Karen Booth
I just scored my tickets to see Duran Duran in Washington, DC on October 16th and I feel like I’m about to leap out of my skin. I’ve admittedly been on a bit of a DD kick for the last year or so, mostly due to the new record, which I LOVE. I haven’t LOVED a DD record since “Rio”. Parts of “Seven and the Ragged Tiger” are great and I’ve liked something from every record since, but I adore the new one. Just ask my kids. It’s all we listen to in the car. So, yes, it would have been easy to pick “Hungry Like the Wolf” or one of my favorites like “Nightboat”, but I thought it best to celebrate the present.
Duran Duran “All You Need Is Now”
This month marks one year of my blog. One of the best parts of doing the Rock ‘n’ Roll High School series has been discovering universal American teenage truths. Here’s one: guys are torn when it comes to Rush. They’re either unwilling to admit they liked them or they openly bemoan what their appreciation of Rush did to their social life (again, we come back to Rush as the so-called male chastity belt). They might say the band had a profound influence on them, but it always comes with a caveat, usually something about how girls and sex and Rush don’t mix. I have yet to hear from someone who says, “I loved Rush, they were my favorite band, everybody thought I was cool and my girlfriend and I made out while we listened to “Limelight” as much as I wanted.” Nope. Pretty sure that guy does not exist (although Lord knows if he does, I will hear from him). Girls had it easy. There were never any expectations of us liking Rush. If one of us did, well, good for her. Even today, when I can appreciate the reason Rush were/are so popular, I find myself rolling my eyes when my son wants to listen to “Tom Sawyer” in the car. I’m thinking, “Boys and their Rush.”
Greg Di Gesu
De Paul High School, Wayne NJ, Class of ’83, Currently: Urban gardener, audio engineer, & performing songwriter, www.gregsounds.com & www.gregd.bandcamp.com
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: Billy Joel’s “Prelude/Angry Young Man”. At the pep rallies in our small high school gym (a Catholic school, take note), the cheerleaders used to do their routine to the long instrumental introduction. I always found it strange yet strangely appealing. That song brings me back to those moments. Go Spartans!
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: Oh man, absolutely hands down my Bad Company mirror that I won down the Jersey Shore at the Seaside Heights boardwalk, tossing rings around bottles or something like that. I was in good form that day. Must’ve been on a church trip, I’d say about 13 years old, totally horny, hell bent on music, and had to win that sweet mirror. And I did.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: Rush. I was into Yes and King Crimson for my progressive rock experience. A little more intellectual & less mainstream than Rush. I thought they played real good and all; dug a couple of their radio hits, and……ok, wait Greg, stop right there!! “Tell the truth”, says Greg’s Inner Voice. ‘Noooo, don’t talk back to me’, says Greg. “Greg, just tell Karen and the readers the truth”, whispers Greg’s Inner Voice. ‘Ok, Karen and the readers, please sit down’.
There was a talent show at my high school and during junior year my band Pressure won! (pre-Billy Joel song, mind you, obviously we were on the cutting edge in taking that name). We even had a couple of originals, namely “Luellen” & “Sunday Afternoon”. Pressure won the talent show with a trophy for each band member to prove it along with headnods in the hallways. We were on our way to another win a year later in the school’s Battle of the Bands, or so we thought, until a fellow classmate’s Rush cover-band stepped in as our main competition. We were a non-Rush cover-band and the kings of the Roller Rink over in Bloomingdale, NJ (We got paid a buck for every kid that showed up after the first 50..that’s more than I make playing music today!!). We played parties, battle of the bands, even a “special needs” home where one of the residents danced and screamed “Elvis! Elvis! at our bass player, while we tackled our repertoire from The Clash to Cream to Donnie Iris and The Cruisers. No Elvis covers. We were good kids and we happened to rock. This would be around 1982-1983, the absolute height of Pressure-mania that was sweeping across Passaic County and nearly spreading into Bergen County, but not quite. In the end our performance did not yield another victory. The Rush cover-band won. To this day I love Yes and King Crimson.
