Cinderella, The Disney
Soundtrack: LP[1]
Bobby Vinton’s All-Time
Greatest Hits: 8-track[2]
Shaun
Cassidy: Da Do Ron Ron & Hey Deanie: 45[3]
Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and Grease soundtrack: LP[4]
Donna
Summer: Bad Girls[5]
Cyndi
Lauper: She’s So Unusual; Men at
Work: Business as Usual; John Cougar:
American Fool[6]
My
Wham! and Duran Duran stage[7]
My
early metal stage: Early to mid eighties[8]
My
middle metal stage: Mid eighties[9]
My
late metal stage: Late eighties to early nineties[10]
The
grunge stage: Early nineties[11]
[1] My very first memory of an LP spinning on a
turn-table. The only sound I remember is the mice singing.
[2] Also the first concert I ever attended. I think I
may have been wearing a blue velvet dress, which was apropos. I was taken up on
stage to meet him. I must have been
around six years old. I wore out this 8-track in my grandfather’s powder blue
Cadillac, circa 1975(ish).
[3] My first crush. Why him?
[4] Also the first movies I remember seeing as a
child.
[5] Disco Fever? I guess I had it. Anyway, what did I
know about prostitution and lust? It had a good beat and you could dance to it.
[6] Purchased with a penny, plus shipping and
handling, from Columbia House Records along with seven other selections, which
I don’t remember.
[7] I categorize this as my dawning of sexuality
wherein my musical tastes were greatly influenced by the comeliness of the
musicians. I remember hearing Wild Boys
on the stereo in my mom’s bedroom and thinking the song was edgy. I watched MTV for hours just
waiting for the Careless Whisper
video because George Michael made me feel funny inside.
[8] It was really just a more rebellious form of
discovered sexuality. In particular, I recall Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil as figuring
prominently in my regular playlist. My first concert attended without grown-ups
was a Ratt/Poison show. Some creepy guy grabbed my butt; I tried to bend back his
fingers. My musical tastes at this time also seemed to be influenced by the
attractiveness of the musicians. Apparently, I liked men who wore make-up.
[9] Ozzy Osborne’s Bark at the Moon, Diary of a Madman; Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith; Anthrax: Among the Living; Dio: Holy Diver; any and all Led Zeppelin,
especially 1, 2 and 4; Metallica: Ride
the Lightning; Master of Puppets; Helloween: Keeper of the Seven Keys, Part I; Some Exodus and Testament; Some
Rush; Guns n’ Roses: Appetite for
Destruction; Van Halen; Skid Row: Scorpions…etc. etc…I can’t take much of
this seriously anymore; however, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and Van Halen still rock.
On the other hand, nostalgia makes some of this music bittersweet. Oh, and
Metallica is still great to work out to.
[10] Queensryche: Operation
Mindcrime; Mr. Big: Lean Into It: Badlands:
Badlands: My phasing out of metal was
gentle since I still loved rock and roll. On the other hand, Edie Brickell
emerged on the scene and I discovered something with a little more hippie soul.
Then grunge took over. And Nine Inch Nails. New, different anger.
[11] Driving to Community College listening to Alice
in Chains; Driving on the Taconic listening to Nine Inch Nails; Going to
concerts at club I can’t remember where they played Evenflow by Pearl Jam so
rocker girls could dance, Nirvana sounding like the future of music: that video for Smells Like Teen Spirit forever burned
into my brain.
