Talking to Soundmaster recently (in the Godless Endeavor thread) got me feeling a bit nostalgic about some specific periods when I first heard some of my favorite albums. Below are two. Feel free to post your own. You know, where were you when......
....that kind of thing.
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
We lived in a small town in Missouri when I was a kid. We used to go to the great big town of Springfield on occasion for shopping and whatnot. I always saved up my bucks (what few I had) to buy a new tape or album - there was shyte for record stores in my area. One of the older kids on my school bus route was constantly annoyed with me because I was a little music fanatic and I was always asking him to loan me stuff to turn me on to new things, which he obligingly did, to his credit. I still remember hearing Scorpions Lovedrive for the first time because of this arrangement. Anyway, he told me one day, "I think you'd like Iron Maiden." On the strength of that alone I bought NOTB on tape that day in Springfield. I stared at it all the way home (two hours) and hurriedly plugged it into my little tape deck when we got home. Whoa! I remember full well saying to my brother (literally) "This is what I've been looking for!" He still tells that story back to me. I wore that damned tape OUT. I took it to music class once in the fourth grade for "bring a song to play the class day." Ha. My small-town-teacher looked at the cover and asked me, "Does your mother know you have this...?" She was beside herself. Other students had brought things like Olivia Newton John and Gordon Lightfoot. I made her play Invaders for the class, and she was so scared by it that she kept turning it way down to talk to some of the other students about anything that she could come up with, just trying to avoid the song. It was awesome.
Metallica - Master of Puppets
I'd had Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning, and though I liked them, Metallica was far from my favorite band. My brother beat me to buying Master of Puppets so I asked him if I could borrow it. He just said, "Sure, I don't really like it that much...." the dope. The next day I had a "band trip" for school (I played the trombone - haha.) I brought my walkman. About a half hour into the busride I put in Master of Puppets and proceeded to sit in awe of its greatness. It was the first time I heard it. Metallica was still nobody at this time and I remember looking around my immediate area on the bus to find somebody to talk to, somebody to say, "Jesus, you gotta hear this..." to. You have to remember Metallica was considered brutally heavy at this time. I didn't see anybody who would be interested (nor did I know anybody in my whole town who would be interested), so I just sat there listening to it, feeling like I had a piece of gold in my hand that I couldn't share with anybody, that I couldn't show to anybody - an invisible piece of gold. I spent the day on some college campus where the band dealy went down, walking around and listening to it over and over. It was one of those times, and I've had a few sense, when I was utterly aware that I was listening to something for the 2nd time, the 3rd time...you know, and knowing I could never ever repeat that. The first time is WOW, the 2nd is, "Oh JESUS, I forgot about this song..." and on down the line.
When I got home I traded something to my brother for it. He thought he really made out. In time I think he realized a little more how good it was, but it was too late to take it back. Haha. I did sell a few of my friends on it eventually, but I think, ultimately, it was too heavy for them. Ironic that those friends love Metallica today, and probably remember how it all went down completely differently. The bastards.
I have tons of memories like this tied to albums like:
Scorpions - Blackout
King Diamond - Abigail
Slayer - Show No Mercy
Led Zeppelin - I
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
etc.
etc.
I'll give the floor to someone else though....
...maybe a "first concert" thread might be cool too, if anyone is up for it.
....that kind of thing.
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
We lived in a small town in Missouri when I was a kid. We used to go to the great big town of Springfield on occasion for shopping and whatnot. I always saved up my bucks (what few I had) to buy a new tape or album - there was shyte for record stores in my area. One of the older kids on my school bus route was constantly annoyed with me because I was a little music fanatic and I was always asking him to loan me stuff to turn me on to new things, which he obligingly did, to his credit. I still remember hearing Scorpions Lovedrive for the first time because of this arrangement. Anyway, he told me one day, "I think you'd like Iron Maiden." On the strength of that alone I bought NOTB on tape that day in Springfield. I stared at it all the way home (two hours) and hurriedly plugged it into my little tape deck when we got home. Whoa! I remember full well saying to my brother (literally) "This is what I've been looking for!" He still tells that story back to me. I wore that damned tape OUT. I took it to music class once in the fourth grade for "bring a song to play the class day." Ha. My small-town-teacher looked at the cover and asked me, "Does your mother know you have this...?" She was beside herself. Other students had brought things like Olivia Newton John and Gordon Lightfoot. I made her play Invaders for the class, and she was so scared by it that she kept turning it way down to talk to some of the other students about anything that she could come up with, just trying to avoid the song. It was awesome.
Metallica - Master of Puppets
I'd had Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning, and though I liked them, Metallica was far from my favorite band. My brother beat me to buying Master of Puppets so I asked him if I could borrow it. He just said, "Sure, I don't really like it that much...." the dope. The next day I had a "band trip" for school (I played the trombone - haha.) I brought my walkman. About a half hour into the busride I put in Master of Puppets and proceeded to sit in awe of its greatness. It was the first time I heard it. Metallica was still nobody at this time and I remember looking around my immediate area on the bus to find somebody to talk to, somebody to say, "Jesus, you gotta hear this..." to. You have to remember Metallica was considered brutally heavy at this time. I didn't see anybody who would be interested (nor did I know anybody in my whole town who would be interested), so I just sat there listening to it, feeling like I had a piece of gold in my hand that I couldn't share with anybody, that I couldn't show to anybody - an invisible piece of gold. I spent the day on some college campus where the band dealy went down, walking around and listening to it over and over. It was one of those times, and I've had a few sense, when I was utterly aware that I was listening to something for the 2nd time, the 3rd time...you know, and knowing I could never ever repeat that. The first time is WOW, the 2nd is, "Oh JESUS, I forgot about this song..." and on down the line.
When I got home I traded something to my brother for it. He thought he really made out. In time I think he realized a little more how good it was, but it was too late to take it back. Haha. I did sell a few of my friends on it eventually, but I think, ultimately, it was too heavy for them. Ironic that those friends love Metallica today, and probably remember how it all went down completely differently. The bastards.
I have tons of memories like this tied to albums like:
Scorpions - Blackout
King Diamond - Abigail
Slayer - Show No Mercy
Led Zeppelin - I
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
etc.
etc.
I'll give the floor to someone else though....
...maybe a "first concert" thread might be cool too, if anyone is up for it.
