Running away, blowing up and rocking out… Part 1

Driving into Colorado with my parents, the Rocky Mountains, we were listening to John Denver… My brother and sister were sitting back in their seats, but not me! I had scoot up in my seat and was right between my parents (and much to their dismay) singing along to the music as loud as I could…

For as long as I can remember really, I have had a major love for music…

Growing up my parents were playing many different things around the house… Chicago, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Crosby Stills and Nash, Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, lots of what I’d call hippy music! So naturally I gravitated toward music a lot. The first thing I really remember listening to that got me going into rock music a lot was like Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister and Kiss. But Kiss is the band, for me, that really drove me (and my family) crazy! My mom bought me a Kiss tape (yes, a cassette) for my birthday in 1985 and I can remember just wearing that thing out. Then at Christmas I got the previous two albums which I had bootleg copies of (from my cousin Chris) which I was wearing out as well and continued to do…I then dove heavily into their back catalog. On January 29, 1986 I got Kiss Alive…

Ahh yes, I definitely remember getting the Kiss Alive album on January 29, 1986… Why do I remember this date? Well on January 28th my cousin (and best friend) Chris ran away from home… No one knew where he was, my mom had gotten me out of school early that day because we just didn’t know what to expect. I can remember my mom back and forth on the phone with my aunt Michaelene because I guess maybe they thought since we were best friends he’d come our way… Well on this same day something else important happened, the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up just after take off. It was the only thing on TV that day, if I saw it blow up once I saw it blow up 100 times that day. We just kept sitting around waiting for some news on Chris. The Space Shuttle didn’t mean anything to me to be honest with you. I know some people were really affected by it but I just did not care. Maybe it was the fact that something a lot more personal was happening in my life as well as the fact that I was 13 years old.

So I don’t remember what time it was but there was a knock on the door and lo and behold it was my cousin Chris! We were never so happy to see him! I can remember my mom running to the phone to call my aunt… I can only imagine the tears shed at their house that moment. The next thing I really remember may disturb some people, but I remember my cousin and I were in the living room eating and watching the space shuttle blow up over and over and over and over and over etc… And I don’t know if it was the elation of each of us to have an emotional day closing down or what but we just kept watching the space shuttle blow up and we started laughing hysterically… I know it’s not because of what happened with the shuttle or that we are that sadistic people! I also remember he said that he was picked up by a guy on the highway, he said that the guy was blasting out Twisted Sister! It’s funny the odd facts that you remember in life! So the next day my mom took us to Ridgmar Mall and I got Kiss Alive, and although I can’t remember what Chris got that’s why I remember that date so easily!

So anyways, as I grew in my musical tastes I got into many other bands including W.A.S.P., Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, The Cult, Motley Crue, Metallica, Megadeth, King Diamond, Dangerous Toys, Guns-n-Roses, L.A. Guns, Alice Cooper, Anthrax, Slayer, Lillian Axe, Pantera, Dirty Looks, Dokken, Lynch Mob, Babylon A.D., Ace Frehley, Brother Cane, Nirvana, Queensryche, Pearl Jam, Tesla, Ozzy Osbourne, Type O Negative, Metal Church, Faith No More, Black Sabbath, Testament, Pride and Glory, Cinderella, Pink Floyd, Alice in Chains… I am sure there are a lot I am leaving off of this list. It’s like I could never get enough!

I can remember going to my first concert, guess who it was? Of course it was Kiss! My good friend Carl Richardson (R.I.P.) and I went, his mom took us! It was an eye opener! I thought I listened to music loud until the opener came out… The opener was Ted Nugent (my aunt Jan’s secret crush) and oh my word it was so loud! I love loud music but this was taking it to another level! That is the biggest impression I have from that concert… The volume. So loud, that helped shape my life I think!

There is a song by Kiss called I Love It Loud… Not really that great of a song but the chorus sums it up:

I love it loud! I wanna hear it loud! Right between the Eyes!

I love it loud! I wanna hear it loud! I don’t want no compromise!

Those lyrics define my way of listening to music!

More later! Peace out!

December 28, 2011 | Categories: Music and life... | Tags: Ace Frehley, Alice Cooper, Alice in Chains, Animalize, Anthrax, Babylon A.D., Black Sabbath, Brother Cane, Chicago, Cinderella, Colorado, Creatures of the Night, Crosby, Dangerous Toys, Dirty Looks, Dokken, Faith No More, Gordon Lightfoot, Guns-n-Roses, Iron Maiden, John Denver, Judas Priest, King Diamond, Kiss, Kiss Alive!, L.A. Guns, Led Zeppelin, Lick It Up, Lillian Axe, Lynch Mob, Megadeth, Metal Church, Metallica, Motley Crue, Nirvana, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Pride and Glory, Queensryche, Quiet Riot, Rocky Mountains, Slayer, Space Shuttle Challenger, Stills and Nash, Ted Nugent, Tesla, Testament, The Beatles, The Cult, Twisted Sister, Type O Negative, W.A.S.P. | 2 Comments