May 18, 1985 (Revisiting the Past)

I'm going back through what comprised my senior year of high school and first semester of college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Come along for the ride. New posts every day or so mixed in with other things.

May 18, 1985. I was so surprised to see that, even though I've written or mentioned the rock band The White Animals many, many times here at the blog, I had never done a stand alone piece about the time I saw them for the first time. It was the last Saturday before my high school graduation at the legendary and infamous Cantrell's in Nashville, an all-ages show that afternoon. I rode up with DD Blank, Bruno, and Notgrass. I was able to go since I didn't have to be at McDonald's until 6 or 7 that evening. Here's the blurb from the Tennessean Sunday paper that got us all excited about some matinee rock and roll.

I believe it was DD who had made me a tape of The White Animals "Ecstasy" album on one side and Siouxsie and the Banshees "Hyæna" album on the other. My first exposure to one of the greatest local Nashville bands ever was probably when BM played their music on a school bus ride when I was a junior. I would bring Van Halen tapes while he brought The White Animals, Men At Work, and Laid Back. Then I saw the "Don't Care" video on the Saturday Night at the Video local channel 39 Murfreesboro television show. I'm pretty sure there was an interview with Hugh Waddell on an episode of that show too. After DD made me the tape early in our senior year I was hooked. Their mixture of 60's beat music with dub effects with a little punky leavening was, indeed, ecstatic. I was excited I would get to see them live. 

"You put me down, well that's alright."

It was a little intimidating to visit my first rock and roll club, but as we walked in and paid we were given the latest White Animals 45 "This Girl of Mine" for free which was great. Dietplan were the openers. They were a group from Boulder, Colorado that the White Animals had met when they were on one of their many tours around the country. I really enjoyed their energetic set of New Wave tunes. I even bought their EP after the show. 

Dietplan - I Don't Like My Car

Dietplan finished and then it was time for the great White Animals. "You Really Started Something" kicked off the show and it was amazing throughout ending with their deliriously extended version of "Gloria" which put us all into a frenzy....indeed one might say we were in ecstasy. Bruno slam danced with some muscle bound dude wearing army fatigues. Kevin Gray of the White Animals was the ringmaster for us all wearing one of those tie-dye dot shirts he liked back then. I would end up seeing the White Animals many times over the next few years and would see several times more in the late 90's and early 2000's after they reunited. While none of those concerts could top this first time, they were always great. 

After the show the White Animals were just hanging out behind Cantrell's with its graffiti splashed wall making the perfect backdrop to ask our rock and roll heroes for their autographs. Kevin Gray told us behind their upcoming album and how it was going to kick Huey Lewis and Billy Idol's asses. It was one of the most fun moments in my young life. We all bought White Animals shirts and would wear them to school the next Monday knowing that we were pretty cool. I still have the very worn shirt and the autographed inner sleeve of the Ecstasy record. I got the frontline, but I think I was actually slightly scared by their drummer Ray Crabtree who seemed very intense. I would later become friends with him and find out he is a very nice man. 

             

I remember us listening to the Vanderbilt student run radio station WRVU 91.1 Rock on the left of the dial on the way home and The Clash's "Train in Vain" came on. We all sang along with the song still on a massive high from show we'd just seen at Cantrell's. There are many times in one's life that just go by without any notice. The minutes and the days and the months and the years accumulate. There are some times you don't want to remember, but then there are times that stand out like shining beacons in your life. I've come to regard those moments as the ones that were meant to be which falls right in line with my theory that the future actually determines the past. We create the perfect instances in our life after the fact so it has to be. As the White Animals sing in "Ecstasy" it was truly a "frozen moment surrounded by friends."

This Girl of Mine