Best show or concert you saw in high school: I’m gonna have to go with a tie for first here and also thank the U.S. Army. My brother Gary was a cadet at West Point and at this time I was 14. He took me to see my 2 first shows ever. On separate occasions I saw Gorge Carlin & Harry Chapin! Got Harry’s autograph and still do. I learned Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”, along with the rest of the world. They were both great shows. My oldest brother Jon took me to my first big show at the Brendan Byrne Arena. The Police with Black Uhuru opening on the “Ghost in the Machine” tour in 1982, awesome!!
Optional bonus question: Best high school make-out song: Well, I was a pretty good kid in high school. I was an athlete and academically aligned. Until, however, John Lennon was killed. Then I was a high school junior teaching myself guitar a few months away from my first song. No sex, drugs, or rock ‘n’ roll just yet. I was responsible! I waited ’til college. My virginity wasn’t released until I was 19!! I say it loud and proud. Good Italian-Catholic upbringing with family military discipline underneath. I was a bit ‘moralized’ by the Catholic Church and anti-abortion in my stance back then, which cultivated an early abstinence in the disciplined athletico-militarily-Italianized-Pasta e fagioli boy that I was. It wasn’t until my progress as a human that led to my feminism (BIG gender-equal thank you to all the women who brought me to protest for reproductive rights in the 80’s on Capitol Hill!). And yes I’m an Ani DiFranco fan and yes I do cry to Joni Mitchell records.
But I digress . . . When I was “dating” my 1st reverend’s daughter, there were some great 80’s hits that served as the soundtrack to life. My then girlfriend, who was older by a couple of years and pursuing a nursing career, babysat for Merryl Streep, who happened to live behind her nursing school in Montclair, NJ. I would drive over to pick her up and also pick through the esteemed actress’ garbage; lots of pasta! For some reason, maybe due to the popularity of this song at that time, the Dexy’s Midnite Runners’ hit, “Come On Eileen” always reminded me of the times I would be with her, how we would make-out and I would only ever get to 2nd base. 3rd?! forget about it! I was no Ricky Henderson, just a homework-doing, Church-going, sports-playing, river-fishing, lawn-cutting, suburban kid. It wasn’t until “my 2nd reverend’s daughter” did I get to 3rd, as well as steal home & a heart, but that’s a different website altogether.
Greg will be performing in a “reunion” show with his band of many years ago, The Wooden Soldiers, who along with Spiral Jetty were part of a very fertile music scene in New Brunswick, NJ during the mid to late 1980’s. Otherwise, you can catch him solo or with his band, Sounds of Greg D www.gregsounds.com
Friday August 12th@Littlefield,622 Degraw St., Brooklyn, NY, Tickets at www.littlefieldnyc.com
First things first, Tommy Keene’s new album “Behind the Parade” hits stores and the interwebs on August 30th. I’ve even heard mention of limited edition vinyl, so keep that in mind when you’re squirreling away your allowance. In the meantime, Tommy agreed to tackle the RNRHS questionnaire. He’s the first of my many respondents to mention having seen Roxy Music live and I must say that I am more than a little jealous, perhaps even green with envy. (And how about this groovy RM photo I unearthed? Bryan, you are rocking the white suit as only you can do.)
Tommy Keene
Walter Johnson High, Bethesda MD, Class of ’76, Currently: I have a new record coming out Aug. 30 called Behind The Parade, on Second Motion Records and we’re doing eight shows in Sept. The 6th in Los Angeles, Silverlake Lounge, 9 Arlington VA- Iota Club and Cafe, 10 Brooklyn NY-The Rock Shop, 11- Boston MA-Church, 13 Cleveland OH-The Grog Shop, 14 Milwaukee WI-Shank Hall, 15 Chicago IL-Schuba’s and St. Paul MN-The Turf Club
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: Kind of too numerous to mention, some stand outs would be David Bowie-Ziggy Stardust, Roxy Music-Siren, Be Bop Deluxe-Sunburst Finish and many others!!!
