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How old were you when you first heard Williams?


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Or, what was the piece or film that made you interested in Williams?

For me, it was a few things.

I was about two or three, when my dad would watch films with me. We normally watched Spielberg films, CE3K, E.T., Jaws, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and we also enjoyed the Star Wars trilogy and Home Alone. All of these scores were by Williams, and I loved re-watching them, humming the phrases of music or quoting a line from a film. I think my first album was the ANH Special Edition, which was something I got when I was 12.

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I was 5 when I first heard, and fell in love with Lost in Space, back in 1965.

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I've been hearing Williams all my life in the movies.

But the first time I actually started caring was when I was about 14, when the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack came out. Since then, I've been listening and appreciating more and more of his work. :mrgreen:

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When I was 5, at the 1984 Olympics. I remember hearing the music at the opening ceremonies (they were a big deal, being that they were in Los Angeles that year.) Plus my dad played the "official" Olympic LP constantly (it had the Olympic Fanfare and Theme, plus some music from '80s artists.)

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As long as I can remember. My mom took me to JAWS multiple times before I was 3, and my Mom says I used to cry to the CE3K, and thrilled to Superman when I was 4 (both LPs that my parents bought). I started collecting his tapes when I was 5. Actually, I didn't know Williams' name, but I consistently liked his music and bought his scores. I realized they were all the same composer when ROTJ and Temple of Doom came out (I guess my reading skills picked up).

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The first time for sure was Star Wars in 1977. My first John Williams record was ESB for Christmas 1980. That year I also got Boris Midney's disco version of ESB. It was released on CD a few years ago and last week I bought it for old times sake. It really is a ot of fun!

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It was on 1979, I was 13 then, a school mate talk about a tape call " Les dents de la mer/Jaws" then quickly I become a soundtrack hungry, prior to this I was , and still be , in love with the music from 2001, particulary the Ligeti tracks, I was 5 years ( no kidding !!! ) then !

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My first soundtrack ever was the Varese Star Wars trilogy compilation by Varujan Kojian around 1987 (I was 15). I did not have a CD player back then, but used my bro's player to make a tape, and reordered the tracks based on a first listen, putting stuff such as the Main title and DV March at the begining. Then gradually, I realized that I started to really dig for the latest tracks on the tape, which did not seem easy to grab at first, and really love listening to "Figth with tie fighters" again and again. From this day on, I was hooked on film music and John Williams.

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Well Indiana Jones scores were probably the first ones for me. I remember watching them and humming the theme. I was about 7 or 8. The actual realization of the greatness of John Williams came when I was about 11 or 12 when I went to see Jurassic Park.

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Well, I watched the Indy Trilogy when I was a child but I didn't know anything about the filmmusic world.

Same for Jaws. The only difference is that I don't love Jaws (the movie) as much as I love the Indiana Jones movies.

I don't really have an exact age of my first contact with JW's music inside movies.

Outside the movies, it's more precise. I started buying a lot of JW's CDs in the beginning of 2004. Before that, the only two CDs I had was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Jaws (the 25th Anniversary Edition).

I bought both in the same day, in the same store, somewhere in 2000.

Then I started buying the 1997 SE of the Star Wars OT, plus the TPM UE. Then a few other purchases untill August 2004, when finally my collection grew up tremendously thanks to NYC.

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As long as I remember, I discovered John Williams, the man, in 1993 by buying the Jurassic Park soundtrack.

I think I always knew his music in fact. My oldest remembrance is when I was a child, my brother used to tape on TV the music at the beginning and the ending of the TV series and the movies.

He recorded on the same tape Star Wars and a few minutes later Superman and I remember at this time we thought they were the same. :oops:

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The first time I realised I actually loved the music of a composer called John Williams was when watching Jurassic Park countless times on VHS, specially the end credits. Then in 1997 I bought ROTJ and Schindler's List (which still probably are my favourite 2 Williams scores) and I was forever hooked.

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The furthest back I can remember was when I saw Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a kid, and the plane flies out of Shanghai with the Raiders March playing. My mom told me that's the famous Indiana Jones theme, to which I replied, "yes, I think I've heard that before." :|

I might have been 5 or 6 years old.

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My first Score was the Score for Jurassic Park. I was i dunno....7 or something and it was my first Soundtrack generally. ^^

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Two of the first themes I ever knew where Star Wars and Superman. I must have been 4 or 5 when I became familiar with them. THat would have been the early 80s. Although it took me til I was 14 or so to realize who JW was and this whole thing called a soundtrack.

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Well there was Lost In Space, Gilligan's Island and the theme from Jaws but I didn't know who he was until 1977 when a little film called Star Wars came out, which would have made me 9.

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1982 was the virgin year I was introduced to John Williams and James Horner for E.T. and Star Trek II respectively. Needless to say I was more impressed with the latter.

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E.T., 1982, my very first score, offered by my mom; I was 8.

I may have seen one of "his movies" before that, but can't remember.

