My Musical Evolution – Page 31 – Mapping Influences Over Time

My Musical Evolution – Part 113 Academy Days There Are Three Girls Here At Ridgemont That Have Cultivated The Pat Benatar Look

Pat Benatar Precious Time As we discussed, my introduction to Pat Benatar was Crimes Of Passion that I received as a Christmas gift. I back filled with In The Heat Of The Night, then went forward with Precious Time.

This album was good but didn’t quite reach me like her previous two. In fact, it seems that I liked each album a little less with the first two nearly a tie. While Precious Time had some good songs and feels like her most polished production, it just wasn’t as Precious to me. Before I blame the music, was it me? Did My Musical Evolution evolve away from Pat Benatar? During the Academy Days I would acquire 4 Pat Benatar albums. The last one Get Nerous I probably won’t be discussing because it came at the end of my Pat Benatar era and looking at the track listing, I really don’t remember playing it much.

I may have mispoke. When I said end of my Pat Benatar era, I only meant that I didn’t listen to her as frequently. A year or two later and she would be all over the radio again and I’d eventually end up with 5 Pat Benatar Compact Discs. That said, Precious Time was the end of the honeymoon.

Promises In The Dark

Fire And Ice

Precious Time

Hard To Believe

Does that intro kind of sound like Men At Work?

My Musical Evolution – Part 112 Academy Days My Clone Sleeps Alone

I liked this album so much that I actually bought the cassette twice. I got my first one from Columbia House and played in until it met an untimely end. As I think about trying to fix it by pulling most of the magentic tape out of the cassette then gently and carefully spooling it back up while cringing at the creases, it reminds me that my children never experienced any of that. It was a part of life. I think that the factory cassettes were more prone to thebeing eaten phenomenon. A couple of years later, I would be using loads of Maxell, Memorex and TDK tapes and never had problems of this level. Perhaps it had something to do with improvements in my cassette decks. What I can tell you is that I have in my possession hundreds of mix tapes that I produced from the mid 1980’s to the late 1990’s and they have survived un eaten. We’ll discuss the mix tape era soon. It takes off around 1984. My use of mix tapes might have been a result of the fail rate of my factory cassettes and thus the temporary regret of going that way in the first place. It would shape my attitude about protecting my source material.

After the unrevocerable demise of my In The Heat Of The Night tape. I went to some record store in Bennington, VT. Adam and I were in town and I bought it again.

As with Crimes Of Passion, I found myself drawn to Pat Benatar’s softer more melodic songs. She would probably be disappointed with me. I think she wanted to be known as a hard driving rocker. At first anyway.

Heartbeaker

I Need A Lover

A few years later, here in Indiana, just a couple hours north of Seymour, I heard a version of this song by some guy named John Cougar. I really liked the extended guitar intro. I didn’t realize that Pat Benatar did a cover of that song and not the other way around.

If You Think You Know How To Love Me

My Clone Sleeps Alone

We Live For Love

Rated X

Don’t Let It Show

So Sincere

My Musical Evolution – Part 111 Academy Days Stray Cats

Stray Cats Built For Speed We talked about the movie Grease and the soundtrack. It was a couple of years earlier but that faux 1950’s theme seemed to get people’s attention. When my friend Dave shared Stray Cats with me, it seemed like a continuation of that theme. Looking at the cover of Built For Speed it looks like Stray Cats were the darker, edgier, Sha-Na-Na. I wonder how Dave first heard of Stray Cats.

I think it was at least a few years later before I heard the term Rock-A-Billy. Which still sounds somewhat durogatory for some reason. During The Academy Days it was just a sort of Retro-Rock. The style and sound of the guitar work reminded me of The Ventures. Although I had this cassette and recognize some of the tracks, it didn’t rise to the level of the other albums I had at the time.

I never did replace this cassette with a Compact Disc instead I eventually went for a “Best Of” option. Apart from that I was done with Stray Cats. I’m more of a dog person. However, as you will see, Brian Setzer will be back a few times and in a way that I never expected.

Rock This Town

Stray Cat Strut

Rumble In Brighton

Rumble In Brighton was my favorite.
Runaway Boys

Built For Speed

My Musical Evolution – Part 110 Academy Days On Planet Earth, I’ll Probably Stay

Before we get started, I want to draw your attention to the Tag Cloud at the bottom of the page. While not scientific, I think it is an interesting display. It makes me wish I would have developed some system at the beginning and followed it all the way, then the Tag Cloud could be used to guage my musical tastes and influences. As it is, it makes for a pretty good approximation. The bigger the tittle, the more overall impact. I wish I would have taken snapshots of it along the way to capture the evolution. Oh well maybe next time.

Now back to Devo. I got both Freedom Of Choice and New Traditionalists at the same time. Like Adam And The Ants, Devo had some heavy percussion but where Adam And The Ants went with a twangy guitar, Devo went synthesizers. I’m listening to Ton O’ Luv as I write this and I can’t help but think that Devo might have evolved intoBlue Man Group.Trade in those red flower pots for blue heads.

