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1986 I am driving my mom's car at age 16 through downtown of my hometown listening to the rock station out of Charlotte. They play Tesla's "Modern Day Cowboy" which I had not heard before. Before the song is even over, I turn the car around and head toward a record store where one of my buddies worked. I walked in and said, "Tesla?" He smiled and said it just came in. I bought it on cassette. I had two older sisters and got my love of rock n roll from them. My older sister turned me onto Van Halen. My other sister, the middle child, turned me onto Night Ranger. Tesla was one band I heard first ad I still like them all these years later.
Five years later, a friend and I are going up to Charlotte to meet another friend at Carolina Place Mall, technically Pineville. We're talking while the radio is playing. Song comes up and immediately catches my attention with the opening riff. My friend notices I am transfixed on the radio. He says, you haven't heard this yet? Because I was the one who always knew the new songs. He says it's some new band called Nirvana. The song is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and it was just starting to get airplay. I got into Nirvana quick. I don't remember if I bought the CD that day or if it was even out, but I wore Nevermind out. The thing is as much as I loved Nervermind, their first CD recorded on a shoestring budget was actually better and I still hold that opinion to this day.
Seeing opening acts for favorite bands has also led me to a few of my favorite acts. Another friend and I went to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreaks touring Full Moon Fever in ever 1989 or 1990. He had this idea that we had to get there early when normally I'd wander in sometime after the opening act had played. a black dude came out with dreadlocks. I had no idea who he was, but he was awesome. His songs had a sixties vibe to them. Not really like anything I had heard before. After the set, I went to the men's room and was talking to some guy who was raving on him. I agreed. He said he was married to Lisa Bonet from the "Cosby Show." It was Lenny Kravitz touring his first album. I bought it the next day. One of my ten favorite CDs of my life.
Another opening act I had never heard of was a three piece band named Dada. They opened for Sting in 1993 or 1994. I wondered if they were chosen because they were a three-piece like the Police had been. I don't remember the first song they played, but it was "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" that made me a fan. I just listened to it this morning. Their radio hit at the time was "Dizz Knee Land" and it looked like they were going to become big, but like so many other bands, they had issues with the record company and were never huge. They still have a following on Spotify and Facebook. 2/3rds of the band became 7horse adn the singer records solo work. They got back together for a show on Facebook Live during Covid.
Then there is Drivin N Cryin. A friend handed me a cassette in 1991 or 92 and said listen to it in one sitting, so I did. Great rock album. I loved Fly Me Courageous from the second I first heard it although now I think there are better songs on the record. Courageous got a lot of play on radio and MTV, but like Dada they never reached the success I thought they would. Radio could not label them. Were they classic rock, southern rock or alternative rock? And my answer was YES! They also had record company issues, but still tour pretty regularly.
I have a pretty cool Drivin N Cryin story. I have seen them three times since 2017 and met lead singer Kevn Kinney and bassist Tim Nielson after one of their outdoor shows.
I am a right leg below knee amputee and when I was about to get my second prosthetic I had an idea for a decoration for the leg. But I felt like I needed permission. Their music has helped me a lot. Listening to them during a six month stay in the hospital with sepsis was a great relief and some of their songs really touched me. So I went to a DNC Facebook page and asked if anyone could put me in touch with the band and explained why. Two hours later Kevn Kinney had replied and said I could use any image or song lyric on my leg as I saw fit. So now there's this
One more band that is local to me. Villanova is their name. I kept hearing about them when I moved to Columbia but had never heard them. I was working in the media at the time and one day my reporter said we were going to interview Villanova and then they would play a song for one of our morning show hits. They played and I immediately loved the lead singer's voice. I cannot remember what song it was, but it was an acoustic version whereas most of their stuff is hard rock. They released a CD and started getting airplay on local radio with this song.
They kept touring the east coast and eventually signed a record deal. They changed their name to Weaving the Fate (Get it. WTF) and moved to LA. They recorded some songs and released an EP, but it did not make them stars. The record deal fell though and they came back to Columbia and went back to their original name. They still tour the southeast. The singer gives musical lessons. He still releases new songs.
Growing up in the '80s in a rural area, radio stations played mostly garbage. But we did get MTV, and MTV is actually where I discovered most of the music I later came to love.
One of the first albums I bought was Neil Young's After The Goldrush. I was 14 maybe, when I bought this album. Here's "When You Dance, I can Really Love"
And then, maybe my all time favorite album, and favorite song ever...Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus, Dixie Chicken. I was 18 or 19 I think, when I heard this for the first time.
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