One Night Will Remind You...
Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 12:01AM I don't necessarily think Journey are Glam, but they have their moments and apparently my mom was listening to them yesterday.
I know this because she sent me an email, talking about how much I liked Journey when I was four. You see, I've always liked music, probably because she always played rock records. Somewhere in my parents home is a faded picture of me wearing a pink shirt, one hand on hip, standing in front of the stereo.
It's true. I was born Glam.
My mom bought lots of 45s. Those are the smaller records for people even younger than me. Anyway, 45s were most commonly singles. I always wanted to hear the "hit" song and over and over, so my mom marked the A side with an "X."
She doesn't keep junk or clutter, but still has all those records. In fact, "Separate Ways" is one of those singles. I guess my mom put it on the turntable today, saw the X and got a little nostalgic.
Now I'm nostalgic. Let's all listen to separate ways.
Now, you tell me one of your childhood music stories. I know every single one of you has a special music memory.
Reader Comments (14)
God. I suddenly feel very, very old.
Better go tease my hair and listen to some BulletBoys or something... sigh...
My earliest 'glam' memory would probably be my Mom buying my sister and me "Metal Health" by Quiet Riot on record. I was probably only in like the second grade. I remember being surprised she bought it cause one of the songs was titled "Love's A Bitch." I guess at that age I knew it wasn't a word I could use, so I would just giggle every time I heard it. I remember hearing that song years ago again and the lyrics still crack me up.
1) Singing along to my Shaun Cassidy Album, "Da Do Run Run"
2) Crying when I heard the song, "The Night Chicago Died". Thought it was sad that the town burned down.
3) Watching "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park" on TV. Gene Simmons/Demon Child scared the shit out of me.
I grew up just left of nowhere, in the country just outside of a small KY town. No rock radio station, no record stores, no MTV. I spent lots of time listening to albums, reading magazines, and learning to play drums and bass.
My best friend and I hooked our TV cables up to our FM antenna inputs on our stereo receivers so we could listen to the rock stations from Huntington,WV, which was about an hour and a half drive away. (In those days there were no FM traps on the cables)
There was a station that had a call-in request, top ten at ten. Luckily they had a toll free number. My friend and I would call repeatedly and request our favorite songs, even though we had the records and could listen anytime, we were making a statement. We were telling the world, "This is cool. This is what you need to listen to."
One night we decided we wanted to hear anything from Ozzy's, "Speak of the Devil." So we started calling. After several calls the dj finally told me, "I get it kid, I'll play it. Stop calling."
Clock strikes ten and on with the show. The usual songs from the previous two weeks: KISS, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, even Huey Lewis. Then, time for the number one song. The dj says, this song is by far the most requested song of the week, not just tonight. Here's Motley Crue, "Shout At The Devil." My first thought was, "Fuck! Those guys I saw in Circus magazine, who are trying to look like KISS." Then the music started, and I was blown away.
That weekend, I had my sister drive me to Huntington so I could buy some new records with the school lunch money I had saved the previous two weeks. When I picked up the album and saw the pentagram on the cover, and the picture of them on the back; I thought, fuck KISS, these guys look cooler, and have better song titles. I picked up both the album and cassette. The next week I made my sister take me back for "Too Fast For Love," which I didn't know existed as the record store was out of it the previous week.
Because of that wonderful mistake by some forgotten dj, I had a new favorite band and I've been hooked ever since.
Long Live The Crue!