It's been quite a while since I dropped some Monday music so how about today. Here's some tunes I've been digging the most the last few weeks.
First up is some Cleveland power pop from 1980 by Wild Horses. Dig that "Oh yeah alright" in the chorus and then the great bridge. "You've got your finger on the trigger, but there's nothing in your gun." This comes from a superb YouTube channel called I Don't Wanna Cry. Like and subscribe and get lots of obscure power pop.
Wild Horses - Neighborhood Angel
Kim Shattuck is so missed. The Muffs are in my rock and roll hall of fame.
The Muffs - Really Really Happy
Here's another from the fabulous I Don't Wanna Cry YouTube channel with some power pop from Iowa. "Green Hearts" by Luxury is just an insanely great tune. I love how guitarist/singer Rick Swan stretches out syllables. It reminds of the way Liz Stokes of The Beths does the same thing. If you see this record in the wild for cheap pick it up. I would love to get a copy, but the median price right now is $75. Wow.
Luxury - Green Hearts
Since I mentioned The Beths let's listen to a tune which I've shared here before, "Jump Rope Gazers" which features some syllable stretching. The video is neat too. It's like E.T. with a much cooler alien.
The Beths - Jump Rope Gazers
I got a still sealed copy "Playin' Up A Storm" by The Gregg Allman Band from Wuxtry Records in Athens, GA this week. I didn't go there. I ordered it online. I have been to Wuxtry, both locations way back in 1986, so it was cool to get another record from them. I got The Pandoras way back in 1986 with Kim Shattuck on bass of course. This Allman tune is a slow burner. You know he spent lots of his youth living in Nashville so perhaps that's one of the reasons why I dig him so much.
The Gregg Allman Band - It Ain't No Use
RIP Paula and Kim. The Pandoras were great.
The Pandoras - Stop Pretending
I've been on a Cheap Trick bender the last few weeks. They are, along with Kiss, the band I discovered in elementary school and they have been with me ever since. Their latest album, In Another World, is good, but I still miss Bun E. Carlos behind the skins. Four of their songs were used in the classic teen exploitation film Over the Edge which was on constant rotation on my cable TV circa 8th grade and here's a cool unofficial video of "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace" which should whet your appetite for a region free blu-ray coming at the end of this month from Arrow Films. I've preordered my copy.
Cheap Trick - Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace
In case you ever wondered what the original "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace" by Terry Reid recorded in 1969 sounds like here you go. It's a killer tune.
So, I had a post deleted by big brother. It was the post titled 'I Was a Teenage Game Show Junkie." It had somehow violated the malware and viruses policy even though as far as I know the only links in it were to YouTube videos. It's not as if I can validate that since it's gone for good. I would never intentionally have links that lead to garbage, so I may end up doing away completely with them. We'll see how it goes. Carry on as your were.
Postscript: I got an email this morning saying the post had been re-evaluated and reinstated. I don't see it yet, but I presume it will show up again. It's good to be vindicated.
Forty years ago this monster slab of rock and roll arrived. I want to know what they were thinking at Warner Bros since "Hear About It Later" was not issued as a single from Fair Warning. I think that tune would have been a smash hit even with the 45 second instrumental beginning. The bridge (or is it considered the chorus) of the song is pure pop heaven. I love this record, but wish side two just had one more song on it.
Many years ago I lived in a 2 story farmhouse on Manson Pike and like most of the places my parents either rented or was buying it was short-lived. We had bought this home with 5 acres and lived there from 1977 into 1978. I have fond memories of it even though it's long gone. I'm pretty sure the new hospital sits on some of those 5 acres now. What does this have to do with "Cow Jam 1981?" Not much probably, but one of my memories of living in that farmhouse was that on one night a big rock concert was held on the property that was behind ours. I remember my father cussing about it the day of the show. I could see the glow of the lights and hear the music throughout the night. This "Cow Jam 1981" reminds me of that night. I've yet to find any definitive answer on the nature of that concert from 1977/8, but it was perhaps similar to this one. It's also curious to me to see that the DNJ says it's going to take place on the McFarlin farm which was next to the property we were living on in 1977/8, while the notice from the MTSU student paper Sidelines says the concert is going to take place on Primm's Farm. This would have placed the event also near our old place on Manson Pike. Sure, it's several years later, but I suspect the location saw concerts there often over the years. If you happened to attend this show let me know in the comments.
