From starting out listening to my parents records to staying up late at night listening to the radio to being introduced to album collecting as a teenager to making mix-tapes and into the present, it seems that I've always been searching for and listening to music of widely varied genres. Here's an idea of what I've been hearing along the way ....
I've been attempting to populate and grow a punk rock collection. This makes number three in the collection, all on vinyl .... unless you consider The Ramones as punk (I don't). And maybe this is closer to post-punk or garage rock?
'Give 'Em Enough Dope' by Angry Red Planet. From 1989. A decade after what I've always thought were the Punk Years.
One side was recorded in studio and the other side is live.
I don't pretend to be knowledgeable on the history of punk rock. Since I don't know much, I tend to look for interesting cover art and obscure bands that I've never heard of. A certain mood is required to sit still and listen. I just sit quietly without judging, taking in the sounds and the energy.
As I get older this song becomes more vital to me. I struggle to explain. The song, the lyrics, the melody bring back such powerful torrents of memories of that time, those days, and moments passing by, places, emotions, moods, sensations, relationships, friends, teachers, school days, endings, beginnings, things I haven't known since ..... what else is there?
It represents a time in my life that I occasionally yearn to return to. And the realization that much of what I'd known to that point was ending and that things were about to change. Transitions to a something different that I was far from eager to see take place.
Much of those days are a blur now. The song provides pieces or fragments of clarity.
A few years ago, I met one of the persons this song reminds me of. I only knew her back then by seeing her around high school. I was far too shy and terrified to ever dare saying hello. Then one day, decades later, I crossed paths with her in the grocery store and it was her that recognized me. Then shortly later I attended a small 'fish fry' at the house of a mutual friend. She was there. I wasn't going to go as I was worn out after a day at work but she got on the phone and asked me to show up. So I did and it was so wonderful getting to know her. I even confessed (and in front of her husband) to having a high school crush for her.
Rikki wasn't even my favorite at the time but over time it has become so meaningful for me.
