Three of your Favorite songs from the year you graduated H.S.

[DrOldSchool]

 

Lordy Lordy, look who's 40!

[touch]

Indeed Pete I'm with ya!

Edited September 5, 2022 by touch

[Darth Putter]

 

If I was a year older, you'd all be Rick Rolled!

[Darth Putter]

1997 music with a 1997 Masters champ in 2019

 

[doctoro]

I just now found this. I remember 1980 as my Senior year, and I was working at the Holly Farms Fried Chicken place out in Purcellville Va., full time as a cook, and going to high school. I bought my used 76 Mercury Marquis with power seats, nice 5 speaker stereo and velour big bench makeout seats in the back. It became known with all my pothead smoking friends as the concert cruiser. I felt like a character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. We would drive for hours to the Capital Center in Landover MD to see shows, buy drugs in the parking lot, it was what we did back then. How I never got pulled over back then is beyond me. We would also go to Meriweather Post Pavilion in the summer for shows like Journey, Ozzy Osbourne, Jackson Browne who recorded some of his Running On Empty album at Merriweather. Then it was off to Fredericksburg Va to see an outdoor southern rock festival with the likes of Molly Hatchet, Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band. The dive bars and clubs in West Va. and Frederick Md were great for seeing hair bands and girls with lots of hair, heels and leather. Our favorite venue was a club in Baltimore called Hammerjacks and old brick building right underneath the I-95 exit into the inner harbor, I still can remember waking up hungover in my friends car with the sound of rush hour traffic overhead. Most of my buddies were into the famous metal bands leading up to 1980. Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, some of the guitar gods also, Jimi Hendrix even though he was gone, Pat Travers, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, I was a huge Jimmy Page and Tony Iommi fan, also Stevie Ray Vaughn and Mark Knopfler. The music of a band from Canada was becoming very popular around 1980, this 3 man band who called themselves Rush. I was hooked. the creativity and expertise they displayed especially Neil Peart on drums was amazing to me and my music geek friends. We must have seen 3 of their tours back to back to back. I spent the night in my girlfriends 68 convertible Camaro outside a shopping mall to get WHO tickets but that was later in 81 after high school.

We even made trips to the Baltimore Civic Center to see AC/DC and Frank Zappa. Two awesome shows but with some trying moments, at the AC/DC show I was physically harassed for carrying an open beer out of the underground parking garage after not being able to find a trash can quick enough to the officers liking. At the Zappa show, we stopped at a city greasy version of a McDonalds and I guess grease and beer have a dire effect on the gastrointestinal system! I had to use the public bathroom in and case of an emergency break glass and hope for the best situation, but expect the worst. I mean there was drug deals happening, vomit all over the floor, and someone was spraying in the stall next to mine, not to mention people were funneling in and out pounding on the stalls, all of this going on while I could hear Zappa riffing on the guitar to "Illinois Enema Bandit" "One day you will have to pay" I paid indeed. On the way home we had a near death encounter with some maniac driving down I-70 as we were headed west and he was east on the same side of the road. This was a 3 lane interstate highway. divided by a huge median. How does one do that? A quick real life game of frogger ensued as I swerved to get on the side of the road not knowing if he was on a suicide run or just stupid drunk.

That brings me to 3 favorite songs which came out in 1980 Most of the music I listened to was before 1980, but I will look to see what was released in 1980...here we go lets see.

Rush in my senior year. I was just being introduced to Rush, they put out Permanent Waves and I loved their sound, Freewill became a fave also Spirit of Radio and Jacobs Ladder, I was loving the new type of rock music coming from Canada. The most talented band I had heard other than perhaps Pink Floyd and Zeppelin.

Next Up we have the Back in Black Album from AC/DC When you see a band live you either like them more or say ehhh they are a decent studio band. AC/DC is a great live performance band.

Hells Bells was one of my faves!

 

https://youtu.be/etAIpkdhU9QI was lucky to see Pink Floyd at RFK stadium a few years later after the Wall came out in 1980. I loved Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall was even more of a subliminal music journey with an even better live show!

Incredible! The song pretty much summed up how I felt about High School so that did not hurt either.

 

Pink Floyd, Rush, AC/DC all put out albums in 1980. I almost wanted to add Ozzy Osbourne's debut solo album with the great Randy Rhodes on guitar Crazy Train and the album form Judas Priest British Steel.

You see a pattern here? If this was golf like in the Ryder Cup, where are the American Bands? "ehhh" Van Halen put out an album in 1980, but it cannot compare to these icons! Black Sabbath put out their first album without Ozzie so again, another big score for the metal bands across the pond. I guess we had Pat Benatar LoL.

[Bob Cat]

doctoro, you and I went to different high schools together.

