My Musical Evolution – Part 301 Roach Days Revisited Background Sound

1987 was a year of change. I sold my 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 and got a 1978 Comet. It may not sound like much of an upgrade but it got double the miles per gallon and was 15 years newer. It still didn’t seem to have seat belts. For the all important car stereo, I decided to simplify. I tinkered with the Galaxie until it had 6 speakers, a graphic equalizer and multiple amps. It seems silly to me now to think how important we thought car stereos were. Aric had a Datsun 200sx that we called the Alien Craft. He had some really amazing Pioneer speakers and EQ/Amp inder the dash. It was built for high end guitar solos and really sounded good until somebody stole his speakers.

I decided to keep it simple and just get a nice cassette deck and speakers. I was very happy with my Technics home stereo so I went with some Technics car speakers. They were 6×9’s with a wedge shaped grill that lifted the mids and tweeters and agled them toward the front. I went with a really nice sounding Fujitsu cassette deck that had all the features of the day. It really sounded crisp and clean, particularly on something acoustic or classical.

Like Aric and I, MTV was evolving too. I feel that they were encouraged by their experimentation with The Young Ones and The Monkees. They had proven to themselves that the audience was willing to accept non-music programming on a Music Television Station. As I’ve discovered with so many things on this journey, I have to wonder if it was all just a timing issue. In 1987, I was 22 and beginning to shift out of party mode and towards something else. Did I leave MTV because music was becoming less important to me or did I leave MTV because music was becoming less important to them?

Janet Jackson – What Have You Done for Me Lately