Child of the 1980's - Introduction to Music

                Music has the ability to conjure up emotion without effort.  A favorite song can make a bad day better.  It can make a workout amazing, a road trip epic, a thunderstorm legendary, and so much more. 

                We all have those songs and artists which bring those emotions up within us.  However do you ever stop to think about where it all began?  Not necessarily how you came to love whatever your music of choice is, but how you were first introduced to music period?

                This question does not need to be relegated to a specific time or age group, someone whose first musical love was Justin Bieber is just as valid as someone who saw The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Music is a gateway to the soul. 

                For me as a child of the 1980’s my musical introductions definitely fit the period.  I was a child who owned vinyl albums and a Fisher-Price record player.  I was a child who was amazed by audio cassette tapes and the Sony Walkman.  I was a child who when he became a teenager saw the wide availability of something called a Compact Disc.  It was on compact disc that I purchased the album that changed my life more than any other, Nirvana’s Nevermind in 1991.  I still own that CD despite it having a severe case of CD rot after 26 years.  However I can still remember vividly two musical milestones in my childhood that I will share.  One is the first song I can actually remember playing, two is the first album I remember owning that I really loved.

                The first song that I can remember hearing was (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon. 
     I still have a vivid picture in my head of what that song brings up.  The song itself was released October 24, 1980 as the lead single from his upcoming Double Fantasy album.  The album was a comeback for the former Beatle after spending five years in a semi-retirement.  It comes as no surprise to myself looking back that my introduction to music should be connected to The Beatles as my father grew up as a diehard fan, even a member of the fan club during the mid-1960’s. 

                I have fond memories of hearing that song and album at my Nana’s house.  Though I cannot pinpoint that date I know that it must have been early spring of 1981 as I can remember windows and doors open likely as my Nana would have said ‘to air out the house after winter.’ 

                John Lennon would be murdered on December 8, 1980, only three weeks after Double Fantasy was released.  It catapulted the initially lukewarmly received album into the stratosphere.  After (Just Like) Starting Over other hits would come including Watching the Wheels, Woman, and Beautiful Boy.  It became a sad cap to an amazing musical legacy.

                The first album I remember owning and loving should come as no shock due to my age.  Michael Jackson’s Thriller album dropped just after my 5^th birthday in 1982 and I was given a copy as a Christmas present.  The nine songs became the soundtrack to my life for a time.  There were many an occasion when the openings beats of Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ would be blasting on that Fisher-Price record player that I had conveniently stuck in our living room window so that all of the neighborhood kids could come and dance in the front yard.

                It helped that MTV had videos for Billie Jean, Thriller, and Beat It on constant rotation.  Even if I had not gotten the album for Christmas, I would have been asking for it all of 1983.  The album set all sorts of sales and awards marks.  Representatives for Sony Entertainment who owned Epic Records which released Thriller said in February 2017 that the album has sold over 105 million copies worldwide.

                Michael Jackson became the biggest star in the world and his videos were legendary.  For those under 30 it might be hard to separate the more tragic figure Jackson became from the undeniable musical genius he was in the 1980’s.  Back then he was every bit the King of Pop that he named himself later on.  Thriller is to this day the only full album I have on my iPod.

                What are you first memories of music in your childhood?  No matter what your age is those first memories are strong and can shape your tastes forever.  I can look back today and realize how my parents influenced my musical preferences.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more totally tubular 1980’s memories!

Click here to see my previous Child of the 1980's blog about the Rise of Nickelodeon!

                

Kurt Cobain & Nirvana 20 Years Later

           20 years is a long time by any stretch of the imagination. I am finding it difficult to fathom that it has been 20 years since Kurt Cobain died.  He was the man, well, part of the band Nirvana, which influenced the direction of my life more than anyone.  I am a writer today because of him.  It’s been 20 years, I still remember like it was yesterday.  Forgive me if this all comes out in a rambling haphazard way, I do not like to write blogs like this in a structured way.  I like it to be free flowing from my mind to the screen with little if any editing.

            Before I can remember the end I choose to remember the beginning.  I’ll never forget that night in August 1991.  I was 13; heading into 8^th Grade, summer was coming to a close.  I had been hanging out with my friend Matt and we were in his bedroom when he happened to turn on the radio.  Coming from the tiny speakers was this sound that was unlike anything I had heard before. 

            I only caught the final minute and a half of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ but that was all I needed.  I had to find out who made that sound.  It was as if that song in 90 seconds had tossed a brick through the window of my life revealing something amazing on the other side.  I carefully stepped through and never looked back.  Within a few weeks Nirvana’s Nevermind was released and I bought it.  This was one of the very first compact discs I had ever purchased.  I still have it; the thing was played so much that it is coated with scratches and ‘cd rot.’ It is pretty useless now, but the memories remain.

