100 Concerts / Opening Act Part 2

Before I jump into my individual concert experiences, I'd like to share a little about my musical influences while growing up and how I came to be such a music fiend and persistent concert-goer.

My late father, Al, was a music lover. He was an accomplished violinist as a teenager and as an adult he collected LP's, mostly symphonies, standards and Broadway soundtracks. Against the wishes of the rest of our household, Dad loved to crank up the orchestral music as loud as his crappy 1970s hi-fi living room speakers would allow.  It wasn't rock music but he had his own jams for sure.

My parents were settling down into suburban New Jersey married life in the late 1950's just as Elvis Presley and rock'n'roll began to shape pop culture forever.  By the time The Beatles made their historic debut on 'The Ed Sullivan Show" in February, 1964, they already had two kids, my sister Libby was 4 years old and my brother Roger was 1.  For Al and my mom Lois, the Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion groups of the 1960s arrived too late to capture their imaginations. Instead of being weened on Dylan, Donovan and The Doors, we got Broadway soundtracks from "The Music Man", "South Pacific" and "The Most Happy Fella" - yes, show tunes of the 1950's were the main diet of music we heard as a family each Sunday morning.

To my folks' credit they would also throw in edgier material like "Hair" and "A Chorus Line", each with not-so-subtle sex and drug references. We never really did get around to discussing "Ass 10, Looks 3" from "A Chorus Line" or that "Hair" diddy, "Sodomy".  Whatever they exposed us to (Barbra Streisand, Perry Como etc.) at least we got to listen to music, and lots of it.

They ask me why I'm such a hairy guy...

In Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical film "Almost Famous", the protagonist is William,  a teenage boy in the '70s. Through sheer talent and a little bit of luck, William, still in high school, becomes a rock journalist for "Rolling Stone" magazine.  There is a scene in this movie that struck a chord with me (no pun intended).  William discovers the joys of rock music while he flips one-by-one through his older sister's killer record collection of influential artists and memorable album covers. His sister leaves him a note, "Listen to 'Tommy' with a candle burning and you will see your entire future." The Who's "Sparks" plays, setting into motion William's adventure. 

The back cover of "Piano Man" used to kinda freak me out.

This scene perfectly captured the amazement I often experienced while growing up with my older sister and brother. I absorbed as much as I could about their favorite music and artists, forming my own tastes along the way.

Remember when LP's came with cool posters?

Libby's LP collection consisted of artists as dangerous and controversial as The Osmonds, The Carpenters, Cher, and John Denver.  One day I was startled to hear loud bells clanging, a noisy, beautiful cacophony of sonic chaos. My ears perked up. I walked down the hall and saw a strange-looking poster of pyramids. The music ("Time") and the poster (shown here) were part of the same masterpiece - Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side Of The Moon".  My Spidey senses told me there was a lot more out there in the world than Donny Osmond.

Meet The New Boss.

My brother Roger is nearly 5 years older than me. I remember that as a teenager he became a passionate music fan. Some of his favorites at the time included Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, The Beatles, and more.  One Saturday afternoon, Springsteen's voice loudly filled the air. Our father screamed for my brother to "turn down the goddamned record player!"  only the music was too goddamned loud for my brother to hear him scream.  My father solved this problem by storming into Roger's room and ripping the goddamned record needle off the goddamned vinyl. Music that our parents hate? That appeals immediately to kids on some level, doesn't it? I knew something was different in this equation. I knew this music was something I needed to know more about, something I needed in my life.

The first album I bought with my own money.

My musical tastes were developing, thanks in large part to FM radio of the late '70s and early '80s (Queen, Styx, Foreigner, Boston, Dire Straits were a few favorites). But this post-disco / stadium rock era  made it difficult to get exposed to newer, edgier music (punk wasn't mainstream, New Wave hadn't arrived yet). I had yet to really digest the majority of the Classic Rock catalogs of The Who, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills & Nash and others that would eventually consume me.

In 1982, I was  a gawky 14-year old high school freshman (long before I became the gawky 44-year-old writer of this blog).  I would come home from school and spend hours watching MTV for the thrill of discovering new artists and new video "tricks" (cue the smoke machine), and of course such legendary hair-do's as the lead singer from A Flock Of Seagulls.

JJ Jackson, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn, & Alan Hunter

Some of my early MTV video memories include Devo, Haircut 100, Madness, The Specials, Pat Benatar,  Aldo Nova, Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, Missing Persons, Culture Club, and of course the prolific Adam & The Ants.

It was a tapestry of sounds, looks, fashions, tight pants and overexposed lip-synching videos shot on all-white stages. The variety was interesting but, like eating a box of Pop Tarts, not satisfying.

Somewhere around this time, I remember seeing a band called "U-2" and their no-frills video for "Gloria".  I immediately took a liking to these mysterious scruffy Irishmen.

Soon after "Gloria", there they were again, these nameless U2 dudes (now minus the mistakenly placed hyphen). There they were, riding horses in the snow (thanks, bigger budget!).  "All is quiet on New Year's Day" the lead singer growled (I didn't even know his name yet).  The piano, the guitar, the drums, the bass, their style - I was hooked on this song and this group!

Fast-forward to the summer of 1983. Roger was home from college when he asked me if I wanted to go with him to see U2.

My first concert!  My life was about to change...