[Petethreeput]

To expound, and spurred on by the Doctor's beautiful missive, I sit at the keyboard with an eye on the past. I dropped three songs, which were released the year of my graduation. I was a "rebel" looking for an outlet. By the time I had graduated from high school I had seen (in no particular order), the Grateful Dead twice, Jefferson Starship, the Kinks, the Police, and my Sr year I saw Phil Collins and I was able to get in because there were no Jackets Required. So I remember thinking it was a casual event. I had been turned away at a bar to see U2 during these years as well, saw REM, and the RHCP who opened up for Burning Spear, and I was there to the Red Hots. Maybe the only guy who was aware of the obvious fact, True Men Don't Kill Coyotes.

These songs selected were more a look back because generally I was not an early adopter of new music. These were the songs I glommed onto after high school to further my need to rebel. They made me laugh, they made me realize my little bubble wasn't what others were seeing. I was a cynical kid with no outlet to cynicism. Punk rock gave me hope for an upheaval my lily white life so desperately in need of something besides chocolate milk and PB&J with the crusts trimmed off. These were the songs of my basement. Playing beer pong and pulling albums. Each player got to pick an album side. Nowhere else in the world could you hear Canned Heat and then the Circle Jerks. And this wasn't this floofy throwing balls into a cup crap. This was hard driving pong with paddles. If you weren't a good ping pong player you were dispatched in short order and the next group entered into the fray.

I never really felt like the 80s were the pinnacle of music, though I do still listen to REM and U2. But to say these were all time favorites would be disingenuous, they simply fit the time for me. I would type more but the annoying typing delay is getting a little frustrating.

[Qqq123xx]

I saw the Eagles wayyyyyyy back in 72 when their first album had just came out. Really excellent long show in a very small gym/college. In 75 saw Boz Scaggs, The Beach Boys and Chicago all together at an outdoor stadium. And it was pretty cold and had short sleeves on. One of those fake winter early fall days. Saw other groups but my Oldhimers is seriously kicking in.

[doctoro]

After reading Pete's post I remember getting my first hospitality job at the young Dulles Marriott back in 82, thats when I got an education to all things other than heavy metal and hard rock, I started listening to some punk, The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees,Romeo Void, Ramones, The Police, later R.E.M from down in Athens GA. made a big impact on how we can relate to this new creative style of a progressive American band with creativity and artistic merits. I picked up on the Cure, Depeche Mode, Echo and the Bunnymen. I had "Dead heads" for roommates, I remember driving to VA. Beach with a tank of nitrous oxide and a mask for doing what amounted to "whip-its' while driving down the interstate. We were not the most politically correct back then, but traffic is not what it is today. I limit my exposure to those sort of things to the dentist office and maybe a glass of wine with some fresh herbs every once in awhile...But thats it! I say. Point of Order! I always loved what music did for me back then, and to some degree even now. When I bought my rebuilt 240z with the pioneer stereo I will tell you that is not good for speeding ticket prevention. Music will make your foot heavy. But other than that it was a great time to be alive, as a kid in the sixties I listened to my Dads music he was more into the folk hippy stuff, like the Mamas and the Papas, Beatles, Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, The Hair soundtrack, Godspell soundtrack, Rick Wakeman Journey to the Center of the Earth, and I grew up with Casey Kasem"s Top 40 not to be missed in the am on my AM radio. I remember Don McLean's "American Pie", and the Three Dog Nights "Joy to the World" and Commander Cody's "Hot Rod Lincoln" spending what seemed like thousands of weeks and consecutive number 1 spots. The Grass Roots "Sooner or Later" all of the Motown hits from the Jackson 5 and the Supremes just to name a couple. Later came Elton John with "Crocodile Rock' after that the flood gates opened. I remember being so happy to hear all the new music I never experienced before. Even up to the time I was introduced to the South American, Peruvian culture through my co workers at the restaurant I worked in. I started dating this Japanese Peruvian who loved burning the wick until the wee hours of the morning. She gave me a big education on how to keep it together, dump the roommates, get your own place to live, if you party all night you go to work the next day and smile no matter how bad it hurts. Well one night she said "Gringo let's go eat" I said Ok." I am going to introduce you to Peruvian food." All right. I was nervous, a stupid white suburban kid who thought the culinary world was Italian, Chinese, French and traditional American cuisines. And let us not forget fast food and Taco Bell if you want some real Mexican treats after a rough night out. She took the liberty of ordering for me. What an interesting display of cooked meats, organs like intestines and hearts,Peruvians love to combine tubers and rice. I was introduced to Ceviche..Incredible! Later, I married her cousin and she made the best Ceviche. The learning of how Japanese culture respected the culture of Peru was so enlightening not to mention Peruvian food now is recognized as one of the top cuisines by chefs around the world. Back then it was mostly the native dishes but it has evolved so much more now. Their native potatoes, peppers, and herbs really do wonders.