            Kurt Coabin’s angst in his lyrics spoke to me as to what was going on in my own life.  I was part of a divorced family setting with a stepfather who was not kind to me as I entered my teenage years.  I was not happy with who I was or where I was and thought nobody would understand.  Kurt was 10 years older so he was like a big brother sharing what he was dealt with.  I kept thinking if I followed his path I’d end up like him.  I wanted to be a singer/songwriter so I could find a way to express my own inner pain in a way that was creative and inspiring.  I hoped that maybe I could do for others what he did for me.  He made me make sense.

            I would eventually find out I was pretty much tone deaf and couldn’t play guitar worth a lick, but the writing part of the equation was actually quite good.  I would write song lyrics and poetry that were littered with real life raw emotion, things I didn’t like to share.  The poetry later became short stories and novels before evolving into the travel writing which landed me my first book deal.  It is easy to trace the steps back to that night in Matt’s bedroom where I heard that lovely ear-splitting music that changed my life.

            I remember in 1992 or 1993 trying to explain to my Dad that Kurt Cobain was my generation’s John Lennon.  Being a child of the 1960’s and a giant Beatles fan my Dad of course could not see how the scrawny, screeching, feedback blasting kid was anything like the man who sang ‘Imagine,’ ‘Give Peace A Chance,’ and ‘Instant Karma.’  I could not convince him back then maybe because it was still happening, Generation-X was current, not in the past.  These days it surprises me that my Dad can finally see what I was trying to say. 

            Nirvana was to me what The Beatles were to him. 

            Then in a flash it all ended.  The Grunge movement that killed hair metal, that knocked Michael Jackson off the top of the Billboard charts.  The Grunge movement that was so anti-mainstream that the mainstream had to go and find it.  It was over April 8, 1994.

            I remember coming home from school, Sophomore year.  I put on MTV, back when they were actually a music network.  There was the story: A body had been found in the room above Kurt Cobain’s garage.  Selfishly I hoped it was someone else, but deep down I knew better.  In short order it was confirmed who it was.  What made it worse was that he had ended his own life.  As the days and weeks and years passed I would learn so much more about what made Kurt Cobain tick, his stomach problems which led to drug addiction.  It made his suicide a little easier to swallow, maybe that’s just me making excuses for him. 

            In a snap his music and message were a part of history.  Now he is seen as a legend, a mythical figure, in the likes of Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix.  I actually get it now too since I was a part of the whole Grunge movement, but it is still a little weird to hear Kurt Cobain spoken of in that same way.  I remember needing to hear more of Kurt’s words so badly that I ended up purchasing every bootleg and B-Side filled disc, this was long before the With the Lights Out boxed set came out to make all of those songs easy to find.

            It’s funny now looking back at the videos and interviews and thinking that Kurt Cobain and Nirvana were larger than life figures but I am now actually older than he was when he died.  It’s weird that Dave Grohl’s band Foo Fighters have actually been together longer than Nirvana now.  I remember that my friend Rob and I had plans to go and see Nirvana as our very first concert during the summer of 1994.  They were supposed to headline Lollapalooza, but of course that never happened.

            I remember I tried to measure the impact Kurt Cobain had on music in general in the years after his death.  I made a chart for college that showed a list of the album sales of other grunge/alternative bands in the 5 years after Nirvana was finished.  It was as if Nirvana left such a hole in people’s musical lives that they scrambled to find the ‘next’ band like them.  There were some very deserving, awesomely talented bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains who got the recognition they should have.  Pearl Jam is a stretch since they are usually seen as The Rolling Stones to Nirvana’s Beatles; they were/are every bit as good as Nirvana.

            On the other side though there were some weaker ‘alternative’ bands that saw huge record sales in the same 5-year period, bands like Bush, Live, Collective Soul, and countless others.  Don’t get me wrong, those bands are good, but they only got as big as they did because of the gaping hole Nirvana left.

            I’m not going to turn this into complaining about music after Nirvana though.  I am just amazed that it’s been 20 years now.  April 5 is the actual date as Kurt’s body wasn’t found for 3 days.  So I choose to celebrate his life and music for those three days.  I might never have an album, or play guitar, but I am a writer now and it all goes back to that night I first heard ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ on a little alarm clock radio.   

