From: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org (fegmaniax-digest) To: fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Subject: fegmaniax-digest V11 #153 Reply-To: fegmaniax@smoe.org Sender: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-fegmaniax-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk fegmaniax-digest Friday, May 10 2002 Volume 11 : Number 153 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Elixirs and remedies [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Re: even more lists (0 % RH) [Michael R Godwin ] AC/DC [Sebastian Hagedorn ] Ken Nordine ["Poole, R. Edward" ] Re: even more lists (0 % RH) ["Chris Donnell" ] Re: Those lists [Michael R Godwin ] Re: cool / not cool [Miles Goosens ] Re: cool [gSs ] Re: Those lists (0% RH) [mary ] Re: how did i rate? [Miles Goosens ] Re: Those lists (0% RH) [Miles Goosens ] Re: cool / not cool [dmw ] Re: even more lists (0 % RH) [Sebastian Hagedorn ] AC/DC goes country [David Witzany ] New media at glasshotel.net ("We can listen to Eminem!") [bayard ] Re: Send in the Hairspray [Miles Goosens ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 09:38:04 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: Elixirs and remedies - --On Friday, May 10, 2002 11:05:35 +1200 James Dignan wrote: > Talking of Scottish bands reminds me of the great version of Van Halen's > "Jump" by Aztec Camera. That reminds me: I heard that version for the first time on an MOTR radio station. The DJ said they were an obscure, weird band, but that their new single had been produced by Mark Knopfler and was (according to the DJ because of Knopfler) pretty good. I guess it must have been "All I Need Is Everything"... Anyway, he then went on to say that the B side was just plain weird again (he meant that in a negative way) and played it as proof. Needless to say, I thought that "Jump" was much better than the A side... ;-) - -- Sebastian Hagedorn Ehrenfeldg|rtel 156 50823 Kvln http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ Being just contaminates the void - Robyn Hitchcock [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 08:20:35 +0000 From: "Brian Hoare" Subject: Re:cool/uncool A pretty unimpressive 4:1 victory for cool in my collection. Naturally the Monkees was the only scorer for uncool. The main suprise was QSM's Happy Trails which I consider a pretty poor record. I bought it having heard it while tripping on a couple of tabs but have been disappointed by it since. As for the "in the style of" thread. I am curious that noone has mentioned Luther Wright and the Wrong's Rebuild the Wall which is a country/blue grass rendition of the Wall. About a week ago I discovered its existance and was vaguley tempted. Amazon has clips. brian : in wiltshire _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 09:47:38 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: even more lists (0 % RH) On Fri, 10 May 2002, James Dignan wrote: > could someone polease post me those cool/uncool 50 lists offlist? Every tme > I try to get to them I get a 'page unavailable' message. You were lucky! My browser is just sitting there on the pid=601 page doing absolutely NOTHING, with the cursor mooching from side to side. I've a good mind to go and give my 10.15 Macro class and see whether anything has happened when I come back at 11.15. So if anyone does mail them to James, please could I have a copy too? Corwumph! - - MRG PS I have no idea why people like Massive Attack. I've seen them on TV and they sound like a gang of wimps. I'd rather listen to Roni Size any day. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 13:58:31 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: AC/DC - --On Thursday, May 09, 2002 11:56:18 -0500 Jeffrey with 2 Fs Jeffrey wrote: > On Thu, 9 May 2002, Sebastian Hagedorn wrote: > >> Apropos: does anybody know what band does country/folk covers of AC/DC? >> A pub I sometimes go to often plays an entire album's worth of this >> stuff, but I've never asked what that band's name is... > > You're probably thinking of Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), who's done > (as you say) an entire album of AC/DC covers, primarily accompanying > himself only with an acoustic guitar, his voice, and a truly stunning > indifference to those who would imagine he's being ironic. That sounded like it would be what I was referring to, but it's only an EP and I don't even know the songs he's covering there ... - --On Thursday, May 09, 2002 10:33:58 -0700 glen uber wrote: > That would be Hayseed/Dixie. Frickin' Hilarious. This is it! Thanks - -- Sebastian Hagedorn Ehrenfeldg|rtel 156 50823 Kvln http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ Being just contaminates the void - Robyn Hitchcock ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 09:50:08 -0400 From: "Poole, R. Edward" Subject: Ken Nordine > >even if it is pretty much a cop of Ken > >Nordine's "Word Jazz" (if you don't know his stuff, check > >out "The Best of Word Jazz Vol. 1" > > Word. Ken Nordine is Cool. Yes, even if