Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Attack of the 50-foot woman - 25 years later



LIKE MANY THINGS, I take music for granted. And that's a shame.

Perhaps it's because I play in a classic rock cover band which plays just about every weekend. Maybe it's because Sheryl and I own Second String Music. Maybe it's because we are around it so much.

But this morning I watched the above YouTube video and got a new appreciation for the absolute power of music.

To prove it, I am now listening to one of the best albums of all time, The Completion Backwards Principle by The Tubes. This band was one of the best and most underrated group to come out of a very bad time in pop music, the early 1980s. It was one of the first cassette tapes I ever bought, and I wore it out. I knew every word of every song. I wanted to be lead singer Fee Waybill. I saw them in concert a couple of times and loved everything about them, from their quirky songs to the awesome studio guitar work of Steve Lukather on "Talk To Ya Later."

My friend Dale Winner has a Completion Backwards Principle tour jacket that hung in the store for a while. I am offering him $7 million for it. I'd pay it if I had it. How about $7, Dale?

At Christmas I got some iTunes money and downloaded the album. I've tried to listen to the whole thing a couple of times but either got distracted, fell asleep or got distracted before falling asleep.

So tonight I am determined to listen to the whole thing, and now I'm going back in time because I haven't heard most of these songs for 25 years.

Good grief. I STILL know just about every word to every song. Guh.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Amnesia and Mr. Hate are taking me back, and I mean waaaaayyyyy back. God lord, was I a high school loser. Yup. THAT far back.

I can remember playing I Don't Want To Wait Anymore and pining over a girl from East Kentwood High School. Well, I waited. I think. Wait, it's coming back to me now ... the less said, the better.

I remember blasting this album out of a cheap boom box when I worked at the Christian Reformed Recreation Center in Grand Rapids, Mich. One of my jobs was waiting by a gate for cars to come in and park. If they didn't have a sticker, they were charged a dollar. Dutch, if you know what I mean. Some people tried to talk me out of it, but it was hard to hear over Fee belting out "I'M NOT GONNA FRY YOUR BURGERS .... YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!"

Have I mentioned how much I love Fee? In a music appreciation way, of course. It's A Matter of Pride.

So. When I get to be like the guy in the video above, 99 and feeble in a nursing home, put the headphones over my shriveled ears and crank up The Completion Backwards Principle. Or Who's Next. Or October. Or Avalon.

I'll go back and revive.

What the heck was that Kentwood girl's name, anyway?
 

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