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1982 was the virgin year I was introduced to John Williams and James Horner for E.T. and Star Trek II respectively.  Needless to say I was more impressed with the latter.

Me too... :|

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It was 1977 , when I was 11 , I saw Star Wars and Close Encounters.

The music was quite impressive for a kid(from CE3K I recalled only the 5-tone motif)

But it was E.T. , made me realized, that it was one man behind these beautiful themes.

I needed to have all of his LPs...

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I suppose I must have had some subliminal awareness of "Lost in Space" since I can just remember the title visuals - stick men floating against a black sky - and the music is quite quirky, I seem to recall.

I remember being struck by the symphonic sound of Star Wars and its space setting, though it never crossed my mind to think of it as having a distinct existence away from the film - particularly as a friend had the double LP and used to ram it down my throat all the time.

No, the first real impact was Close Encounters. I was so struck with the music as "sound effect" (characterised by a deep base note) that I bought the cassette (remember those?). From then on I think I've bought just about everything Williams has done.

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I was probably around four when I started to notice the Jurassic Park music, which also happened to be my favorite movie at the time. I didn't get the CD though until i was ten, and thats when I realized Jaws, Harry Potter, Star War, and Indian Jones were composed by the same person.

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1982 was the virgin year I was introduced to John Williams and James Horner for E.T. and Star Trek II respectively.  Needless to say I was more impressed with the latter.

I would have never guessed... Thugh it was whne he scored your Family Plot :mrgreen:

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I think I'm with a lot of people when I say I was aware of the themes, but not the name. I remember watching the crap out of an old VHS version of Raiders of the Lost Ark, seeing Star Wars, Jaws and Superman on television and so on. I knew the melodies but was not consciously aware that they were all written by the same guy.

I do, however, recall the exact moment of my sudden epiphany. I had gone to the theater to see Jurassic Park, and was pretty pumped because of the trailers (I love dinosaurs). When Hammond and the crew are in the helicopter, and he stops their chattering to show them the island, the music sweeps in as the helicopter zooms into the screen with this trumpet fanfare (you all know what I'm talking about). This moment completely took me out of the movie and I was awestruck. At that moment I didn't even care about the movie, I was just listening. Eventually I calmed down and watched the rest in relative peace (occasionally flabbergasted at the affect the music was having). I immediately went to the store to buy the soundtrack.

The best moments came next, when I started to realize, slowly, that the composer (this guy named John Williams) was responsible for most of my childhood musical memories. My father informed me on some, but even he was surprised at some of the movie he scored (he didn't know Superman, CE3K, E.T.). It was unimaginable that one man could have accomplished this, and I was beside myself.

I never looked back :mrgreen:

Tim

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Whenever Jurassic Park opened in theaters was when I was first exposed to Williams (I think)

I didn't stay for the whole movie though, I ran out of the theater after the first scene with the raptor cage.

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My friends and I were born and raised on Star Wars, so that's where I knew the name. Around 92', there was a PBS special called "Salute to Symphony" during Williams' final year as Pops conducter. Williams conducted the Boston Pops in Throne Room & Finale from Star Wars: A New Hope. And after Williams sat down, Seiji Ozawa suprised the Maestro with the Flying Theme from E.T. It remains to this day one of the most favorite memories of my life, and I only watched it on TV! That solidified Williams as my favorite modern composer.

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I got hooked and 'sentient' with Jurassic park at 10, but i had heard the indy scores, superman, jaws and ET before. And i could recognize the first three (ET gave me the creeps half my childhood...). I started to like SW when i finally saw them in theater (1997).

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It would have been Jurassic Park, but that's one of those movies that you don't have a clue when or where you first saw it, let alone when I got into the theme. I was 8 when it was in cinemas so I doubt it was there...

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as long as I can remember, I've always been familiar with the SW music (even cues like Chopping off Luke's Hand), Indy music, Superman, ET and Jaws and always knew that Spielberg, Lucas (right, shoot me if u wish) and Williams were the dream team. :)

I was a late buyer though. I used to just drool and ogle at whatever miniscule stock of scores shops have in my country. My first scores (I bought them at one go) were TPM, ET, AOTC

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My first experiences with Williams music were hearing Star Wars Main Title, watching Superman I and II and Dracula (1979)... all on TV. I was between 7 and 11 years old.

I only discovered Dracula´s theme was by John Williams about 10 years later... it´s a great discovery for me in that time. :)

E.T., Born on the Fourth of July, Empire of the Sun, Aisle Seat (with Boston Pops) were my first LP´s... and my first CD was The Empire Strikes Back (Polydor). I was very disappointed with this CD because the lack of the majority music material from 1980 double album. But the cover... Darth Vader´s face... it´s amazing!!!!! ;)bowdown

capa_empire_original_menor.jpg

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When I was 12, I saw Jurassic Park, and I realised John Williams was the composer of JP and almost all my favourite movies like SW and Indy, so from then I started to listen to all the JW music I could!!

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