he does shamelessly whore out his hipster vocal cords for commercial voiceovers... "the new cadillac seville is as cool as the other side of the pillow, ya dig me, cat?" > > >or, if you can stand hearing Jerry Garcia's > >acoustic guitar playing (which I happen to enjoy), check > >out the Ken Nordine/Jerry Garcia collaboration -- I can't > >remember the name -- that also has a guest vocal/story by >Tom > Waits). > > Devout Catalyst. It's on the Dead's label, and is way out of > print, as far as I know. You can still find copies used if you > keep an eye on www.gemm.com or eBay. Cool album. Thanks -- the depth and breadth of musical knowledge on this list is quite satisfying -- I never go long thinking "what was the name of that band/song/album?" anymore. If you want to get the disc, you can go here: http://makeashorterlink.com/?D4DF657D (even though I have cleverly disguised the URL, this link will take you to the grateful dead website. I know some of you fear that you fingers will sizzle and you ears bleed should you come into contact with anything GD-related. you have been warned). ============================================================================This e-mail message and any attached files are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the addressee(s) named above. This communication may contain material protected by attorney-client, work product, or other privileges. If you are not the intended recipient or person responsible for delivering this confidential communication to the intended recipient, you have received this communication in error, and any review, use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, copying, or other distribution of this e-mail message and any attached files is strictly prohibited. If you have received this confidential communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail message and permanently delete the original message. To reply to our email administrator directly, send an email to postmaster@dsmo.com Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP http://www.legalinnovators.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 10:38:21 -0400 From: "Chris Donnell" Subject: Re: even more lists (0 % RH) I'm not going to bother going thru all that I own from both lists, it isn't many... but - the Moog Cookbook is way cool! and Beck's Odelay is pretty played out at this point. It was hard to tell the lists apart. and it seems to me that Freedom Rock should be on the Greatst List... come on! - ----- Original Message ----- From: "mary" To: Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2002 3:03 PM Subject: Re: even more lists (0 % RH) > D'oh! Would help if I included the urls. > > Cool: > > Uncool: > > s.Mary ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 16:09:10 +0100 (BST) From: Michael R Godwin Subject: Re: Those lists Uncoolest: > Bread - The Best Of Bread > Freddie And The Dreamers - Freddie And The Dreamers Wish I had copies of these, but I haven't. > The Knack - Get the Knack I've got the Sharona single somewhere - does that count? > The Monkees - Greatest Hits Fabulous record. What are they talking about? Does the Human Mellotron know about this? > Bob Seger - Night Moves I definitely borrowed a copy of this once. > Joe Meek - The Amazing World of Joe Meek I'd love that. Does it have 'Girl Bride' by Geoff Goddard on it, and all those Outlaws hits? John Leyton? The Tornados' 'Robot Man'? Wow! > Graham Gouldman - The Graham Gouldman Thing Haven't got that, but I have got the Graham Gouldman / Andrew Gold collaboration. 'Hot Wax' is it called? Must be less cool than a Gouldman solo album, anyway. > The Bee Gees - Bee Gees 1st Yes, got that! Great record. I can play 'Craise Finton Kirk' on the piano. > Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties Uh - well, I recently bought my third copy of this (LP, CD and now the CD with _unreleased bonus tracks_! But Mike is right - 'Tyranny & Mutation' is better, although it has fewer songs about the Me262... > RS 50 Coolest: > 1. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat Yes, got an import copy on thick American cardboard as soon as it was released. 1968, possibly? > 2. The Rolling Stones - Aftermath Yes. Remember that you have to have the UK track listing, beginning with 'Mother's Little Helper' and not the crap American track listing. > 3. James Brown - "Live" at the Apollo Yes. > 4. Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight No, but I've got a whole stack of Berry LPs like 'Berry is on top' etc. > 10. The Beatles - Revolver My stepdaughter nicked this about 8 years ago and has subsequently lost it... > 33. Howlin' Wolf - Howlin' Wolf Is this the Chess double LP, or something different? > 36. Joan Jett - Bad Reputation Is that the one with the 'I love rock n roll' single? I've got that. > 44. Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails Got that. Totally agree with Brian Hoare, it's massively over-rated. > 47. Blue Oyster Cult - Secret Treaties Say no more... Incidentally, I spotted the RH link. The list includes Skip Spence's 'Oar', and RH did a track on the tribute album. Is it really any good? The record that occupied this sort of position in lists in my day was 'Farewell Aldebaran' by Judy Henske and Jerry Yester. - - MRG n.p. The Sorrows - Take a heart ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 10:30:19 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: cool / not cool At 09:40 PM 5/9/2002 -0700, drew wrote: >[Miles:] >> Cinderella, A LONG COLD WINTER (that damn flouncing, preening >> electric-pixie guitarist was unbearable live, but sonically, the best of >> the hair metal brigade, with hooks and a Stonesy vibe) > >Oooh, I do got that one! I liked Def Leppard better, >but Tom "Electric Pixie" Keifer really got my hormones >flowing when I was in high school. Speaking of strange >fetishes. Actually, I was talking about the lead guitarist, the visually annoying Jeff LaBar, not lead singer/guitarist Keifer. Keifer's fine. Y'know, I wasn't even taking Def Leppard into account as part of the mid-to-late '80s hair metal brigade, since they predate it. Their PYROMANIA popularity certainly opened the door for more hard-rock/metal bands to have chart success, and they were huge throughout the hair metal era, so I guess they sorta fit in. But "hair metal" doesn't connote Def Leppard to me; rather, it makes me think of the flood of lightweights (Poison, Warrant, Winger, Slaughter, Great White, Bon Jovi, et al) that flooded the charts and dominated MTV during that period. Most seemed hardly deserving of "metal" as a descriptive adjective at all, since they foisted power ballad after power ballad upon us without mercy. A number of the principals, like Kip Winger, now say that their labels made them cut and promote power ballads but deep in their peroxided pouffed souls they really wanted to rock out more, but that sounds like a desperate attempt to grab ex post facto cred. I also want to add that the unapologetic, unironic comeback of this genre as "cool" is one of the most frightening cultural developments of the 21st century. Leppard: Their blistering second album, HIGH 'N' DRY (1981), is my favorite, though I like PYROMANIA and HYSTERIA quite a bit. HYSTERIA could have stood some trimming, and a couple of songs were just godawful ("Love Bites," bleagh!), but "Animal" and the title track had super pop hooks and a quality that damn few songs in this genre ever have -- restraint. In fact, "Hysteria" plays off the listener's expectation that there's going to be some sort of explosive, crescendoing chorus, teasing right to the brink, but then dropping back into the groove again, letting the tension build and build. (To take another example from the '80s, Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" has that ever-so-often split-second burst of fuzzed-out guitar that makes you think a huge guitar solo is in the offing, but it never happens.) It's its own kind of hook, and I dig it. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 10:27:29 -0500 (CDT) From: gSs Subject: Re: cool do the world a favor, fuck a scientologist into conversion. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63143-2002May9.html gSs ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 11:44:06 -0400 From: mary Subject: Re: Those lists (0% RH) I thought it would be interesting to look through my lp/cd collection and come up with my own list of "uncool" items - records, that would cause a reaction of "why on earth do you have this?" Of course, I'd have to disagree with them because, for some reason I do have it! Adam and the Ants - King of the Wild Frontier - fun for party pop music in the 80s? A Ha - Hunting High and Low - loved the video, loved the song, so I bought the lp. Asia - Asia - I love this and I saw them live. That's all I'm going to say. Heart - Dreamboat Annie - I love rockin' chicks. I really should get more of their stuff. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I Love Rock n Roll - well, I do! Journey - Escape - How can you not enjoy singing along to this? Chuck Mangione - An Evening of Magic - I think I inherited this when I was a kid. Boz Scaggs - Hits - hmmm....not sure what to say about this one. Shadowfax - Watercourse Way - very nice, a precursor to the new age movement? Toad the Wet Sprocket - Pale - what was that big hit? Why hasn't this moved in the "to be sold" bin? Was (Not Was) - Are You Okay? - some fun stuff on this but I should rip the songs I like and move this to the "to be sold" bin as well. Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy - too much fun to part with. I'm sure there's plenty more in my collection that folks would turn their nose up at (Midge Ure, Voice of the Beehive, Shakespeare's Sister, Stone Temple Pilots, etc.) but these are the ones that stand out. s.Mary np - Trans Am, Trans Am ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 10:52:59 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: how did i rate? At 10:16 PM 5/9/2002 -0700, drew wrote: >** Thinking of selling this one, actually. I never listen to it anymore >and after _Midnite Vultures_ I can't bear to listen to Beck. >*** Not my favorite. I love "Every Dream Home" of course, but I really >need this on CD so I can skip "The Bogus Man." I feel the need to preface the next remark with "point-counterpoint is the natural dynamic of this sort of list, and it does not reflect a 'Drew is always wrong' viewpoint on the part of the author, who probably agrees with Drew more than half of the time and enjoys Drew's viewpoints even when they're opposed to his own, and does not want to discourage or stymie Drew's expression of such to Fegmaniax in any way, shape, or form. Plus Drew has also copped to owning a Cinderella album, perhaps as unapologetically as the author, so it is in his interest to encourage Drew to remain active and visible." But hoo boy, couldn't disagree more with those two comments. Beck's MIDNITE VULTURES rocks my world on many levels, has become my second-favorite housework record (behind My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult's SEXPLOSION!) and second-favorite driving record (behind Sisters of Mercy's FLOODLAND), and is the best Prince album in many years. While FOR YOUR PLEASURE also isn't my very favorite Roxy Music (that honor goes to STRANDED) it's wonderfully good and I'd never dream of skipping anything on it, especially "The Bogus Man," which seems to me like the best possible result when Roxy veered toward the "art rock" side of their spectrum -- it's oddly paced, disquietingly strange, and IMO creepy and captivating. It also worked surprisingly well live, as VIVA ROXY MUSIC documents. later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 11:01:55 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: Those lists (0% RH) At 11:44 AM 5/10/2002 -0400, mary wrote: >I thought it would be interesting to look through my lp/cd collection and >come up with my own list of "uncool" items - records, that would cause a >reaction of "why on earth do you have this?" Of course, I'd have to >disagree with them because, for some reason I do have it! I don't think you'd get nearly as much flack as you think for owning Adam & the Ants, A-Ha, Joan Jett, Shadowfax, Toad the Wet Sprocket (though I can't stand 'em), Was (Not Was), and Warren Zevon. In fact, I can't see why anyone would give you grief over Zevon and Was (Not Was), two acts I thought of as pretty high in the critical/cool/whatevah pantheon. As for the rest, I'm very with you on Heart (through 1980) and Boz Scaggs (very underrated). Got to leave you on your own about Asia, Chuck Mangione, and the evil bloated pile of dung known as Journey. :-) later, Miles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 12:10:09 -0400 (EDT) From: dmw Subject: Re: cool / not cool On Fri, 10 May 2002, Miles Goosens wrote: > But "hair metal" doesn't connote Def Leppard to me; rather, it makes me > think of the flood of lightweights (Poison, Warrant, Winger, Slaughter, > Great White, Bon Jovi, et al) that flooded the charts and dominated MTV > during that period. Most seemed hardly deserving of "metal" as a > descriptive adjective at all, since they foisted power ballad after power i had the great and memorable misfortune to see great white several years before their fluke hit record -- plodding and uninspired for sure, but nary a ballad to be heard, at least. dunno if that lends credence to the hypothesis that record companies were pushing the bands to play ballads or not. it certainly ought to lend credence to the hypothesis that great white, specifically, really, as they say, blew chunks. me, i blame the scorpions' "still loving you" for creating the whole wretched genre. certainly bands like styx and journey had penned similarly sappy numbers earlier on, but i don't think anyone would ever have called them "metal." i really think the scorps tune was the first to demonstrate the full hair-metal power-ballad format: harmonically simple, with a stoopid obvious hook repeated ad infinitum, with both a melodic guitar solo (or section) and a shreddy one. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 18:08:36 +0200 From: Sebastian Hagedorn Subject: Re: even more lists (0 % RH) - --On Thursday, May 09, 2002 15:03:35 -0400 mary wrote: > D'oh! Would help if I included the urls. > > Cool: > > Uncool: Late for the party: Cool VU: White Light/White Heat Massive Attack: Protection Beatles: Revolver Bjvrk: Vespertine Strokes: Is This It Uncool Supertramp: Breakfast In America (only on tape) ELO: A New World Record (great album!) - -- Sebastian Hagedorn Ehrenfeldg|rtel 156 50823 Kvln http://www.spinfo.uni-koeln.de/~hgd/ Being just contaminates the void - Robyn Hitchcock ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 12:13:46 -0400 From: Mike Mojo Subject: RE: even more lists (2 % RH) "Put your list down and step away from the list...." When we last left our witless and hapless one he was wondering why Rolling Stone did not put itself on the uncool list? Not since the time of PF flyers, click clacks and burning draft cards has RS been cool OK nice covers yeah