Acts noted to be playing April 23, 1981:
Billy Earl McClelland Band
Square Wave
The Piggys
The Winters Brothers
Cow Jam notice in the April 22, 1981 DNJ
Sidelines April 14, 1981
Sad Postscript: There was a second "Cow Jam" held later on September 24, 1981. After the show was over an attendee, a young 18 year old man Stacey Thatcher, was walking home on Highway 96 when he was sideswiped by a hit and run vehicle. Thatcher was alive at this point, but couldn't walk to get help. He passed away due to the injuries before being found several hours later. Sheriff Craig Snell was quoted in the DNJ that he would try to prevent any future "Cow Jams." The driver of the hit and run car would be found and sentenced to 5 years in prison for vehicular homicide. The parents of Stacey Thatcher filed wrongful death suits totaling $8.25 million against the driver and passengers in the car and the organizers of the event. I know they got a very small portion of this from the driver as part of his sentencing, but I don't know about the rest. Money, however large an amount, is no solace for the life of a child. I hope they found peace. The only references to "Cow Jam" I could find in 1982 and 1983 were all references to this tragedy. Some sage advice: don't drive drunk.
I don't know if those of us who lived in Murfreesboro in 1981 (I had just moved back after living in Smyrna for a year) realized that Big K was on its last legs, but that was the case which makes this 3 page ad from the April 22, 1981 Daily News Journal even more bittersweet than mere nostalgia would suggest. We had moved right into the S curve off Clark Boulevard by Mitchell-Neilson Elementary so Memorial Village was an easy bicycle ride away when I had a bicycle that didn't have a flat tire or broken chain otherwise I was hoofing it over there. I spent most of my time in Family Billiards playing pinball since I could often play for hours on just 1 or 2 quarters on the Playboy or Mata Hari pinball machines. It would be June of 1981 when Big K merged (more like they got consumed) with Wal-Mart.
Check out all of the awesome things you could purchase during the outdoor sale 40 years ago. I think I'll grab some of those over the calf tube socks.
Here's a photo of the front of the Murfreesboro Big K which I may have shared before. It was posted to Facebook by Danny Campbell who I believe was the photographer.
There was plenty more to choose from in a Columbia House ad from the March 29, 1981 Parade section of the Tennessean, but these will do nicely for a Monday Music post. It's a very mellow batch when Billy Joel is the hardest rocking of the bunch. Still, I have fond memories of hearing tunes from these artists when I was in junior high school. Make sure you're viewing the web version of this blog and enjoy some embedded videos.
Busy, busy, busy. It seems like the more I stay at home for work the busier I am. Then there is my YouTube channel where I am posting an original song each week this year. The sloppiness of the performances may not show it, but I do actually rehearse the songs. My son's sophomore year season on his high school soccer team began this last week so I'll be going to many of the games, unlike last year when the season was cancelled after just a couple of pre-season ones. That's why you're not seeing many posts so far this year. But never fret, I've got some ideas percolating through my noggin. Perhaps I will finally make good on the story of my senior year of high school which happened so many years ago now.
Today's topic is just some random memories. Spring is here and I thought I'd walk to my mailbox barefooted. Ouch!! I used to run around barefooted all the time when I was pre-school age and on into my pre-teen years. It was nothing. The only thing that ever bothered me was when the parking lot asphalt got really hot and if you could survive that you got a wonderful cool payoff once you entered the department store, which for me was most likely either Big K or Clarks. It was a rare occasion if I got to go to Roses and if we were going all the way out there my mother would have made me wear shoes. The "no shirt, no shoes, no service" era had begun, but store's didn't seem to care if children were barefooted. Once I reached my teens it was flip-flops in the spring and summer.
