on from the beginning, where my love for music began.
Growing up with my parents who had different tastes in music was interesting. The farthest back I can remember is when I was probably about 5-7 years old, which would put me in the 1970’s. The decade of music diversity, you had rock, disco, punk rock, country, funk and soul. I can remember being in my mom’s T-Bird (Ford Thunderbird) and she would be listening to stuff like Motown (The Supremes, The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson) as well as psychedelic rock The Rolling Stones, The Doors and that sort of vibe as well as more poppy stuff like The Beach Boys. She listened to a lot of stuff from the 60’s but the one artist I remember her listening to the most was The King of Rock Elvis Presley. My father on the other hand was more country, I am talking old school country, like Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker stuff like that as well as Ricky Nelson, Jan and Dean, J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, Mark Dinning and a local musician who actually ended up being friends with my parents Jamie Coe and The Gigolos. This, my friends, is where it all started. I was in awe of the music, not so much country, but the sound of Motown, The Stones, The Beatles and of course Mr. Ricky Nelson. My parents had a record player that played only 45’s and I would sneak it into my bedroom along with my dad’s 45’s and I would listen to Mark Dinning - Teen angel and Garden Party by Ricky Nelson over and over again, nonstop. I loved just being in my room alone and playing these on repeat because the music just mesmerized me. I watched American Bandstand just to see the live performances, I watched the show The Monkees because it was about a band and there was music, The Partridge Family for the music. I never missed a chance to watch all of these. I used to love going to school just for music class, to sing. I would go to my grandma Miller’s house just to play her piano and organ, there were only a few of us grandkids who were allowed to touch them, I was lucky enough to get that chance when she heard me playing Silent Night all by ear. As I got a bit older, I started getting my own music taste, I used to listen to Shaun Cassidy and Leif Garrett a lot, most of you will probably have no clue who they are lol I will share links so you can get a good laugh at me lol.
When I was in 4th grade is when my taste in music changed. I was probably around 10-11 years old, I went to an elementary school in Redford, Michigan. I was hanging out with my best friend and these two boys, the 4 of us were like best friends and did everything together, well I forget where we were, if it was my house or one of theirs, but they put on the radio, at the time I think it was either WRIF or it might have been when WLLZ first aired but my friend was explaining to me how awesome this band was and their music and said they play them on this station all the time. As we were being your typical kids Led Zeppelin came on and my whole life changed. Never have I heard such amazing lyrics and music in my life. It was like something inside me lit up. From then it was all about Rock and Roll. My parents used to hang at their friends bar all the time when I was a kid. It was like one big family, the owner would have Christmas parties and Jamie Coe who owned the bar Jamie’s (on Ford Road) would perform, this man sounded like Neil Diamond and would cover Neil Diamon songs. I would sit there in awe watching the band perform. My first ever concert happened when I was around this same age, it was at the Michigan State Fair, my parents took my little brother and I to see Crystal Gayle (Loretta Lynn’s sister) my brother and I sat down by the stage. I wasn’t a big fan of country, so I wasn’t super excited, but I had fun watching everyone on stage. Well, when I was about 12/13 years old, Jamie had his other bar called Jamie’s on 7 in Livonia, Michigan. My mom was a waitress there and Jamie would have some big names perform on his stage, now mind you it was a bar so I could not go to see the house band play all the time, but my love for live music just so happened thanks to Jamie’s on 7. My mom took me and told me I could not leave the table but could watch the bands that Jamie had coming in, I agreed, I just wanted to see how it all worked and how cool it was. Well, I got to see the Legend Chubby Checker, the band Hermits Hermits and Bay City Rollers (later in the 80's) thanks to Jamie. That is when I fell in love with live bands, back then there was no auto tune, there was no faking your way through. It was pure talent. Watching the bands feed off the energy of the crowd amazed me just as much as watching the crowd feed off the energy of the bands. I knew I was hooked, and this would be the beginning of something amazing. This put a fire inside me like nothing before. I wanted to be a rock star lol. As you all can see that never happened, but I can say this is where my journey into music, my journey into concerts, my journey into meeting famous musicians and supporting bands and live music all began. It started from a record player and a few 45’s. It started because I had parents who allowed me to listen to music and for that I thank them. I wish I could look at them and say it but unfortunately, they are no longer on this planet. This was just the boring part of my life ha ha ha, from this point on it was excitement, craziness and wild times, along with the real emotions of what music can do to the soul. Until next time when we hit the ultimate times being the 80’s. I wish you all happiness, health and lots of music for your soul. PEACE (sorry if this one seems a bit boring, the excitement begins after this)
Mickey
P.S. don't laugh to hard at the music that got me started lol
Remember this was the late 70's Shaun Cassidy
Yes a bit of disco lol Leif Garrett 1979
This next one is what made me fall in love with music from my dad's collection.
The band who changed it all. The one and only Led Zeppelin, so let there be rock n roll!
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