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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | garymaher@juno.com |
| Subject | Re: New Thread topic Cool music epiphany |
| Date | Thu, 26 Jun 2003 20:54:40 -0400 |
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On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 15:00:06 -0400 audities-owner@smoe.org writes:
> > 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.
Wow. This is REALLY dancing about architecture, but I'll give it a shot.
I'm from a NYC suburb in NJ, so there was a lot of different music
floating about. There were 2 or 3 "classic rock" stations playing the
"popular" stuff (WPLJ, WNEW, WAPP). I was in my teens in the early 80s,
and, thanks to WLIR and, later, MTV, there was a generous supply of new
wave, new romantic and punk music. More importantly, I had ready access
to plenty of offbeat choices at the left of the dial at the time, such as
WRSU (Rutgers), WFUV (Fordham), WSOU (Seton Hall), one from Staten Island
(WSIU, maybe?) and, of course, WFMU, then Upsala College's station, and
now the might independent juggernaut. And they were all playing stuff
nobody had ever heard before. (I feel bad for the kids today -- the
options are so limited, with DirtyChannel cornering the commercial market
. . .)
Also, I bought a lot of records growing up. And if I was really into a
record, I'd delve into the group's back catalog. So after The ELO's New
World Record, I soon ended up with No Answer, which blew me away. Same
with The Pink Floyd, The Jefferson Stairplane and lots of other groups
with interesting and diverse back catalogs (and, usually, optional
initial The's) that never got airplay.
I'd also buy older records on the strength of a couple of singles, so I
acquired the Time of the Zombies comp (2 records, with the complete O&O
on LP2) when I was still in high school.
And I bought a lot of used records at the time (and still do), and, since
they were pretty cheap, I'd often buy them for just one song. I ended up
with a lot of relatively obscure and high quality stuff that way.
I think the biggest environmental factor was learning from college radio
early on that there was plenty of stuff out there that never got
commercial airplay. Add to that my natural tendency to be open minded
and identify with the underdog (soccer fan rather than football, Mets fan
in the late 70s, Rangers fan in the middle of the Islanders' run, liberal
in a conservative area) and the fact that I have been able to make and
enjoy music as long as I can remember, and you have the makings of a 100%
music geek.
This thread is interesting to me in another way, because I've known about
the "secret" music for so long that I sometimes forget there are people
who are completely unaware of it. I have a friend who's very into music.
He knows all of the hits from the mid 60s through probably the mid 80s.
He's always listening to the radio and playing me new records he's bought
used. So we were talking one day, and I asked if he every heard Love's
Forever Changes. What song of theirs would he have heard on the radio,
he wanted to know. I tried to explain that it was a great record that
never got airplay, and his response was "Well, I always feel that if
there's something on there worth hearing, they'd play it on the radio."
So I lent it to him, and he said it was "ok", but he didn't know any of
it from the radio, so he really couldn't get into it.
Now, here's a guy who really enjoys music, but he's got this odd litmus
test for whether an artist is worth listening to -- he has to have heard
the artist on the radio. Reminds me of the girl I worked with in the
summer of '90 who used to make fun of me for listening to what she called
"alternative lifestyles music" like the Smiths and R.E.M. (Of course,
R.E.M. would soon become a household name, but I still don't know if
that's vindication or something to be ashamed of.)
Anyhow, more than you needed to know. Now stop reading and go back to
listening!
Gary
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