THE LATEST BLOGGING EXPERIMENT
Okay.
I have come up with this really cool idea that will take Diaryland the world of blogging and turn it on its ear!
And then it will rapidly fall over because when you put things on their ear, there's like a horrible sense of balance there and usually it topples over and breaks its neck.
But I'm going to give this a try anyway.
Here's the plan.
Listen closely, fucker.
I'm going to put my iPod on shuffle and with each song that comes on, I'm going to tell you a story behind it on how I personally relate to the song.
Music has always played an important part in my life and I have a memory behind each song.
This should be exciting, shouldn't it?
I'm pretty jazzed.
You should be too.
Get ready to be put on your ear. But for God's sakes ... support your neck fully.
"DON'T WORRY BABY" by Los Lobos
Ummmm ... bought this album when I worked for a record store in 1984. I was pretty impressed with the album, listened to it quite often. I listened to it a lot in the car which was a brand new Camaro Berlinetta. It's the only car I ever owned with t-tops so it was practically a convertible. I'd blast this song out as I cruised down the highway. I sure wish this song would end because it doesn't have as many memories as I was hoping for.
"BABY'S A ROCK AND ROLLER" - Tom Petty
I have zero memories about this song. I put his whole box set on here and have never listened to it. So I'll talk about Tom Petty. At one point I made the discovery that Tom Petty got better with every album. My favorite song of his is "Refugee". I like the live version of "Breakdown". This song has 43 seconds left. I think I'm going to cheat and jump ahead.
"ABSOLUTELY SWEET MARIE" by Jason and the Scorchers
Ahhhhh ... once again ... 1984. This song kicked total ass ... an old Bob Dylan tune turned country-punk with great harmonies. Reminds me of the record store that I worked at ... Turtles Records. Had a great crew there, a bunch of young kids working the summer of '84 ... having parties every night and getting plastered. I'd always try to sneak this album in the party rotation but I was the only one who appreciated country-punk at the time and the disc usually got taken off in due time. Best party during this era? I woke up naked in bed with a girl I had met hours before.
"MISUNDERSTOOD" by Wilco
Wilco's my favorite band right now. This song sounds like a nervous breakdown put to music. They're one of the few bands left who go out of their way to sync beautiful melodies with mechanical noise. This song's a fine example of that. Lead singer Jeff Tweedy screams "NOTHING!" about 32 times at the end of the song. But we're here for actual "memories" of the song and every time I hear this song I will think about driving to my present job early in the morning on an open stretch of the interstate screaming "NOTHING!" along with the song.
"KILLER QUEEN" by Queen
Lived in Germany when I bought this album at the age of 13 in 1975. Queen was my favorite band at the time and I bought everything they had released at the time ... four albums I think. I always thought the song was pretty ... ummmm ... pretty wimpy. It's not the kind of song a guy can run around singing at the top of his lungs.
"WHAT DO U WANT ME 2 DO" - Prince
From his "Musicology" disc. There was so much hoopla over this disc ... it was his return to form. I had passed on the last couple of his CDs at the time because they sucked. I thought this disc sucked. I couldn't tell you any of the songs on the CD. I probably played it once and thought I was still being burned by the guy. I didn't even know what song this was until I clicked on the window to see what it was. No memories of this disc other than pulling out of Best Buy and sitting at a red light as I pulled off the cellophane, put the disc in the stereo and realized it sucked immediately.
"NEW YORK" by Sex Pistols
I loved the Sex Pistols, never connected with this song. I remember going to a party next door in our subdivision ... a family-oriented party ... lots of families from the street. I had just bought the Sex Pistols debut LP and brought it with me to show my "cool factor" to the other families. Nobody cared and I probably looked like an idiot carrying around an album.
"A PLACE IN THE SUN" - Stevie Wonder
My first DJ job in the 80s was at a popular club where we played oldies ... mostly Motown, Elvis, 60s stuff. I had a Stevie Wonder medley that had a ton of his hits wrapped up in a 70s disco mix. This song had a small clip in the medley. Up until then, that was the most I'd ever heard of the song. I don't really care for the song.
"TEARS BEFORE BEDTIME" - Elvis Costello
Comes from my favorite Elvis CD "Imperial Bedroom". Not my favorite song from the disc ... but I played the crap out of this disc in 1982. Living in my first co-ed dorm at University of Tennessee and working at the World's Fair in Knoxville that year, I'd come back to the dorm/apartment that I shared with three other guys, smoke a joint and then put a lawn chair in front of our air conditioner, put an Army blanket over the top of the A/C and cover myself with the blanket in the chair, so I was in a darkened igloo that would cool off my body temp in minutes while listening to this disc.
"CAROLINE SAYS II" - Lou Reed
When I was 13, I bought my first Lou Reed album "Sally Can't Dance". I hated it. HATED IT. Sold it quickly and washed my hands of Lou. Fast forward to the 80s and I gave Lou another chance with the disc "New York". I loved New York and began buying all the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed discs I could afford. This is a nice melodic song but you'll never hear me praising Lou's voice. No real memory of this particular song. This experiment isn't going as smoothly as it would have yesterday when I was listening to this on Shuffle and actual songs were playing that I'd have a memory of.
"INTO THE FIRE" - Bruce Springsteen
Loved this album ("The Rising"). It's all about 9/11 and (in my humble opinion), this song's about a Fireman climbing the stairs in the World Trade Center as it gets smokier and smokier and the thoughts going through his head as he goes up each flight. This song always reminds me of 9/11 as I showed up for work and everyone was gathered around a small television in the lobby watching the planes crash into the twin towers and the complete confusion that came with that moment. Our receptionist was bawling because she was terrified. I think she was planning on getting married soon, but she was also in the National Guard and she was wondering if she'd be called into action.
"SHOTGUN BLUES" by the Blues Brothers
January of 2006 I started working in kind of a redneck club north of here as a DJ. My first night there, a guy walked up to me and requested this song. I had no idea what he was talking about and didn't have it but promised him I'd have it the following week. Went home, downloaded it and fell in love with it. I made it a point to play the song every week for several weeks after that. This past Sunday I downloaded the whole Blues Brothers CD because I'm really into the Blues lately. Yesterday I found their rare second disc on Amazon and ordered that. I HATED the Blues Brothers when they came out in the late 70s. I was even in a Blues Brothers cover band in the early 80s, playing the John Belushi lead singer part. I dressed like him, kinda looked like him ... AND HATED THE MUSIC. I did the gig for the groupies. Now ... 25 years later ... I'm finally appreciating the music and yesterday I was thinking how great it'd be to go back in time and perform in that band one more time but this time with a passion for the music.
Alright ... it's 6 a.m. and the crap coming on Shuffle now has zero memories for me.
I'm not exactly sure this was the great experiment that I had originally envisioned.
Sorry for wasting your time.
