Heavy metal and hay bales
I wish I could say I grew up around some great metal scene and that I went to all these concerts when I was teenager, but unfortunately I cannot say those things. I grew up outside of a small town in central Maryland and there was no metal scene at all. However you could buy the metal magazines at the convenience stores and local bookstores and I certainly did. In 1985 the mall was still two years away and at the beginning of the year I think there was only one record store in my area and it was Sound Waves. Then in late spring of 1985 a record store popped up closer to where I live. It was a small independent store and the owner was a big metal fan. I think I spent way too much time reading metal magazines and believing that there were was this metal lifestyle out there that metal fans in LA and New York were living. My reality as a metal fan was more like a cross between Green Acres and a bad episode of the Twilight Zone only with heavy metal mixed in. This new record store did give me the chance to buy tapes and albums more often because we went there more often than to the other record store. Trust me when I say that I spent more money than I should have at this store between 85 and 88. Now the heart of this post is about the summer of 1985 and what my summer was like. My love for metal had grown during freshman year, but unfortunately I didn't have a lot of money and my allowance was fine, but slim in terms of album spending money. When summer of 85 rolled around, my plans were to watch a lot of television and eat as much as possible because I was fat kid. I admit it and have no shame in doing so, that's just the way it was and I figured I would eventually grow out of my fat so I didn't worry about. I choose to do those two things largely because:
A) I lived out in the country where there was not a lot to do.
B) My parents did not take vacations and I mean not at all. Going to the record store was a big deal at that time because I did not go out all that much.
One of the coolest things about that summer was the radio. I had been listening to the radio for some time at that point, but at the beginning of the summer my local station started playing the syndicated show the Metal Shop on Saturday nights and on Friday night they had Friday Night Metal which was an hour of all metal songs with very few commercials. During that Summer these two programs introduced me to Motorhead, Metallica, Raven, Armored Saint and many other bands that I not heard before. I really looked forward to these two shows each week that summer and it was a bit of a highlight for me. I know that may be sort of sad, but I certainly enjoyed it. I still remember laying on my bed with the window open and holding my small radio waiting for these two metal shows to come on and then I would just look out the window at the lightning bugs or the sky while I listened. I couldn't go to concerts because I wasn't old enough to drive and neither were any of my friends and I certainly wouldn't have enough money to go to concerts at that time either. So the only scene I had was listening to these bands on albums and the radio plus reading about them in Hit Parader and other metal magazines.
Outside of the radio there was the chance of getting new tapes and albums. There was one way for me to make more money during the summer so I could buy more albums and tapes. I had to work for it and the work was loading hay bales onto a wagon (while it is moving) and unloading them in a barn. If you have ever done either or both then you know they are not fun and the level of difficulty depends a lot on the weather. A cool or cloudy day and it is just a matter of hard work, but a hot, humid day meant it was going to be a long, tiring day. Unfortunately all of the days I remember doing this work that summer fall into the late weather category. The people I worked for were either neighbors or people I knew from church. So here I would be out in the field moving my fat body along and picking up these hay bales while the twine rubbed into my soft hands and then I struggled to toss the bales onto the wagon. This was the easy part because there was usually air and some sort of breeze. The rough part was the unloading because it was normally in a hot barn with no air flow whatsoever and hay dust going down your back and in your mouth while you worked. However, one thought kept me going and that was thinking about what metal albums I was going to buy with the money I made. Well, actually there were two thoughts pushing me on and the other thought was what was I going to eat that night? I seriously spent the whole work time going through the possibilities of metal albums in my head. Yes, you can obviously see how deep of a thinker I am. So at the end of the day, I would wash the dirt, hay dust and other assorted grime off my body and look at the money and hope that I would get to go to the record store soon before the money burnt a hole in my pocket.