Freedom of Choice just came on and this really could have been an Adam And The Ants song. Reallly, go back to the Adam And The Ants post and see for yourself.

Whip It

I remember seeing this on Friday Night Videos when I was home one summer.
Snowball

Ton O’ Luv

Freedom Of Choice

Mr B.’s Ballroom

Planet Earth

My Musical Evolution – Part 109 Academy Days New Traditionalists

The first spin off from the Heavy Metal Soundtrack was Devo. I had heard Whip It and new about the flower pot hats. Working In A Coal Mine helped me decide to check them out further. I picked up their newest New Traditionalists and Freedom Of Choice at the same time.

The New album had Working In A Coal Mine on it so I gave it my attention first. Was this more of that New Wave Music.It was synthesizer and percussion oriented. A big change compared to Kansas or Styx. Listen to Jerkin’ Back And Forth. Doesn’t that beat just make you want to jump around?

Video games were just breaking out at this time too. Space Invaders, Asteroids, Tail Gunner. They were so simplistic compared to what would follow. Most of the time its was just line figures on a CRT reflecting into a painting on glass. Devo’s electronic music had a video game sound to it and that made it even more appealing.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the new look. I kind of wish they would have stuck with the red flower pots as opposed to the plastic Kennedy hair-do.

Through Being Cool

Jerkin’ Back And Forth

Soft Things

Going Under

Love Without Anger

Beautiful World

My Musical Evolution – Part 108 Academy Days Heavy Metal

I can’t remember which came first, the Heavy Metal Magazine or the Heavy Metal movie Soundtrack. For a long time I was getting the magazine, at least a year. I had a pretty good stack of them. If you’ve never seen Heavy Metal magazine, it is basically a sci-fi fantasy comic book that targets 16 year old boys away at prep school. There are a few differences when compared to a traditional comic book. Heavy Metal would carry several separate storys by different writers and artists rather than one story like X-men. It also had boobs.

The Heavy Metal animated film had been released although I didn’t know about it and would not see the movie until much later. I eventually ended up with it on VHS which was this video tape format that was just being introduced.

So what I can’t remember is if I was interested in the soundtrack because I liked the magazines or if I pursued the magazines after loving the soundtrack. I do remember hearing Veteran Of The Psychic Wars coming out of one of the dorm rooms in Jones Hall. I don’t remember who it was exactly. I’ll have to ask Matt because I was visiting him at the time. Anyway I gave the guy a blank tape and at dinner that night I had a copy of The Heavy Metal Soundtrack. It was awesome then and it is still one of my favorite albums. I remember being somewhat disappointed by the movie because they didn’t play all the songs all the way through.

Now with a name like Heavy Metal you probably expect a lot of thrashing music. Granted there are some hard rock songs on here but nothing I would call Heavy Metal. This was also a new kind of soundtrack for me. Up to this point my soundtracks were Star Wars and Star Trek type symphonic orchestral pieces. This one was a collection of songs from a bunch of different artists. This would be a format that I would be drawn to later in life. The cool thing about this style of soundtrack is that becomes a sampler plate for the artists involved. As you will soon see, I branched out and acquired other albums because of this soundtrack.

The whole thing is top notch. I know you are probably tired of hearing that but check it out there are so many great songs including what may be one of my all time favorite songs, True Companion. I could listen to that song just about anytime.

Sammy Hagar – Heavy Metal

Devo – Working In The Coal Mine

Blue Öyster Cult – Veteran Of The Psychic Wars

Donald Fagen – True Companion

Riggs – Radar Rider

Jounrey – Open Arms

Grand Funk Railroad – Queen Bee

Don Felder – All Of You

Let me ask you. Are there movies in your life where you like the soundtrack more than the movie?

My Musical Evolution – Part 107 Academy Days On The Bus

The Weekly schedule at prep school was a little different. We had half days on Wednesdays. To make up for it, we had classes on Saturday mornings. Yes everybody had to do sports or activities which I ended up liking very much. Due to the population and geography of the Lakes Region Conference it meant that teams had to travel sometimes hours away to compete. Hence the half days. We didn’t have Friday night lights, it was Wednesday and Saturday afternoons.

I don’t recall which sport I was in when I first heard of Frank Zappa but I do know it was a sports bus. Somebody [it would be nice to know who] brought a Frank Zappa tape. Reverse engineering the track listing, I eventually determined that it was Sheik Yerbouti. My first exposure to Frank that I recall was Jewish Princess. Zappa was funny, gross and used bad language, all the things that a young teenage boy would like. I made a mental note to check into Frank. So when the next Columbia House catalog came around, I found Joes Garage Act I.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. What I got was a bunch of funny songs wrapped around this Orwellian story about a boy, a girl and music being illegal. It was funny and Zappa can play that guitar.

