Hair Band Nostalgia
Friday night, I saw a local band called
Blind
Luck belt out hard rock classics from AC/DC,
Bad Company, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Black Crowes
and more. The experience left me with a nostalgia
for the hair band days of the 1980s that I haven't
felt in years. I spent the morning scouring the
Internet for music files (legal ones, of course) of
all of my favorite hair bands. Listening to such
cheesy hits like "Sister Christian" by Night
Ranger, "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister and "Round
and Round" by Ratt took me back to a much more
carefree time in my life.
I did some stupid things during those late
teenage years (who didn't?), and sometimes regret
my decision not to go straight to college. But
those three years between graduating from high
school and going into the Navy left me with
memories of an idyllic period in my life that will
probably never come again. Only the freedom and
impetuousness of youth can produce such
happy-go-lucky days.
The image police and fashion patrol have long
since taken over the streets of Del Mar, but in
those bygone days, we owned the town. Seagrove Park
served as headquarters for us "Aardvarks" (I never
quite knew how that epithet came about), where we
whiled away sunny summer days drinking suds and
listening to the acoustic jams of fleet-fingered
Mark
Waddell. The walls of "The Cave" at Ed Nucci's
house reverberated with the sounds of Zeppelin on
many a night. And Aardvarks sometimes prowled the
bluffs of Torrey Pines State Park in the days when
park rangers were a mellower bunch.
Hair bands also got me through the Navy. In boot
camp, music of any kind was verboten. But as
"yeoman" of my company, I had certain privileges,
one of which was to handle the mail and lock up
anything forbidden. Thus, when a family member sent
me a Sony Walkman, I had access to it whenever the
coast was clear. The next chance I had, I purchased
a cassette tape of Van Halen's self-titled album at
the Navy Exchange. "Running with the Devil" gave me
the fortitude to put up with the indoctrination of
the following eight weeks. Similarly, I think of my
time onboard the USS Ranger whenever I hear the
pulsing tones of Great White. On my way to the Gulf
War, I spent many a night lying in my bunk,
listening to "Rock Me" and "Lady Red Light,"
reminiscing about good times and good friends.
In my experience, music is second only to smell
when it comes to having the power to evoke
memories. Countless songs tie back directly to a
specific moment in my life, taking me back whenever
I hear them. For me, then, music is more than just
entertainment for the present, it is a window to
the past. And hair bands open a window on some of
the best times of my life.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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I have long called
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Previously...
4/25:
Consequences
4/24:
Lemon
Curry?
4/23:
My
Father Midas
4/22:
Earth
Day
4/21:
Joshua
Tree, Part III
4/20:
Joshua
Tree, Part II
4/19:
Joshua
Tree, Part I
4/18:
Royal
Flush
4/17:
A
Long Strange Trip
4/16:
A
New Line to Back
4/15:
Still
Writing
4/14:
Conspiracy
Theory
4/13:
Los
Coronados
4/12:
Y2K
in Y2K3
4/11:
Slow
Glass
4/10:
Freedom
of Speech
4/9:
Why
We're Fighting
4/8:
Eucalyptus
Memories
4/7:
Sleep
4/6:
Writing,
Just Not Here
4/5:
Sci-Files
Trivia
4/4:
Sobering
Up
4/3:
Great
White Hope
4/2:
Entropy
4/1:
Peace
on Earth
Previous months in
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