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: I bought a poster of The Who at the Quadrophenia show at The Capitol Center in 1973 that had all their faces on the mirrors of a mod scooter that I had on my bedroom wall for a long time.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: That is a tie between The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers. I saw the Allman’s early on with Duane in the band. I was so bored I wandered around the concourse for an hour and a half. Two drummers and endless, long noodly jams that went nowhere, plus they looked like dirty hippies.
Best show or concert you saw in high school: Hands down, Roxy Music at Lisner Auditorium Dec. 75 during the Siren tour.
Optional bonus question: Best high school make-out song: I really don’t have one but I remember in Jr. High- seventh grade at my first make out party, they turned the lights down low and everybody started getting to it. I put the album “Tommy” by The Who on the stereo and was having a Keith Moon air drum moment when the girl I was supposed to be making out with turned to her friend and said, “He’s just so flipped out on music”.
Tommy Keene’s latest is Behind the Parade. You can learn more about Tommy at tommykeene.com.
Here it is the dead of summer and such is the life of the writer and blogger that I just don’t have the energy to hound people for their Rock N Roll High School Q&A. You know who you are. So, in the interest of fun and not wanting to break a sweat, I’m running a “Best Of RNRHS”, this week starting with the question: “What is the band or song that most reminds you of high school?”. If you are one of my past participants and I didn’t pick one of your answers, don’t get your undies in a bunch. There are four more questions to go, plenty of time to “lobby” me with free drinks.
Stuart Nichols, Money Wrangler at Universal Pictures
New Order. Specifically, the release of the double cassette (!) version of Substance seemed to perfectly synch up with my time in high school. I spent a lot of time on Boy Scout trips, family vacations, and school road trips with the headphones on during my glum teenager phase. My favorite song was probably “Procession”- How could any morose 16-year-old resist these lyrics:
“At night it gets cold and you’d dearly like to turn away
An escape that fails
Makes the wounds that time won’t heal alone
Alone, alone, alone”
Combine this with the fun Ian Curtis backstory and you’ve got yourself a recipe for good times!
Jim Wilbur, I work from the back of a used bookstore and play rock music with the Superchunk band
The indie/punk rock canon of the mid 1980′s was core to me. I’m talking about the Minutemen, Husker Du, The Replacements, Minor Threat, you know, those guys…. but I was also totally into Bruce Springsteen and Steely Dan. I didn’t see it as blasphemy to worship from different pews. Still don’t.
Kerry Cantwell, College Success Instructor, Drummer for Actual Persons Living or Dead & Scene of the Crime Rovers
High school, to be brief, sucked. I disliked the school, I disliked the students, I disliked my friends, I disliked everything. My only saving grace was my own self-imposed melancholia. I think the song (and album, frankly) that reminds me the most of high school is probably “Black Celebration” by Depeche Mode. It encapsulated the gloominess I believed I was experiencing. The worst part is that I was a good kid: didn’t drink or smoke or sleep with people. I just sat in my room with my candles and my white Christmas lights and wrote ridiculously tortured poems and listened to Depeche Mode all the time. Geez, even I think that’s so boring!
Jill (Tomlinson) Mango, Independent Music Publicist, mom of 3
Definitely Wang Chung’s “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” — not because I was a fan, but because they were the first rockstars (using the term loosely, here folks) I ever met. Wang Chung came to my Junior Prom in 1987. They played a show in Providence and were returning to the Biltmore Hotel, scene of my prom, when a friend of mine spotted them in the elevator and convinced them to come up to the ballroom. I recognized them instantly (the DJ was also playing every single Wang Chung record he had with him), ditched my date and ran up to have my photo taken with Wang or was it Chung?
