I have the most diverse musical tastes of anyone I know. I really don’t care what the genre is, as long as it is good music, I will listen. Punk, Heavy Metal, Rap, New and Old School R&B, Jazz, Classical and even a fair bit of country (I am a sucker for fiddles and good harmony). Many people who know me know that, amongst the many deep dark musical love secrets I hold, I love 80’s “Arena Rock”. Journey, Van Halen and, my karaoke favorite, Bon Jovi…
See, most of the people who know me must think I am crazy when I tell them that, not only do I like Johnny Goldenlocks and the Jersey Shore Boys, I also can sing a pretty good Bon Jovi. I have a very similar tone to my voice as he does. Don’t believe me? Let’s go out for karaoke sometime and I will pick “Dead or Alive” or “Living on a Prayer” and I will make you a believer… At least until the key change after the bridge in “Living on a Prayer” at which point I will strain my vocal cords and start spitting up blood. Which would make a good segue into “Heaven’s On Fire” by Kiss. But, I digress…
Those were the days. I will never forget them. I remember going back to school the day after a big concert, wearing your baseball style tour shirt, seeing all of the other kids with theirs and knowing, at least for that day that you were all one tribe. You shared the experience of the artistry and beauty of a Neal Schon guitar solo, the spectacle of David Lee Roth and seeing the masses of hot chicks dressed in next to nothing (though, I will note, more than today’s teenage girls wear to school itself) hoping to get a backstage pass at Def Leopard. You were a part of something that was as close to history in your mind as anything done by some old dead guys who scored a paragraph in a textbook. They played instruments dammit! They weren’t some Clear Channel manufactured pop creations that could not hold a note outside of a studio. They were artists…
So what has spurred all of this waxing nostalgic? Well, a link sent to me by my friend Lew. This guy knows what I am talking about. This guy gets it!