I did get a few tapes with the money I made tossing hay bales that summer. I remember buying Dio's The last in line and King Kobra's Ready to strike and others that I am afraid I don't remember. No matter what the motivation, it did keep me working and that is something I needed at the time because I was kind of lazy as a teenager. I was probably more obsessed with metal than I should have been and I probably could have used the money for better things, but I have no regrets at all. It was a fairly fun summer and it was way better than being in school. Bottom line was I enjoyed it and I wasn't hurting anybody else and it did in some small way help shape who I am now, for better or for worse.
I have decided to try to squeeze in one review for the month of June. So I will be listening to a record this weekend and I will try to have my first review up next week. I can't keep a surprise so I will say that it's an LA band with a flashy guitarist, big hair, tacky outfits and they did some goofy videos. I know, you are saying "That could be any LA band from the 80's, narrow it down more". Okay, I will be reviewing Dokken's Under lock and key and I am actually excited about doing this so we will see how it turns out next week.
A) I lived out in the country where there was not a lot to do.
B) My parents did not take vacations and I mean not at all. Going to the record store was a big deal at that time because I did not go out all that much.
One of the coolest things about that summer was the radio. I had been listening to the radio for some time at that point, but at the beginning of the summer my local station started playing the syndicated show the Metal Shop on Saturday nights and on Friday night they had Friday Night Metal which was an hour of all metal songs with very few commercials. During that Summer these two programs introduced me to Motorhead, Metallica, Raven, Armored Saint and many other bands that I not heard before. I really looked forward to these two shows each week that summer and it was a bit of a highlight for me. I know that may be sort of sad, but I certainly enjoyed it. I still remember laying on my bed with the window open and holding my small radio waiting for these two metal shows to come on and then I would just look out the window at the lightning bugs or the sky while I listened. I couldn't go to concerts because I wasn't old enough to drive and neither were any of my friends and I certainly wouldn't have enough money to go to concerts at that time either. So the only scene I had was listening to these bands on albums and the radio plus reading about them in Hit Parader and other metal magazines.
Outside of the radio there was the chance of getting new tapes and albums. There was one way for me to make more money during the summer so I could buy more albums and tapes. I had to work for it and the work was loading hay bales onto a wagon (while it is moving) and unloading them in a barn. If you have ever done either or both then you know they are not fun and the level of difficulty depends a lot on the weather. A cool or cloudy day and it is just a matter of hard work, but a hot, humid day meant it was going to be a long, tiring day. Unfortunately all of the days I remember doing this work that summer fall into the late weather category. The people I worked for were either neighbors or people I knew from church. So here I would be out in the field moving my fat body along and picking up these hay bales while the twine rubbed into my soft hands and then I struggled to toss the bales onto the wagon. This was the easy part because there was usually air and some sort of breeze. The rough part was the unloading because it was normally in a hot barn with no air flow whatsoever and hay dust going down your back and in your mouth while you worked. However, one thought kept me going and that was thinking about what metal albums I was going to buy with the money I made. Well, actually there were two thoughts pushing me on and the other thought was what was I going to eat that night? I seriously spent the whole work time going through the possibilities of metal albums in my head. Yes, you can obviously see how deep of a thinker I am. So at the end of the day, I would wash the dirt, hay dust and other assorted grime off my body and look at the money and hope that I would get to go to the record store soon before the money burnt a hole in my pocket.
I did get a few tapes with the money I made tossing hay bales that summer. I remember buying Dio's The last in line and King Kobra's Ready to strike and others that I am afraid I don't remember. No matter what the motivation, it did keep me working and that is something I needed at the time because I was kind of lazy as a teenager. I was probably more obsessed with metal than I should have been and I probably could have used the money for better things, but I have no regrets at all. It was a fairly fun summer and it was way better than being in school. Bottom line was I enjoyed it and I wasn't hurting anybody else and it did in some small way help shape who I am now, for better or for worse.
