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| From | "David Bash" <bashpop@earthlink.net> |
| Subject | Re: New Thread topic Cool music epiphany |
| Date | Thu, 26 Jun 2003 09:09:31 -0700 |
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--- In audities@yahoogroups.com, Bradlee Beard <beardbr@y...> wrote:
> Another idea for a thread was when did you discover
> that music beside what was "popular" was available out
> there, and you became the fan/geek you are now.
For me this came in a few phases. I guess the first phase was when I
started reading Billboard magazine in 1976, and there would be reviews of
albums that were about to be released. If those reviews compared the album
to groups (I didn't use the term "bands" then) I knew, like The Beatles,
Beach Boys, Badfinger...I'd go right out and buy the album. This is how I
discovered groups like Pezband (as well as Emitt Rhodes, because the review
of Pezband compared them to Emitt Rhodes and Badfinger...hmmm...), Fringe
Benefit, and so many others. It had been about a year since I made the
decision to concentrate on albums rather than singles, but by 1977 I was
mostly concentrating on "obscure" rather than popular.
The second came soon after I got my first car, and started travelling down
from my suburban New York town to Manhattan, and the world of collectors
record stores was opened to me. I couldn't believe how many albums there
were by groups I'd never heard of! This was also my introduction to the
phrases "out of print," "promo," "cut out" etc...It was an intriguing
financial yin and yang, because on the one hand the out of print records
usually cost a lot more, but the promos were a lot cheaper (and cooler, with
their white labels and timing strips) than the albums you could buy at Sam
Goody, Korvette's, or Caldor.
The third phase came in the mid 80s, after I'd moved to California. I was
tipped off to a record store near San Diego called Off The Record. I drove
down and as soon as I went in I heard this amazing song. I ran up to the
clerk and asked "who is THAT??"" It turned out to be "My Car" by The Direct
Hits. I quickly bought the album it was on, and asked the guy "do you have
anything else that sounds like that?" Turns out he did...lots of it! Soon
after he turned me on to the joys of obscure college radio bands like Dreams
So Real, Dumptruck, One Plus Two, and many others. I became one of his
favorite customers because of our shared musical tastes as well as the fact
that I'd always drop a bundle of cash when I went there. It got so
everytime I'd walk into the store he'd say "I just got something in that's
really Bashian," and nine times out of ten it was!
The fourth phase was in the early '90s when, at Off The Record, I found a
copy of a magazine called Yellow Pills. Up until this time I had a
smattering of friends who liked "un-popular" albums and 45s, but until I
read Yellow Pills I never thought there might actually be a community of
"cool music" fans out there! Plus, Yellow Pills, for better or worse,
codified the term "pop" for me, and it became much more ingrained in my
vernacular. Then of course, other magazines like Audities, Amplifier
(remember when it was actually subtitled "50,000 watts of non-stop pop"?)
and Pop Sided came along, and this, along with the burgeoning vehicle known
as the interet, made it clear that there was indeed a coterie of pop fans
all over the world.
The fifth phase was when I joined Audities.
More need not be said (for a number of reasons, particularly because I've
probably written way more than you wanted to read!)
--
Pop Rules!!!!!
Take Care,
David
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