but kind of weak on actual music content and all those freaking tip in cards, Columbia house ads, etc Once I remove all of those cards- the magazine it seemed to get remarkably thinner. When they started writing about stuff other than music then they headed down the road to...oblivion imho What did Zappa say about rock and roll journalism is written by people who can't write for people who can't read or something to that effect? Perhaps he had RS in mind? Well not to lambaste them too much they do get good writers but not enough to write about music. I for one have always sought the alternative to RS only cause it could not feed the hunger in me brain Here is a list (gasp not another list)of where I've been: Bucketfull of Brains- lo fi and no cool vs uncool lists but I still have the Robyn flexy disc of "Happy the Prince" from their issue with him- crap I almost said "Happy the Man"- eek gad got to keep my bands straight. Trouser Press- Now that was a COOL mag that got me through college, still no cool vs uncool lists, actual musical content too Mojo Magazine- Their use of my last name not withstanding, delivers real content about music plus they actually ship out CD's with " music" in some issues(subscribers) and none of those annoying tip in cards/adverts Leave it to the British to get it right. My friends come to use my bathroom just to read the back issues. They don't have any cool vs uncool lists but they do make cool lists like the best 100 LPs, Best 100 Songs, etc. sometimes picked by actual musicians and not some cool or uncool journalist... Hey its only a list sorry but I digress Now back to our regular scheduled COOL list of fegs L8r Moj Mike Mojo mmojo@palisade.com "Ich bin ein Holzfdller und f|hl mich stark Ich schlaf des Nachts und hack am Tag..." Monty Python ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 12:20:59 -0500 (CDT) From: David Witzany Subject: AC/DC goes country Sebastian Hagedorn asks: Apropos: does anybody know what band does country/folk covers of AC/DC? A pub I sometimes go to often plays an entire album's worth of this stuff, but I've never asked what that band's name is... The group is called Hayseed Dixie. Like lots of novelties, the thrill wears off pretty quickly, unless you're especially tuned to the source material or the genre of the novelty version. (I have the first Dread Zeppelin album, but don't listen to it; I do occasionally dig out Big Daddy's Gregorian chant EP done as the Benzedrine Monks, however). The album is called "Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC", bu the way. Their next album does similar honors for the group Mountain Love. Dave. David Witzany witzany@uiuc.edu ...."That's me in the corner; that's me in the spotlight..." - ------------ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 10:58:41 -0700 (PDT) From: bayard Subject: New media at glasshotel.net ("We can listen to Eminem!") Fegs, Thanks to the loverly Jill Brand, and Matt Sewell (a gentleman and a scholar), we have these: Robyn's acting debut is here, in MPEG format: http://www.glasshotel.net/video (It's my fault the quality is so-so - Jill had to make a generated copy for me after I recorded the Simpsons over the good version) A Radio 2 interview is here: http://www.glasshotel.net/audio/ The date on this one is August 10, 2001. Thanks Matt! Thanks Jill! Thanks smoe! Don't forget to check out the new Travis album... =b - -- http://glasshotel.net ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 13:07:17 -0500 From: "Mike Wells" Subject: Send in the Hairspray miles: > But "hair metal" doesn't connote Def Leppard to me; rather, it makes me > think of the flood of lightweights (Poison, Warrant, Winger, Slaughter, > Great White, Bon Jovi, et al) that flooded the charts and dominated MTV > during that period. > Leppard: Their blistering second album, HIGH 'N' DRY (1981), is my > favorite, though I like PYROMANIA and HYSTERIA quite a bit. HYSTERIA could > have stood some trimming, and a couple of songs were just godawful ("Love > Bites," bleagh!), but "Animal" and the title track had super pop hooks and > a quality that damn few songs in this genre ever have -- restraint. dmw: > it certainly ought to lend > credence to the hypothesis that great white, specifically, really, as they > say, blew chunks. I couldn't, in a manner of speaking, after a fashion, not putting too fine a point on it, really, agree more. Well, for sure about the chunk-blowing bit. But not about the Lep. Leppard did predate that tripe but there's no business lumping them in with metal bands - and that's not a detraction. They were, as you observed, hookier and more accessible and as such found a wide audience. Where I lived this audience was mostly jocks (which is likely coloring my overall opinion of the band), and I never really found that much in the music that was interesting. It all sounded rather saccharine and contrived, but at least was kind of catchy. But not Kip Winger, et al. That stuff was godawful. Did somebody say this is (coming) back? Why, as population