Celia Rivenbark, Syndicated Humor Columnist and Author of six Books including “You Don’t Sweat Much for a Fat Girl” coming out in August
Derek & the Dominos/Layla. I bought the album for fifty cents from the cutest boy in high school because he was starving and wanted to buy two ice cream sandwiches. I had wanted the album forever but it was too pricey for me. Paul Dixon, wherever you are, thanks for a sweet deal for us both. Best. Album. Ever. Honorable mention: Traffic’s Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys. Delicious. Still listen to it at least once a week when I’m ridin’ around.
Thomas Juliano, Guitarist for Seven Mary Three
“The Spirit of Radio” Rush. I know, I know. Shut up! Don’t judge me!
Amy Barefoot, The Boss of Me at Barefoot Public, Inc.
The hair metal bands of the 80’s were really unavoidable for me. For some reason I morphed from worshiping the British pop darlings of Duran Duran to discovering the beauty of the Psychedelic Furs and Echo & The Bunnymen on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack to landing straight in the middle of a big heap of neon spandex, eyeliner and lots of hair.
I once made a banner for Bon Jovi from a queen-sized sheet that I then strategically placed up my acid washed jean miniskirt along with a roll of duct tape to enter Greensboro Coliseum. I had been told security would confiscate all banners and they would be checking purses. I’m pretty sure I looked like I was seven months pregnant but the crowd cheered as me and my friends unfurled our homemade love letter on a sheet. It was worth the trouble in the end because Jon Bon Jovi mentioned how much he liked it three times during the show. The crowd ripped it to shreds and I actually saw someone walking out with the part of the sheet that had my name on it.
Chris Phillips, Self un-employed musician
I want to say “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers because of the heavy story and hard hitting music. But I bought that at the local grocery store in grade school. So let me fast forward. Hmmmm…just thought of Journey, but thats more like junior high school. Still fast forwarding…wait a minute…Ive got it!
Clarence Carter – “Strokin” !!!! I think we can all agree that this poet merchant of love really tapped into a universal feeling here. He exploded beyond the bounds of Top Ten radio with this one. And what teenage high school student wasn’t singin’ this one in the hallways? Didn’t matter if it was girls or boys, jocks or preps. We were all just finally united against the man and singin’ that song! It was a song of Freedom and revolution. Or was that “Six Pack” by Black Flag that united us against the man?
Sam Stephenson, Author, “The Jazz Loft Project”
“Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley. I grew up in a town of nine thousand people in coastal N.C. (Washington) and we relied heavily on two local pop radio stations – WITN Rock 93 out of Washington, or Chocowinity to be exact, and WSFL 106.5 out of Bridgeton/New Bern. This song was in heavy rotation 1983-84 and I hated it. When I heard its first notes on one of the two stations I’d switch to the other one. Whenever I hear it today I’m taken back to the 1978 Pontiac Firebird that was passed down from my brother to me and suddenly I’m driving out to the mall on a cold, dark winter night, and I’m hitting the radio preset buttons as fast as I can to get to a different tune.
“Union of the Snake” by Duran Duran. During summers, holidays, and Saturdays I worked at Moss Planing Mill, which was a lumber and building supply company. A slightly older co-worker named Sammy Corey had a Buick Regal two-door sedan with a T-top and I remember jumping in his car one day to go to Hardee’s for lunch. He threw in a cassette with this tune cued up and he said, “This is some bad jam,” and we cranked it over to Hardee’s. That sticks with me bigtime.
Jon Wurster, I hit people in the ear with rock and in the stomach with comedy
Two songs that come to mind right away are “Urgent” by Foreigner and “Heat of the Moment” by Asia. I liked neither. Whenever the former comes on the radio I’m transported back to my older brother’s Honda Civic in the winter of ’82 on our way to school. I still think there is nothing crueler than making a teenager get up at six AM to brave freezing winter weather to go to school. I barely graduated and I turned out great. I mean, look how good I right.
When I hear the Asia song I’m back in my friend Matt Thorn’s powder blue Rabbit the following year. We’re bound for the mall to see what exciting new wave LPs have made their way into Music Scene since we visited last week. I play along with Carl Palmer as he does that Ronettes beat but I hit the dashboard too hard and knock out a portion of the Rabbit’s humble stereo system. Matt is rightfully upset with me.