            I have celebrated his life and message basically since the moment I found out he died.  I think now a lot more people will figure out the impact of Nirvana thanks to it being a round number like 20 Years.  It also helps that there is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction coming up, plus numerous magazine covers out right now.  I am not saying that everyone has to recognize Kurt Cobain as my generation’s John Lennon, but maybe if you think of who had that kind of impact on your life maybe you would understand what I am saying.  That’s how it will make sense to you. 20 years is such a long time especially when it still seems like yesterday.

Must-Listen: Smells Like Teen Spirit

                    Lounge Act

                    About A Girl

                    All Apologies

                    Aneurysm 

               

The Death of John Lennon 30 Years Later

This is a little different from my typical Initial Impressions blogs.  I felt the need to share this with you all as the topic of this particular blog is one of the main reasons why I am a write at all.

Remembering John Lennon

     Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest artists of all-time.  John Lennon, along with Kurt Cobain, are the two biggest influences on my writing.  Every time I try to write a song/poem for someone I care about I take a listen to Lennon's 'Woman' and try in vain to express myself in that way.  Anytime I try to write something about how I am feeling about the way things are going in my life I listen to songs like 'Watching the Wheels' or 'Nobody Loves You When You're Down and Out,' depending on the mood I am in.  His music and what it represents is never far from my mind when I am writing, or in my daily life for that matter.
     Even though I was only 3 when he was killed I still have vivid memories of John Lennon from that era.  With my father being a huge Beatles fan I can remember Lennon's 'Double Fantasy' album, released shortly before his death, being a soundtrack to many of my childhood days in the early 1980's.  'Beautiful Boy', '(Just Like) Starting Over', along with the aforementioned 'Watching the Wheels,' and 'Woman' always bring me back to a simpler time in my life.
     Now as a man in my early 30's these songs take on a different meaning as I grow and see the world through different eyes.  The songs with great music, or catchy lyrics, as I thought as a child are now much deeper to me.  I feel what Lennon felt as he traveled through his 30's and I have come to appreciate his work even more.

'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans' - Beautiful Boy

     Today I will keep John Lennon's music running in my car all day, and maybe I will try to create my own version of 'Woman' for someone who inspires me.  I will never forget this legend because he is never truly gone.  God bless you John Lennon and thank you for inspiring me to become a writer, someday we will meet in heaven and I will tell you this face to face. 

Wrote this in 2008, as I tried to capture his spirit with my words as best I could.

24 - In My Footsteps Maine Trip - Day 5

Initial Impressions Maine

Day 5 - October 5, 2010

1.  So that turkey sandwich from Hannaford gave me a stomach ache this morning.  Pay for what you get I guess, but I still would not have rather gone to see that tranny at Subway.

2.  My mentioning that I was a travel writer did not help me get any discount on my motel room.  I will still give them a positive write up, but it would have been way sweeter if I had gotten a perk.  Maybe I should have taken that stupid bottle opener/cork screw off of the wall, that would have shown them!

3.  My payback for no perk was to leave a stack of business cards neatly tucked in between a pair of brochures.  No, they were in the open, I'm not gonna hide them, then nobody sees them, come on.

4.  Thought of hitting this local restaurant called the Log Cabin.  Breakfast buffet for $7.99, how can I lose, right?  Then I read all of these online reviews about how crappy it is so I got on the road before eating.  My stomach was growling about 20 minutes later.

5.  Once I got through Ellsworth, just north of Bar Harbor, I realized how wide open Maine’s coast is.  There were more hills than on MTV, and no places to eat.  Had to drive an hour into a town called Machias to find a McDonald’s.  

6.  I had a breakfast platter, three bucks and it had sausage, pancakes, eggs, hash browns, and a biscuit.  That was good eatin’.  It was pretty much the only area during the entire 2 hrs. 10 mins. drive to Lubec that resembled a normal town, the other areas were like stuff out of 1950's calendars.

7.  As a side note, on the way up to Machias I found myself behind a truck of old Texans.  They were so damn slow that I finally whipped past them, legally of course.   Then they caught up with me at McDonald’s and gave me the evil eye.  Nothing like coming out of the bathroom and being face to face with angry old rednecks.  So I flew out of there but met up with them again in Lubec at West Quoddy Head Light.   They stared again but were more interested in putting their Texas flag near the lighthouse for a photo.

8.  The ride out to Lubec was smooth until I ran into about 5 miles of nonstop road work.  There were 3 areas nicely spaced so that once I got up to highway speed there was the damn construction sign.  At one point I had to drive sideways in the dirt to get by, I swore my car was going to flip, at least there was equipment to get it turned back over right there.