The department stores mentioned are long gone from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, but loom large in my mind. When I was just 4 or so my parents would just turn me loose in the toy departments when they shopped. It was probably only for a quarter of an hour or less, but it seemed like forever. There was the one time in Clarks when I had played with the toys long enough that at first I got bored, but then grew terrified that my father had forgotten me so I started crying and a person stocking the shelves took me to the manager's office which was up this big flight of stairs while they paged my father. I would sometimes go back and glance up those long stairs when I was older (say 10 instead of 4) and wonder how I could have been so scared.
My father, nor my mother, would ever have forgotten me. I'm an only child and while we too poor for me to be spoiled with material things, I suppose I was spoiled by their love. Now that both of my parents have left this world I think about them often. I'll be driving down the road and suddenly I'll think about my father. It won't be some Hallmark card event either. I'll think about riding down the highway in a blue Ford Ranger he owned. I'd have my head out the window and he'd tell me to get my head back in the vehicle. Then I think about how interesting he was in his inimitable grouchy way. He'd served twice in the U.S. Army. He'd got out after being drafted and then re-enlisted to serve in Vietnam circa 1965-67. He went to the vocational school in Shelbyville where he learned to weld and lay bricks. He worked at the Nashville Bridge Company for several years before trying to make a go as an independent bricklayer doing contract work. He worked at Clark & Iron Metal when I was around 4 and then went back to them when I was a senior in high school. He managed the country singer Jimmy C. Newman's ranch during most of high school days.
My mother, on the other hand, bounced around at a few places when I was small, but ended up working 30 something years at Greer Stop-Nut Smyrna which made stop nuts primarily for the airplane industry. I still remember the smell of the place from the times I waited for her to get off work as I sat in the small cafeteria area and also the smell of the industrial grease on her clothes. I know she ran tapping machines, but there was probably more to it than that. Factory work is not for everyone, but the company was good to her.
It's time, once again, to run a somewhat frequent feature at this blog called Monday Music. I share a bunch of music videos and if you make sure you're looking at the web version you can enjoy the videos too. I might one day make all of these posts into a playlist, but for now I like it this way.
First up is Canadian AOR band Haywire with a superbly 80's video for "Standing In Line." I would have thumbed my nose in disdain for this back in the 80's, but I love this stuff now.
Haywire
Lest you think I've gone down the AOR path completely, here is some relatively recent music that I love. Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail is great.
Snail Mail
This Shins video encapsulated quite a bit of the musical artists I loved from the independent scene so I took notice. It helped that the song was great.
The Shins
"Forever Young" is an awesome tune made even more awesome with this cover by Australia's Youth Group. The video is perfect.
Youth Group
The Breeders with a hypnotic tune and the video is an homage to Black Sabbath. Can't beat that.
The Breeders
There are often times when Pulp is my favorite of the Brit-pop bands of the 90's. This is one of those times. I think my friend D.D. Blank loves this tune because of all of the "yeah, yeah, yeahs."
Pulp - Babies
I do believe this is a copacetic Monday Music.
Local H
Bonus, in case you want to compare Black Sabbath to the Breeders.
I was actually a game show junkie for all of my childhood, but "I Was a Teenage Game Show Junkie" sounds much better. I believe if you ask almost any person from Generation X about what they did when they stayed home from school because of being sick the subject of watching game shows will come up. It is a cherished memory for us. If you really felt bad or were just faking it there was much comfort in laying on a couch under a blanket with something to drink and snack on close at hand (probably just crackers or toast if your stomach was upset) while Bob Barker, Richard Dawson, Gene Rayburn, and other greats beamed out from your television. I'm not going to get into much detail on game play, but you can click on the links to IMDB if you want to learn more. There are lots of full length episodes of these game shows on YouTube too. As always, if you want to see the embedded videos you need to be viewing the web version of this page. So here's my list of my favorite game shows growing up circa 1970-1986 along with honorable mentions which is where we begin.