control? It was Judas Priest that effectively changed my listening habits for years with "British Steel" in 1980. Iron Maiden's "Killers" followed in 1981, and by the time Metallica's "Kill 'em All" and the Crue's " Shout at the Devil" arrived in 1983 I was done for (and hell, that wasn't even 'metal' per se, some of my buddies were into stuff I found unlistenable). Plus there was Rush, Ted Nugent, the Clash, Styx, Talking Heads, etc. to deal with. Michael "don't forget Juice Newton" Wells ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 14:41:23 -0500 From: Miles Goosens Subject: Re: Send in the Hairspray At 01:07 PM 5/10/2002 -0500, Mike Wells wrote: >Leppard did predate that tripe but there's no business lumping them in with >metal bands - and that's not a detraction. They were, as you observed, hookier >and more accessible and as such found a wide audience. Where I lived this >audience was mostly jocks (which is likely coloring my overall opinion of the >band), I think my listening habits are a lot less colored by these sort of things because I went to a small high school (around 300 people in three grades) in a place where there weren't a lot of social strata, or at least not along stereotypical lines. I mean, there were "in" crowds and such, but they weren't based around class, since "middle-class" was about as high of a socioeconomic status as there was, and you had football players who played in the band (and who marched and played in concerts when it wasn't football season), cheerleaders in science classes, smart kids playing sports, and so forth. Hanging out with the pot-smoking guys got me into AC/DC, Priest, Pink Floyd, and Zep, and I never have had bad associations with that music or really learned to dislike it. I might feel differently if we'd had jocks hepped up on Ozzy and pills terrifying the "A" students, but we didn't. It was pretty much hard rock/metal = potheads/vo-tech students, slavishly following the top 40 = everyone else. So it was me and the guys playing 8-tracks in the junior high boy's room who liked Def Leppard first, and the majorettes and flag girls (the same girls who yelled "turn that noise down!" just a few months before) who came back to school in August 1983 wearing that cut-off fringed Def Leppard t-shirt and wanting to do fire baton routines to (heh) PYROMANIA songs. On the rest of my music, which took its current path in 1980 when I discovered the Clash and Springsteen, I was always pretty much a minority of one. For instance, I was the only kid listening to punk or New Wave, and until I saw VALLEY GIRL, I had no idea that in larger schools, there were social ramifications to your music choices and you couldn't like both at once. My friend Dawn, who grew up here in Nashville, to this day hates Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Split Enz, Talking Heads, and anything else she associates with snobby prep kids, even though she's supersmart, loves wordplay, and would have been a natural fan of these groups under different circumstances. Listening to either Talking Heads *or* the Sex Pistols made me different than the other kids! Of course, the plus side is that I could just like whatever I liked without thinking "the sweater-around-the-neck preps were playing this at their cotillion when they laughed at me" or "the steroid-addled wrestler had this in his 8-track player when he tied me to the bumper of his Trans Am." >It was Judas Priest that effectively changed my listening habits for years >with "British Steel" in 1980. Iron Maiden's "Killers" followed in 1981, and by >the time Metallica's "Kill 'em All" and the Crue's " Shout at the Devil" >arrived in 1983 I was done for (and hell, that wasn't even 'metal' per se, >some of my buddies were into stuff I found unlistenable). Plus there was Rush, >Ted Nugent, the Clash, Styx, Talking Heads, etc. to deal with. Our metal discussions were always Priest vs. AC/DC for metal champs, though everyone seemed to like Van Halen and Ozzy too. Maiden never caught on at that level, at least in that place and time, though I encountered plenty of guys at college who were seriously into Maiden. Most of us regarded the Crue as poseurs in it for a quick buck. Metallica had started a buzz when I graduated in '85, but they don't seem like one of "my" metal groups at all. I think they belong more to the folks who were a few years younger than me, like my brother-in-law. There were always some guys into Rush. I considered becoming a fan when was 13 or 14, but (1) I lacked the muso bent that often drives obsessive Rush fandom, and (2) my two forays into actually listening to them, 2112 and A FAREWELL TO KINGS, both bored the living bejeezus out of me, even with me at an age where I should have been particularly receptive to "Cygnus X-1." An classmate who'd had a brief Bowie phase offered me a straight up LOW-for-FAREWELL TO KINGS trade, and I pounced on that puppy. Best music trade I've ever made. later, Miles ------------------------------ End of fegmaniax-digest V11 #153 ********************************