9.  Every now and then on my drive up the coast there would be this overpowering stank of fish with the wind.  I thought to myself ‘is this how it always smells up here?’  And if so how the hell can people stand it? 

10.  Seeing West Quoddy Head Light in Lubec was like meeting a rock star for me.  I have been dying to see it since the beginning of the year but a 7 ½ hour drive from the Cape was not happening.  So I did 4 hours to Owl’s Head, 1 hr. 40 mins. to Bar Harbor, and then 2 hrs. 10 mins. to Lubec, that’s much easier!

11.  I did hug the lighthouse when I saw it, that was not a lie.  I was like a kid meeting the Jonas Brothers, screeching and crying.  Well, not that bad but I was happy, felt like I had reached a seemingly impossible goal.

12.  Had a sort of magical moment while shooting the ‘spark plug’ lighthouse near Lubec.  I left my car running and ‘Hey Jude’ was playing, a nice warm sunny day and the sound of The Beatles filling the air, I just stood with my arms open wide and soaked it in.  Wish someone had been filming it, quite inspirational!

13.  That lighthouse is called Lubec Channel Light, just to share correct information.

14.  I then got to see Canada!  From the Maine coast, sorry, no passport.  I was so close to Campobello Island in New Brunswick that I could hear the people across the water with their ‘eh’s’ after every sentence. 

15.  I shot Mulholland Point Light in New Brunswick since it was only about 300 feet away once I got out on the breakwater.  Don’t know why I am so excited that I have a Canadian place in the photo collection.  Oh and I also got to see some seals diving for fish there.  The seagulls were flipping out trying to catch the loose fish guts that floated up to the surface.

16.  Only when I got back to Owl’s Head did I realize how far I had driven.  It ended up being over 400 miles.  That's longer round trip than any trip I had ever taken, besides the New Hampshire one.  The funny thing is that it was just another day at the beach for me which shows me that I can definitely handle the long drives.   

17.  I was ready to pass out but got back in time to find out Randy Moss was going to be traded.  The Patriots are worse in the short term, but an angry Moss would not have done them any good since it's obvious he was being phased out of the offense.

18.  I ended up doing almost 6 hours of driving just today, but it was still worth it to see that barber shop pole-looking lighthouse.  I wanted to steal it and bring it home with me.

19.  Speaking of that, like an idiot I didn't even stop at a gift shop to buy one of those little lighthouses.  So now I have to order one, plus shipping charges, damn it!

Photos of the Day:

West Quoddy Head Light, Lubec

I was so sad to leave it,obviously.

Mulholland Point Light, Campobello Island, New Brunswick

Penobscot Narrows Bridge, old and new, in Bucksport

Lubec Channel Light

2 - May 27, 2010

Initial Impressions

Christopher Setterlund

May 27, 2010

1.      I believe that there should be a sign in the window of all stores telling middle-aged women they must be ‘at least this hot’ before they can enter wearing their bathing suits.  It’s too early to throw up ma’am.

2.      I have to wonder first why people clutter their cars up with political bumper stickers, since it makes half the people immediately hate you.  Also, why do you keep political loser stickers on your car?  Wouldn’t you remove them?  So now half the people hate you and think you’re a loser.

3.      I stick to my belief that Bruce Lee could have taken anybody who has ever lived in a straight fight.  Anybody, anytime, he would lay them out.

4.      Dwight Howard is a con man.  A dirty player hiding behind a smile and clean cut appearance but his elbows tell another story.

5.      If you can talk on the phone, or read a book/magazine while running at the gym you are either supremely gifted or wasting your time.  My money is on wasting your time.

6.      So what’s up with these ads that keep saying cops are ‘cracking down’ on drunk drivers and folks without seat belts?  What were they doing before?  Slacking off?

7.      Finding out that the only person you can depend on is yourself is sobering but also empowering at the same time.

8.      I get stuck running at the gym next to a guy whose breath smelled like a rotting corpse.  Of course he had to have trouble catching his breath, and faced my way to watch a television.  Man, breath mints aren’t that expensive, are they?

9.      So, it’s that time of the year when the National Weather Service tries to scare everyone with the threats of a million terrible hurricanes.  How many do we get, like 1 or 2?  If you were a baseball player NWS you’d get sent to the minors.

10.   Find it funny that the vast majority of daytime television ads feature lawyers, or colleges targeting single parents.  Not everyone is looking to sue, some people are actually on a day off from work you know?

Quote of the Day:  “If you make a deal with the devil eventually you will get burned.”

Song of the Day:  No Reply – The Beatles

Photo of the Day:  Coast Guard Station, Race Point, Provincetown, Mass.