Honorable Mentions
These are all game shows that I enjoyed or found interesting that didn't make my Top Ten. If one of them is your favorite let me know in the comments.
Tattetales hosted by Bert Convy. The first version that ran from 1974 - 1978 is the one I remember fondly. I just loved that the celebrity couples would have one person in an isolation booth and then would appear in a box.
Tattletales closing credits 1975
Concentration hosted by Jack Narz. I believe this version ran from 1973 - 1978. It definitely ran at 6PM on my local ABC station in 1976. I would stay at a babysitter's house every weeknight until my mother picked me up around midnight and the old widow lady, Mrs. Green, who kept me usually only tuned her station to channel 4 WSM which was the NBC affiliate. She made an exception for The Waltons on CBS and for Concentration on ABC. She would also let me watch the Donny and Marie Show.
Concentration intro 1974
Tic Tac Dough hosted by Wink Martindale. I guess this was technically called The New Tic Tac Dough, but it ran after the local news for many years. Wink was a great host and it was cool that he was originally from Tennessee. My father and I enjoyed this very simple game. Watch out for that dragon! Thom McKee sure did winning $312,700 in money and prizes.
The Magnificent Marble Machine hosted by Art James. This short lived game show had a giant pinball machine. I love pinball. If the show had lasted more than a season it would have been in the top ten.
The Magnificent Marble Machine opening
Now on to my Top Ten game shows I loved from 1970-1986.
10. High Rollers hosted by Alex Trebek. The late, great Alex Trebek was already super cool in my book when he hosted this awesome show which used giant dice. The tagline was tantalizing, "every decision is a gamble and every move can be your last." You give me any show which used supersized props and I was probably going to watch it back then.
High Rollers opening July 4, 1975
9. To Tell The Truth hosted by Garry Moore. This show ran for the longest time in the 6:30PM Central slot on our local CBS affiliate channel 5 WLAC later to be WTVF. When I was really young I didn't enjoy that my father would always watch the show. I didn't realize it was a game. I figured it out around the age of 6 or 7 though and I would try to guess who was telling the truth too. It was always a blast if I figured it out and my father couldn't. If I was judging by what I like today this very well would probably make the top 3, but I've devised this list to reflect my tastes during my younger days.
8. The Joker's Wild hosted by Jack Barry. Giant slot machine with devils. Need I say more? I loved this show that always seemed to bounce around our local television schedules. I so wanted to pull the lever and answer the very easy questions offered. I was cognizant at an early age that game shows had once been pulled from television due to a fixing scandal which made me wonder about this show. Was the giant slot machine on the up and up? I'm sure it was, but my young mind wasn't convinced.
Knowledge is king and Lady Luck is queen.
7. Family Feud hosted by Richard Dawson. Dawson was one of the most popular panelists on CBS's Match Game so ABC selected him to be host of the Feud. The show got off to a slow start, but soon became the most popular game show on daytime television. I know my mother and I loved it during the first few years. The game play became very formulaic and I know I became a little bummed that it didn't really matter how well each team did for the first few questions. What mattered was when the money values were tripled later on. Dawson's constant kissing of each lady contestant was a little strange too. The best part of the game was the last part where 2 family members competed for the big money. "Survey says!"
Richard Dawson laughing
6. Sale of the Century hosted by Jim Perry. This version of the show was a huge favorite of mine during high school. I liked the fast pace, the fact that the questions weren't super easy, and that the contestant had to make a decision to take their money, perhaps spend some of it on prizes, or go for everything.
Clip from Sale of the Century 1984
5. The Price is Right hosted by Bob Barker. Really, you can jumble this amazing show in with the next 2 shows as I like them all just about the same. I remember when the show was only a half hour and then when it went to an hour. The best thing about this show is that you could play along from your home and it felt so great when you'd do a better job than the contestants. There was also the variety of the games and the famous exhortation from announcer Johnny Olson to "Come on down!" Bob Barker and his beauties will be in reruns forever.
