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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | CCDatsMe@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: The Big Five |
| Date | Thu, 6 Feb 2003 21:17:30 EST |
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Sigh...here I go, in my typically long-winded fashion:
1. The Beatles. I was four years old when Beatlemania hit the U.S., and I
still remember how all-encompassing The Beatles' hold was on pop music, even
for someone as young as I was. Seeing A Hard Day's Night at the local
drive-in that year simply sealed my fate.
2. The Monkees. I watched the show with my older siblings in '66-'67 (they
described it to me as, "like Batman, but with a guitar instead of a bat"),
and subsequently got seriously hooked via Saturday morning reruns in the late
'60s/early '70s. By high school, I was actively looking for more Monkees
music; I only had the first two albums, and I knew there must be more. I
started checking out flea markets, specifically looking for (and occasionally
finding) Monkees records that I didn't have. Senior year in high school, a
friend lent me her copies of the Head and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones
albums, and I was even more hooked than before. (And Linda McLaren, if
you're out there, I still love ya...wherever you are.)
3. The Dave Clark Five. Less a big thing for me than either of the
preceding groups, but emblematic of my growing certainty that my tastes in
rock 'n' roll music didn't coincide with that of my peers, and that I didn't
give a toss. I remembered the DC5 (particularly "Bits And Pieces," which my
sister had on 45) from the mid-'60s, but fell harder for them in high school
(along with The Kinks), when my interest in the British Invasion reached
fever pitch. Borrowed a bunch of British Invasion records from my cousin,
and picked up the DC5's Having A Wild Weekend LP at the flea market. In
college, I would cite groups like the DC5 and Paul Revere & The Raiders as
acts I loved, to the horror and confusion of the Southern Rock/Grateful
Dead-enthralled mass at my dorm. Continued to seek out used records by the
DC5 (the Coast To Coast album was a particular Holy Grail find in '78, since
it included "Any Way You Want It").
All of the above three acts are inter-related, starting me on the path
to haunting used record stores and flea markets, searching for the stuff I
craved by The Knickerbockers, The Beau Brummels, The Searchers, The Kinks,
The Raiders, et al. Though I also liked KISS and Fleetwood Mac (and The
Rubinoos!), for example, it was clear that my greatest pop passion was for
the '60s. Until...
4. The Ramones. Jesus Marimba! I'd read about punk rock in the pages of
Phonograph Record Magazine, a rock tabloid that probably deserves its own
slot on my list. I'd been intrigued and curious, but hadn't managed to
actually hear any of the stuff PRM was writing about. I heard The Sex
Pistols the summer of '77 (on the radio! COMMERCIAL radio!), and was further
intrigued. When I got to college that fall, I bombarded the college radio
station with requests for Blondie, Television and The Ramones, and was an
absolute goner from the first time I heard "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker."
Epiphany! And THEN some...!
5. The Flashcubes. I saw the 'Cubes live for the first time in January of
'78, and I turned into a Tex Avery cartoon: my jaw dropped to the floor, my
eyes bugged outta my head, my ears sproinged out to three times their
original size, and I jumped up and down with the manic glee of a lost soul
saved.
And here I am.
CC!
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