Years later, I would discover this trend where it appears that every Frank Zappa fan knows two others that don’t necessarily know each other.

Joe’s Garage

Catholic Girls

Fembot In A Wet T-Shirt

Why Does It Hurt When I Pee

On The Bus

My Musical Evolution – Part 106 Academy Days Taking It On The Run

After my freshman year at Hogwarts, I went back to Fort Wayne for the summer. That summer I would meet Cedar Point, REO Speedwagon and a girl named Dawn all at the same time. Dawn was a couple years older than me. She drove a sharp looking 1971 Camaro that was red with black racing stripes.

It was a church trip to Cedar Point amusement park that brought us together. I had been to Mt Tom and rode a roller coaster before. The one at the now closed Mountain Park didn’t have restraining devices of any kind but that is another story.

At first, I was just looking forward to a day of rides at a real roller coaster park. I don’t recall how many kids actually wnet on that trip but Dawn and I found ourselves hanging out together for the entire day. So what do you do when you are stuck in a fantastic park with a pretty girl when you are 15? You crush. REO Speedwagon had recently released Hi Infidelity and she was crazy about it. I heard plenty of songs from that album all summer long. I had to buy this album. It was our album.

I can place this in the summer of 1980 because I bought it on vinyl. I had yet to make my temporarily significant cassette mistake. She was my girlfriend for one day. We took the park hand in hand. I inhaled deeply the scent of her hair as it whipped my face on the Witch’s Wheel. We leaned against each other on the three hour bus ride home. Back in the Fort we walked aimlessly up and down Broadway waiting for our parents to come pick us up. We didn’t want the day to end but it did.

I would listen to Hi Infidelity and think of her. That fall she sent me a letter with her senior picture and a picture of her car. By then, my mind was so far away that it was like it never happened. I think I saw her once in passing five or six years later. She was married and I had moved on.

Keep On Loving You

Follow My Heart

Take It On The Run

Out Of Season

Someone Tonight

My Musical Evolution – Part 105 Academy Days Argybargy

There is no doubt that I picked up Squeeze’s Argybargy after hearing my friend Adam’s copy. I’ll have to ask him how he got into Squeeze. Argybargy is one of those albums that I rarely listened to after the end of The Academy Days. I can’t say why for sure considering how much I liked it then. My cassette probably got eaten and that was that until I replaced it on Compact Disc.

The really cool thing about playing an album to death then putting it away for a very long time is that when you listen to it again, it triggers some kind of reaction in your brain. Right now, I’m remembering, feeling even smelling memories fromThe Academy Days. It is a really cool sensation. A psychic connection to myself in 1982. I wonder if this phenomenon has an official name.

The Argybargy album didn’t include what would become their biggest hit stateside but I really enjoyed every single track on it. As a public service, I let you know that Argybargy is a term used to describe a lively conversation like a dispute or arguement. Try saying Argue with a Scottish accent. It comes out Argy.

Adam continued his love for Squeeze. Over the years following the end of The Academy Days and Space Mountain he would occasionally send me video tapes of his adventures. Invariably, you could hear Squeeze in the background.

Pulling Mussels

Another Nail In My Heart

Separate Beds

I would say that this is my favorite Squeeze song. Who knows why?
I Think I’m Go Go

Farfisa Beat

There At The Top

My Musical Evolution – Part 104 Academy Days Remember Alice? It’s A Song About Alice

I think I might have seen part of the Alice’s Restaurant movie as the entrance into Arlo Guthrie. Maybe it was on a radio station on Thanksgiving one year. I wish I would have taken better care to recall some of these things. Particularly in a case like Alice’s Restaurant. The album was released in 1967. It was most definately registering on any charts in the early 80’s.

The story of Alice’s Resaurant took place in Stockbridge, MA which was just a couple of hours southwest of Vermont Academy. Maybe htat had something to do with it but I’m going to stick with the movie thing.

As I look at the album cover, I keep thinking about Pauly Shore. Of course, I bought this album for Alice’s Restaurant Massacree and had I discovered it some years later, I probably would not be as familiar with the rest of the songs.

Musically, the Academy Days were all about the album. As I stated before, I believe this had to be due to the nature of the medium. For cassettes more than vinyl albums. It just was not practical to skip songs. Picking up the stylus and dropping back down in the right spot was tedious at best. Cassette decks had yet to develop that track skipping ability. This would all change in a few years when Compact Discs came along and the word shuffle was invented.

As I listen to these Arlo tracks again, there is something simple and unspolied about them. Maybe it was a little 1967 maybe it is just Arlo’s folksy style. One spring, Adam and I saw Arlo Guthrie live in Springfield, MA. James Taylor’s brother Livingston was the opening act. It was an interesting evening a mere stone’s throw away from where Alice’s Restaurant happened so many years ago.

Group W Bench

Alice’s Restaurant Massacree

The Motorcycle Song

Highway In The Wind