A new car!
4. The Newlywed Game hosted by Bob Eubanks. I remember my mother watching this one in the early 70's and I thought it was funny when the couples would bicker. I didn't really get the sly humor or what "making whoopee" meant, but it was a cool show. I liked the layout and set design....are those the same thing? Then when it came back later on in the decade I understood the humor and enjoyed it even more. Eubanks, for me, was unflappable and the key component of the show.
Some funny moments from The Newlywed Game
3. The $10,000 Pyramid hosted by Dick Clark. This word guessing game was a blast and it was one my mother and I always watched when she was working nights and I was out of school. It was very interesting to see which celebrity was good at the game. Dick Clark was brilliant too. All of these top 5's on my list owed much of their success to their hosts. It was also neat to see the prize money go up ever so often and the name of the show reflected that change.
1975 $10,000 Pyramid opening
2. Jeopardy! hosted by Alex Trebek. This reboot in 1984 could not have come at a better time for me. I was starting my senior year of high school and a couple of teachers decided to sponsor a quiz bowl team. I decided to try my luck and I made the team. I think everyone made the team. Our yearbook photo has about 30 people in it, but only 10 or so of us stuck with it and went to all of the meets. I loved it since I was a trivia mad person. The revived Jeopardy! came on right after school let out too so it was perfect to help hone my trivia skills. I would get a piece of notebook paper and keep up a running tab of the answers I got right before the contestants and I always wrote out my final jeopardy answer too. I did the online test for Jeopardy! many times over the years, but I never got the call so either I wasn't that smart or it could be that, even I if had aced the test, my name didn't get randomly pulled. I would have loved to have met Alex Trebek just so I could ask him about his High Rollers days.
Incorrect answers
1. Match Game hosted by Gene Rayburn. It's true that I didn't get the double entendre of many of the answers when I was younger nor did I realize that the celebrity panel was often well into many alcoholic drinks by the time the Thursday and Friday shows aired (a week's worth of shows was shot in a day with 3 of them filmed after a lunch break so they got looser and looser as they drank), but I still loved the antics of the cast members, especially Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers, and I also really dug Gene Rayburn who seemed like he would make a cool older uncle. I later got to understand the humor and that made the show even more hilarious for me as I watched it while eating an after school snack of Coke and a honeybun. I thought it was super cool that the year was used in the title and it was neat when it changed. I still love watching old reruns of this show. It was irreverent and probably quite offensive to the sensibilities of today, but to me it's still the best.
I've been down the rabbit hole of new New Zealand rock thanks to The Beths. Of course, I've been a huge fan of the Flying Nun record label out of New Zealand for decades so I will include some awesome tunes from those groups too. So, here's a treasure trove of incredible music from there.
First up here's some Hans Pucket. Their videos are witty and their music is fantastic. As D.D. Blank told me one evening via text message: "somebody under the age of 50 has listened to skinny tie pop. Maybe, there's hope." I will try and do a full post on this band of phenoms soon.
Comfort
Straight To My Heart
The Chills will live forever in their "Kaleidoscope World." They have stereos and electric guitars...
Kaleidoscope World
Bailter Space's 1995 release Wammo has just been reissued on vinyl. I highly recommend this Flying Nun band with their sweet shoegaze rock.
Splat
Bird Nest Roys were brilliant one album wonders. They were said to be one of the Flying Nun bands that had the Dunedin sound, but were actually from Auckland.
Ain't Mutatin
Speaking of mutating, the Verlaines line-up is an ever-changing carousel, but as long as Graeme Downes is writing the tunes we're good. I do love when Jane Dodd was in the band though.
Doomsday
The Clean! This band's music came to me later than other Flying Nun acts, but it was instant love. Their songs helped me through a rough patch of life and are right at the top of my favorite New Zealand bands.