I have decided to try to squeeze in one review for the month of June. So I will be listening to a record this weekend and I will try to have my first review up next week. I can't keep a surprise so I will say that it's an LA band with a flashy guitarist, big hair, tacky outfits and they did some goofy videos. I know, you are saying "That could be any LA band from the 80's, narrow it down more". Okay, I will be reviewing Dokken's Under lock and key and I am actually excited about doing this so we will see how it turns out next week.
posted by Metal Mark at
6:32 AM
3 Comments:
Since I grew up out there too, far from any music scene that didn't involve the local carnival circuit, and music has also remained very important to me over the years as well, I wonder if our longing for that as kids served to galvanize our interest such that it remains with us long after most people our age have abandoned it. I don't know if that's the case, but I kinda wonder...
It most certainly is, Bob.
As Mark was my primary running partner in metal back in the day, the majority of this blog rang so wonderfully familiar. The hay bales was something he kept private. In 1985 I felt exactly the same way Mark did. In fact, since we talked on the phone just about every night about metal and the peers we hated, that only fueled the fire. I can remember when my parents would take me over to Mark's before I could drive, and on occasion his parents would pick me up too. I used to look forward to it because we'd cut up our metal magazines and trade pictures and as our collections started getting larger, that was part of the charm.
Curry's Music is definitely a place I gave too much of my teenage job's pay to. I'm still pissed at myself for letting Ron Curry talk me into buying Great White's Shot in the Dark. Ugh! Crummy. Of course, Ron made the prophetic statement that I didn't take seriously because of the Great White fiasco...he said that "this new band Metallica is going to rule the world, mark my words." I should've. I was too busy laughing at their name!
I used to walk on the train tracks to Curry's Music our ride my bike. Since we've talked Ratt, I can still picture the day when Invasion of Your Privacy came out and I HAD to have it instantly. I bugged Ron in person and on the phone to tell me when it was coming out. His assistant Kelly called me and I took one of the neighborhood kids with me, another Ray, and we had lunch at Genova's when it was still a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, and I pedaled all the way home with that album and I was so happy because I was the first one in the neighborhood to have it. I couldn't wait to tell Mark, either.
Ah, shit, I could really get going here...
Mark's opening statements are pretty right-on, because I always wondered what it was like to like in NY or LA or England where all of it was really happening. There were only a handful of metalheads at North Carroll, like there were only a handful of punks, so neither of us really had a scene, but we had each other and we had certain accesses to the music through each other and tape trading, plus Friday Night Videos and Headbangers Ball. It made me personally feel like I was involved more than I actually was.
I always wanted to write about metal, even back in the day. I always daydreamed about interviewing Joey Belladonna or Dio or Dee Snider or Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth and guess what? It came true!
I feel lucky for my life, I really do. I feel lucky I experienced the music firsthand and lucky I've gotten to realize a dream.
On that note, I'll stop before I steal Mark's thunder...
Now I know where the three of you grew up and I am here to tell you that it is urban compared to where I grew up. Baltimore was almost three hours away, so shows were a definite "no go" situation.
I managed to see a few things (a few that are embarrassing now). I saw Wrathchild when I was in 9th grade and saw Kix a countless number of times. They were huge where I grew up. I had a friend who went to school with Shannon Larkin of Wrathchild, so they were very fascinating to me. My absolute favorite band from middle school until I graduated was Def Leppard. I was totally smitten with the whole band. I was obsessed.
I actually was able to get a ticket for the show they played in 1987 in Baltimore. I had been waiting for that show for years. Then everything started to go wrong. Another very good friend died that week in a car accident and his funeral was the day of the show. I went to the funeral and was still going to the show. It was so hard to think about loosing a very good friend and then going to have a good time that night, but I am sure that my friend would have done the same had he been in my shoes. My mom was driving my best friend at the time, Tracey, and me to the show. I was so excited. We got about 1/2 way to the show when they announced on the radio that the show had been postponed to the next night. I was so bummed, because I had to beg off work to go the show that night and would be unable to go the next night. Man was I pissed. Needless to say, it was the worst week of my life up to that point and possibly there after. I have never seen Def Leppard to this day. They are so lame now that I would be embarrassed to go to one of their shows.
I can completely understand how you felt about growing up in the sticks. I hated it so much, because everything cool seemed to be just out of my reach. I too, was a big fan of magazines. My favorites were Hit Parader and Circus.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home