When writing a blog entry, I find myself writing in one direction and then going off on little bunny trails that wind up leading to a completely separate blog.
I found myself there this morning while crafting a response to my friend Bret Pemeltons latest blog entry. So, here is the-response-to-a-blog-entry-that-led-to-a-well—-blog-entry, entry. (oh, you get it.)
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Wonderful!
Where you hated, as a kid, the throwback to oldies…I on the other hand loved them.
I’m sure it was the American Graffiti soundtrack that took me down that path. (I have the original two album vinyl, in a frame, above my record player). The pureness of the vocals, the innocence of the subject matter and the 3 member bands, were some of the best recorded.
Sha Na Na had the best marketing gimmick EVER when they decided to run with craze and keep the 50’s alive. Their variety hour made me laugh and I couldn’t wait for them to sing..”goodnight sweetheart, well it’s time to go…”. Probably the most successful cover band in history. LOL
This discovery of R&R’s roots, led my father to bring out the Mopar bucket with a stack of 45′s. I would spin those disks in my room for hours, listening to original recordings along with all the pops and clicks. (SIDE NOTE: Dad originally listened to the 45s in. his. car. Yes cats, he had a record player mounted under the dashboard of his car, upside down, spring loaded needle arm). I would find new-to-me music that would lead me to more new-to-me music. Funny. Do your kids ever run in the room and exclaim: “Dad! You’ve got to hear this!”, only to play an original recording of something from your own childhood? Yeah…I did that with every single, single.
SIDE NOTE: “Singles”: the original single song purchase for 99 cents (actually about 54 cents in the 1960‘s) got you a flip-side! Two. Two songs for one! Flip-sides mostly featured unpopular songs by the same artist…but some flip-sides became hits and even launched careers.
Anywho…
Music began to open up for me with those oldies. Now, I had discovered music early on, and you can blame the parents He gave me for this. I don’t remember saying the following, but am told that two popular sentences in my vocabulary were:
“Play Jack!” – Which meant…”Please play Hit the Road Jack by Brother Ray”
and
“Play the free to walk song” – Which meant…”Please play Gentle on my Mind by Glenn Campbell. (“It’s knowing that your door is always open and your path is….free to walk”)
As I got older, my musical tastes developed both from my own likes and from the encouragement of those parents He gave me.
I remember a day in 1977 when my Dad called from his chair and said “JEFFY! You gotta come see this”…I ran out, looked at the TV, a music awards show was on, and there he was in all his Roosterness, singing Hot Legs...Rod Stewart! Flamboyant, entertaining and wound up like a toy…he owned that stage. I was done. This guy rocked.
From there it was David Bowie, Elton John, Queen and all those other performers that strutted around and took their crowds on a ride. (hmmm…what else did they have in common?)
You (Bret) have 5 years on me (just sayin’) and that 5 years saw musical changes that I didn’t follow…I wasn’t a Kiss fan (I get it now), I wasn’t a heavy metal fan, I was an 80s-Casey-Kasem-Weekly-Top-40-pop-guy. Journey, Styx, Petty and the like.
My iPod is riddled with 80s stuff. I find it hard to listen to new music because I just love my era oldies so much more.
All because of a Teen Angel, named Peggy Sue who listened to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain, while putting the Bop in the Bop Shoo Bop Shoo Bop.
Awesome!! I envy your sharing music with your dad. My folks tolerated my tastes. In fact, they never intervened on my collection. OK, they were a little concerned about all my KISS posters covering our garage wall. they just told me to turn it down or “You’ll go deaf”. However, my love of Dwight Yoakum can be traced to my dad’s love of that whole Bakersfield sound, Buck Owens etc. It did bleed through to me.
good stuff!
My first exposure to music was a case of 45′s my mom gave me. I can’t remember all that it contained but I distinctly remember two records in particular; Hey Paul/Hey Paula and the Ballad of the Green Berets. I think there was even some Frankie and Annette thrown in for good measure.
While my family didn’t have an extensive record collection I grew up listening to Bluegrass, Country and the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas album. Most of our music was on 8-Track because the rents couldn’t see being troubled to “flip the tape over” when a side finished. This was in the days before auto-reverse cassettes.
I was in junior high when I got my first taste of “popular music”. At the time, I wanted to be a DJ so I gave my Grandmother a Christmas list of Top 40 hits, which came to me on 45′s. I’d set up my little turn table with my Mr. Microphone and spin the tunes dreaming of my days behind a real mic.
During high school I stuck to the safer, non-satanic music while my brother and a lot of our friends were listening to AC/DC, Van Halen, Poison, KISS, Motley Crue and the like. It wasn’t until I joined Young American Showcase that I was exposed to Aerosmith, RUSH, Yes and other “classic rock”. I remember the reaction of my Young American Showcase band mates to their neophyte bass player like it was yesterday. Their tutelage opened my eyes to a lot of good music I’d missed.
I’ve come to appreciate all kinds of music because without some forms we wouldn’t have others. Like you Jeff my iPod and Pandora playlist are packed with the 80′s stuff but you might find me listening to Bruce Hornsby, James Taylor, Ricky Skaggs and the Young Dubliners all in the same day.
“When the river meets the sea”. My favorite Christmas song.
Wow man. This was awesome. It brought back so many memories! I remember my first 45 record. It was Ke$ha’s single, Tic-Tok. I rocked that record out until every time it spun the needle would jump all over the place. I then moved on to 8 track players in my car! Who doesn’t remember those days?! My first 8 track was probably… Clay Aikens, Invisible. Gosh! What a record! And then of course came the evil Compact discs that took my blessed art from my vinyl records. My first CD was definitely Chumbawamba’s Tubthumper. That record changed my life! It actually was the reason I dropped catholocism and became a Christian. And still to this day, every time I get knocked down… I get back up again.
And then the worse day ever happened… Digital music. I was very resistant, but just like everyone else, I didn’t have any Beatle records or CD’s or 8 Tracks, So I had to succumb to iTunes. I mean common 130 bucks and you get the whole discography! Rock on!
Well Jeff it was great reminiscing with you, but I got to back to my world now. I hope your life is good. We should get together for lunch sometime in the next few years, I’d love to catch up!