Christmas Day 1982, Santa Claus brought me a boombox. For those of you that are too young to know what I am talking about, check out this outstanding video. It was a Sony, and it had a tape deck. This meant that I could, for the first time, record my favorite songs directly from the radio. The world was brand new.
In the spring of 1983, I was in fourth grade and popular rock music began to dig its claws into me. Deeply. I had my hair blown back when Separate Ways (Journey) hit the radio, and I jumped off my bed with a pretend microphone stand as I danced and mouthed the words to “Cum on Feel the Noize” by Quiet Riot. I bought this poster and hung it on the wall in my bedroom where the band members looked at me for more than a year. The world was brand new.
Then, also that spring, Def Leppard smashed onto the music scene with “Photograph”, an ode to Marilyn Monroe. The distorted guitars and the sound of Joe Elliot’s voice as well as the vocal harmonies and the drums sounding like they were recorded inside a huge echo chamber blew my hair back. I bought the Pyromania cassette so I could listen to Def Leppard at any time on my boombox. I could even load it up with 34 D-cell batteries and take my music outside with said boombox now weighing 50 lbs. It was awesome. Pyromania went next to the other cassettes that I owned: Kilroy Was Here (Styx), and Frontiers (Journey).
I bough blank cassettes and began recording songs off the radio, and I discovered that a guy who called himself Dr. Demento has his own radio show and played songs from a dude named Al Yankovic. “Weird Al” Yankovic to his listening audience. He took the Joan Jett hit “I Love Rock-n-Roll” and parodied into “I Love Rocky Road.” It was about ice cream and it was quite funny. I recorded a lot of “Weird Al” and Dr. Demento. The world was brand new.
It used to annoy me that the radio DJ’s would talk over the intro. to so many of the songs that started without lyrics. I would wait to press ‘record and play’ (needed to hit both buttons on the boombox simultaneously for the cassette deck to begin recording…good thing the ‘record’ button was red and the other buttons were black) until the DJ shut up, which ruined most of my radio recordings. Songs like “Shadows of the Night” (Pat Benatar) were great radio plays because they start with lyrics (and yummy harmonies) and so the DJ had to shut up and let the music play. I filled up a lot of blank cassettes and some had the same songs but with better DJ edits and less static due to my placement of the metal antenna that was retractable and started in the top right back of my boombox. Super cool. Sometimes cassette tapes would get stuck and eaten by said boombox. Not cool. After pulling the tape out, it was trash. Good thing the radio played the same 20-30 pop hits all day long.
As my elementary school years drifted by, I expanded my 1980’s rock pallet to include such monster bands as Bon Jovi, Boston, Heart, and Motley Crue. I also enjoyed Billy Squier, Van Halen, U2, Dokken, and a few that I didn’t admit to liking publicly like Duran Duran. Never bought a Duran Duran cassette. If that got out, I would have been ridiculed by my peers. One day, a buddy of mine had a friend on his street that was a few years older than us and he played us a record (older kids had records….but those wouldn’t work on my boombox…so). This record was called “Moving Pictures” from a Canadian trio called Rush. I instantly loved the intricate drum parts and had begun playing drums in school. I began sitting on the edge of the bed in my room air drumming to a song called “Tom Sawyer.” The world was brand new.
Time went on, I got a second hand set of drums and my grandmother paid for weekly private drum lessons. I played in my room all the time with headphones that plugged into my boombox. I had another boombox now with 2 tape decks. I could copy one song at a time onto a second tape. I put a bunch of songs on a cassette so I could listen to the songs while I played along on the drums. Someone told me that I could make money doing this, and The Outfield was all over MTV and the cutest girl one grade ahead of me had her own phone line with her own phone number at her house. I didn’t have to worry about her parents answering, so I would call and get her answering machine, which played “Your Love” by The Outfield*. I loved the crisp snare drum and the bright texture of the cymbals.I added the song to my tape mix so I could learn the drums just as well as I learned Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue and who the hell are these Led Zeppelin guys and how many records does Rush have and are all of the drum parts that good AND that hard at the same time? Maybe the cute girl in 8th grade will be impressed if I learn The Outfield song. I better practice. She’s really cute. The world was brand new.
On July 30, 1988 I traveled about 2 hours south of home to attend my first proper rock show: Def Leppard with opening act Europe (The Final Countdown). I was not quite 16 and I saw people with big hair, I smelled pot for the first time, and so many girls wearing spandex including one all in black clothing with the word ‘sex’ written all over them in various colors. They were all there to worship rock-n-roll and Def Leppard. I play drums and I have more arms than the Def Leppard drummer. Maybe girls will like me also. The show was amazing and I wish I could go back and watch myself watch the show again. I felt like I was sitting on a rocket and someone lit the fuse. It was incredible and I couldn’t wait to go to more concerts. I needed a job to support my music habit. At school, people that didn’t know me called me “that kid that plays drums” or “the kid that walks funny.” I liked the first one more. I formed a band. We were called Euphoria. We thought that maybe we could play some concerts and cute girls would come just like at the Def Leppard show. I figured that I should write some lyrics about cute girls. Girls named Brenda, Jessica, Laura, Debi, Heather and Jennifer. Not their real names in case they read this.
More time went by. In another blog I will gladly regale you with tales of local shows and the cute girls that attended. That’s not a long story but it is amusing. Just know that the live concert bug got into me and burrowed deep. I’m going to leave out all of the jazz and classical shows that I’ve seen and simply share a list of rock music that I’ve been fortunate enough to view with my own eyes. It’s been quite a time and it’s not over yet. These are in no particular order after the first few shows…and don’t ask me what year…….I would love to know who you have seen too….The beat goes on.
Def Leppard (three times)
Europe
Rush (12-15 times)
Mr. Big
Candlebox
Dave Matthews Band (4-5 times)
Bare Naked Ladies (3)
Aerosmith
Kiss (twice, both times not on purpose haha)
Slaughter
Dream Theater
Extreme (twice)
Cinderella
Poison
Winger
Weird Al
U2
Bruce Springsteen
Billy Joel
Boston
Van Halen
Paul McCartney (twice…thanks Fosman)
Duran Duran
Train
Vertical Horizon
Tori Amos
Cyndi Lauper
Alanis Morisette
Five For Fighting
John Mayer
Lenny Kravitz
Maroon 5
Sheryl Crow
Whitesnake
Tesla
This summer I will take my kids to see Weird Al for their first professional show. In September I will take them to Boston to see Rush, who is touring with a new drummer after a ten year hiatus from the road. The two remaining original members are in their early 70’s. I am really excited about sharing my love of live music with my sons. The world is brand new.
Stay safe, stay awesome and stay tuned.
CODA: THANK YOU loyal readers for pointing out that I forgot a few: Black Sabbath/Ozzy, Chicago, Earth, Wind and Fire, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan (he was awful…) and Live…and The Indigo Girls if that counts….
Moeschen! 