Anything Could Happen
Platypus
Here are a plethora of classics from The Beths. Liz Stokes writes the tunes. The band arranges them and guitarist Jonathan Pearce produces the records. The albums sound incredible and the songs are magic. I have purchased them in every format from Bandcamp. Now I need to find a G & L Fallout guitar and a Jansen amp.
Those sounds from my adolescence still sound amazing to me all these years later. It's the sound of electricity in the air. Fast cars and the wind blowing feathered hair while your speakers blow......musing as I often do on the mighty Van Halen....party anthems with soul.
Photo from inside the trailer I was living in around this time.
I know exactly where I was 37 years ago. I was at Municipal Auditorium to see the mighty Van Halen on their 1984 tour. The Gonz's mom took us to Nashville and dropped us off. Autograph was the opening band and they didn't make it through their set. Chants of Eddie rang out loudly and bottles rained down on the stage. I felt bad for Autograph, but it didn't keep me from joining in after an empty whiskey bottle rolled against my right foot. I picked it up and chucked it at the stage in the direction of the drums.
There was a commotion either before Autograph or right before Van Halen came on when the crowd noticed Valerie Bertinelli was there. I didn't see her, but the word went around down the front of the stage like the telephone game. The Gonz and I were about 10 rows deep in just about center stage. There were no floor seats so we stood the entire night and I don't recall either of us leaving once we had our spot staked out. The Gonz had got to see Elvis play Murphy Center when he was in primary school, but I had never seen a big rock concert before. The closest had been seeing Kiss on HBO.
We had spent most of the afternoon wondering what songs would be played that night. I think the Gonz even wrote out prospective setlist's. This pre-internet era was one of endless speculation and wonderment. We both worshipped at the altar of Edward Van Halen and the Gonz especially was excited since he had been playing guitar for a year or so by this time. Both of us had been concerned about all the talk of keyboards before 1984 came out, but once the album was released we were onboard with wherever Dave and the boys wanted to go.
I'm in a Van Halen group on FB and John Watts posted some amazing photos from the show that night (0r were they?...as it turns out the photos may have been from the July Evansville, Indiana show) and he has given me permission to share them. He had smuggled his camera in and he ended up on the floor not that far away from me. I was thrilled to see the photos. Here's the view well before the show began. The Gonz and I would have already been in the crush of people near the front.
The lights dimmed and then....Edward Van Halen in the spotlight, then there was Dave making that legs outstretched leap from the drum riser as the riff from "Unchained" tore the roof off. My favorite band then and now was live in person. We were close enough to the stage that not only could you hear the sound you could feel it. Bass tones vibrated right through our bodies. The temperature inside Municipal rose into a swelter even though it was still winter. Alex Van Halen (who was an absolute beast) kicked into the drum intro for "Hot For Teacher" and the frenetic boogie charged the atmosphere even higher and boom...just 2 songs in and we get a drum solo at the end. Van Halen didn't need to play "On Fire" for us to know they were blazing, but that was next, which was awesome because part of our pre-concert setlist pondering was how many older tunes we'd get.
Michael Anthony pounded out the bass intro to "Runnin' With The Devil" and it didn't matter if Dave screwed up any of the words as we all were singing along. The Nashville stop was their 3rd night in a row of playing after gigs in Louisville, KY on the 9th and Knoxville the night before. I later ended up learning guitar myself and have played shows in clubs for awhile and for these guys to go out night after night and play with so much energy is just insane. It's no wonder the Dave era imploded after this tour. I was just so lucky to get to see this tour.
Diver Down always gets put down as the worst original Dave era record, but I always loved it almost as much as the rest so I was thrilled to see Eddie get the miniature Les Paul out and play "Little Guitars" which was my favorite tune from that album. I would sometime make mix tapes made up of the original Dave era and that song always made the cut. It was tunes like "Little Guitars" that made Van Halen so different from other hard rock/heavy metal bands. It is truly sublime with great lyrics from Dave showing off a rare romantic/mystical side.