People often assume that I chose high school and music as a recurring topic for my blog because I have a “thing” about high school. Sure, I have a “thing” about high school just like I have a “thing” about old boyfriends and Steely Dan. No–I chose the topic because it’s a universal theme. No matter who you were at that time in your life–Muffy or Biff, burnout or brain, punk-rock girl or priss–you get it. When you hear “that song”, it takes you there. Today’s RNRHS from my good pal Steve Foxbury is a great one, chock full of icons from many musical eras, clearly a fully realized step back in time.
It’s a bit complicated, but in the interest of time, my name is Steven Foxbury
Bishop Moore, Orlando, FL, Class of ’91, Currently: Failed Life Coach (ed’s note: also in an amazing band called The Battle Sigh–check them out here)
Band or song that reminds you most of high school: I’ve always loved music on a very deep level, but not necessarily cool music. My wife has always had a knack for liking cool music, her marriage to me excepted, but me? Not so much. For instance, I absolutely thought that Toad the Wet Sprocket was going to be considered the band of my generation – my generation being the one that came of age in the midst of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, et al. Though these choices may result in my permanent banning from the cool club, these made up the soundtrack to those blissful, pimpled years.
Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd: This was the first song that I learned to play on guitar. My friend, Todd, taught me the intro lead and to this day, it’s one of maybe three lead guitar parts that I know. The theme to the Andy Griffith Show might be one of the others. I’m sure that by now, most readers have moved onto something far more interesting.
Over the Hills and Far Away: Holy shit, did I love Led Zeppelin! The late 80’s are not counted among music’s many golden eras, so I found myself turning to classic rock during that hour of need. So enamored was I with Led Zeppelin, that I drew a giant Icarus mural on my bedroom wall and swore to have it tattooed on my left arm the day that I turned 18. Luckily, that tattoo would have been around $300 and I think that I was 25 before I had $300 at any one time and by then, I had changed my position on this matter.
Stream of consciousness Honorable Mentions: Fishbone, Party at Ground Zero, U.G.L.Y. | The Smiths, pretty much all of it | Roxy Music, Avalon + To Turn You On | Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mother’s Milk | Jane’s Addiction, Nothing’s Shocking | REM – wow, I can’t believe I’m only now getting to them. They were gods to me in high school. I think I’ll stop now.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: Bobby Brown is the only guy that leaps to mind. I dated a girl who was really into him and it just never made sense to me (neither did Kirk Cameron for that matter). He had a song where I think he called girls Roni’s? What the hell does that even mean?
Best show or concert that you saw in high school: Lenny Kravitz and The Cult playing for free in Gainesville. Lenny Kravitz was the opener. He had a broken arm and still put on a better show than most of the able bodied performers I’ve seen. I had to play a show once with a broken elbow and felt about as lively as Bing Crosby on his farewell tour. I don’t remember much of The Cult’s performance except for a vague feeling that they were pretty great as well and that security kept coming on over the PA before their set to say that, “The Cult will not play until everyone in the crowd takes five steps back.” I guess they were worried about Gainsvillieans being trampled due to their awesomeness.
Best high-school make-out song: Hands down – “Somebody”, Depeche Mode: I drove a 1981 white Ford Econoline conversion van in high school, which meant that as a 16 year-old, I would pick up dates in a 1981 white Ford Econoline conversion van. It had corduroy seats, wood paneling and wall to wall to fucking ceiling shag carpeting. Fathers made well-conveyed eyeball threats as I led their daughters away from their homes and their childhoods.
And oh, what mix-tapes would sound from the van’s many, many speakers. The mix-tape roster was a fickle beast, but Somebody by Depeche Mode always made the cut. I made my wife a mix-tape a couple years ago for Christmas and you can bet your sweet ass that Somebody was on it.
Visit the website for Steven’s band The Battle Sigh at: reverberation.com/thebattlesigh.