"Cathedral" followed with Eddie deploying the tray under the guitar which was a nifty invention. "House of Pain" followed and it rocked. Then Michael Anthony brought out the Jack Daniels bass and everyone went crazy since if you either live in or happen to be in the great state of Tennessee you better love Jack Daniels whiskey which is made in Lynchburg. His bass solo was okay and it was expected, but I kinda wish we had gotten more songs instead of the bass, drum, and Dave solos. Another one of my mix tape favorites was up next: "Jamie's Cryin'" is just a perfect pop tune. How about a break from this review of the concert to listen to it.
if you don't see a video click on web version at the bottom of this post
The 1984 tour stage was cool with an catwalk that ran above and behind the drums. There was keyboards on each side and this is where Eddie and Mike went to play "I'll Wait" which was interesting, but was the one tune I could have done without. I stand corrected; maybe more bass or drum solos would have been better than "I'll Wait.". It was okay as "Everybody Wants Some" was next. Some keyboard indulgence can easily be excused in the wake of this behemoth (or show we say mammoth) song. Dave shared an almost x-rated story about Alex and some larger groupie during the middle and we all had a laugh. I believe it was after this that Dave performed his solo which was some choreographed sword dance. It was cool, but it did leave us scratching our heads.
Years later I would see videos of Eddie and Alex jamming parts of "Girl Gone Bad" on the previous tour, so perhaps it wouldn't have been as big of a surprise when the whole band tore through the tune. Suddenly, a song that was not much of a favorite on 1984 showed all its glory to us. It was back to the keyboards for "1984" and "Jump" had become a surprise mega-hit and I don't believe it ever came out of Van Halen's setlist even during the Sammy Hagar years. It was a vindication for Eddie who had been pushing the music for years. Dave's lyrics were always great. If you get a chance to read Ted Templeman's book you'll find out much Dave brought to the table beyond being the master of ceremonies at their shows.
The moment that lots of people were waiting for was next: the Edward Van Halen guitar solo which delivered and then some. "Eruption" was mind altering when it came out on Van Halen's debut album. You get way more than just that in an Eddie solo. When he started playing the intro to "Mean Streets" the Gonz's smile shattered into millions of little smiles as he picked his face off the floor. I can't emphasize enough this was the pre-internet days and neither of us had seen Van Halen in concert before so we didn't have a clue how he had played that intro on the Fair Warning album.
It's odd that I can still remember feeling like when the band went into "(Oh) Pretty Woman" the night was almost over which made me sad. I never wanted the concert to end. "Panama" was the last one before the encores. "You Really Got Me" ended with Alex setting the gong on fire which was cool. If you want a feel for what the Nashville show was like beyond the photos you can (as of today's post) still see a boot of the entire later Montreal show on YouTube. The Nashville setlist doesn't note that the band played the short instrumental known as "Growth" that night, but they did before launching into "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love." Our ears would ring for days, but it was great. I bought a baseball jersey shirt which my children now take turns wearing and I bought the tour program which is in a box somewhere.
My oldest wearing my 1984 tour shirt several years ago.
Before the decade was over I'd be the singer in a band with the Gonz and his younger brother and we'd go back to our old high school and play for the entire student body. I don't know if we ever performed "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" live, but I know we used to practice the song. I later learned to play guitar and led a few bands that played local clubs, but I could never play like Edward Van Halen. Sure, I can do some finger tapping and other tricks, but Eddie was more than the tricks. His music along with Dave's words was the soundtrack of my youth and it never fails to pick me up if I feel down. So here's to 37 years ago which will soon turn to 38, 39, and on to 40 years back. As long as I'm alive I will celebrate that evening in 1984 when I first saw Van Halen live and remember the absolute elation of that night. Thanks to John Watts for sharing his photographs.
Van Halen's debut album was released on February 10, 1978. Rock and roll would never be the same again. An entire sub-genre was birthed from this dynamite slab of wax. I loved Van Halen from the moment I heard them. I have a big post coming up tomorrow on seeing them in concert in 1984. So, for now just some videos visible if you're looking at the web version of this post.