What? What? you are saying this is not a goddamn food blog...Is this Eater, Yelp, Food and Wine magazine??? Nope this is a music thread. My point is that very same night when the dinner stopped and the dishes were cleared I noticed a band was setting up and she looked at me and says, "you like to dance salsa?" Oh God! White men can't jump and they sure as hell can't dance salsa. I dance like those cartoon kids in Charlie Brown Christmas or the boys on South Park. At least thats what my wife says about American dancing up and down up and down no rhythm. Well, I gave it my best shot, too many laughs and blushes on my part. She was somewhat understanding but as a hard core night owl I think she was hoping for a little more stylistic merits on my part. This is the real funny part. I loved the music! All of the old classics from Cuba and Puerto rico were vibrating through my brain. I was hooked. Even though I danced like Elaine on Seinfeld I wanted more. This is what music is, a chance to explore and feel the impact of different genres and cultures, mostly all originating from Africa. So to this day whenever I hear latin dance music on the stereo behind the line at my restaurant, I get misty for those old days of going out with my wife, her family, and my co workers for some great food, Pisco Sours, and great fun listening and dancing "to the rhythm of the night"...Gloria Estefan said that BTW. I bet you all never thought I would go from talking about AC/DC and Pink Floyd to this!

But it is called the cycle of life, my greatest joys now are reading and learning about all things new, windows to a world that I never knew about, music and art are a joy and a gateway into the hearts and souls of all people. The 80's were just a page which eventually was turned but still a part of my music library.

I still listen to my heavy metal every once in awhile, just at lower volume...Ramble On.

[touch]

^ Nice work. 

I was a roommate of yours for a spell back in those D.C. partying 80's days. ***For the record I certainly was not one of the dang Deadhead roomies though, ugh.*

Ah the Hammerjack's trips to Baltimore and the Georgetown D.C. nights. Yowza's !!!! Metallica w/ Guns and Roses at RFK. The Stones at the Capital Center, and all the great bands at Merriweather Post Pavilion. They were some big fun times for sure.

Let's be thankful that throughout our lives we have had our music, and that the good old stuff continues to provide us with joy.

Here is a Hammerjacks video and a flashback poster for you my good friend Mr. doctoro. 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by touch

[touch]

During My high school years ( late 70's ) in St. Louis, my friends and I were crazy for REO Speedwagon . We made the effort to see them as much as possible. Here is a live performance of their biggest song from that time. Live from KC in 1985. To this day Gary Richrath's guitar solos still get me going. The pride of Champaign, Illinois.

 

 

and my favorite song of theirs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeHkaSH0Xw8Midwestern ROCK and ROLL at it's finest I'd say folks.

Edited September 5, 2022 by touch

[Petethreeput]

REO Live was a great album. I was always partial to Flying Turkey Trot off that album. Never picked up on REO after middle school. Not sure why?

[DrOldSchool]

Growing up ~35 miles west of Baltimore outside of Frederick, I always heard the ads for Hammerjacks on the radio, but never made it before it closed in '97 - my senior year of HS. I did hit the short-lived Thunder Dome, which people told me was like a poor-mans Hammerjacks. Love hearing the memories of it.

 

This surprised me when I did a google search about it though, I guess I need to check out that part of Baltimore next time I am back east:

 

Also, KIX!

[Bob Cat]

GREAT set, touch.

X1,000,000,000 on The Flying Turkey Trot, PTP.

Feels like we all went to different high schools together!

Doc, you must have seen Kix on that HammerJacks calendar like me.

FORGOT ALL ABOUT THIS ONE...

[touch]

I think it's pretty cool that REO gets some applause from you guys on a few of these threads. With both of them still touring (WOW) , which vocalist has more concerts under his belt? Kevin Cronin or Robin Zander? Oh Mr. Zander was in a band from Illinois also. This band from Rockford IL came on the scene back in the late 70's. We all know they kicked a** Right Out of the Gate!

live from Daytona 1988

 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by touch

[Bob Cat]

Bob Cat loves Cheap Trick! Love the way that song begins and ends.

Would make an awesome head cover...

[Qqq123xx]

Duke and the Drivers at the Hatch Shell 8/14/93 - YouTube

One hit wonder band from Boston in the early/mid 70's. Went and saw them once. Great live band and everyone of the band sang with same distinctive voice.

[Qqq123xx]

What You've Got - Duke & The Drivers - YouTube

Here is original song.

[glk]

I struggle with just 3 so pardon my posting and to start

[glk]

 

[glk]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMCl9eOBlsYand i could go on but I'll stop.

oh one more

[glk]

Almost forgot. The title song from their first album and most recently making an appearance in Endgame

[touch]

 top 10 song of the 1960's I say. 

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by touch

[PappyVanWinkle53]

Slightly off topic.....but it sounds like this gal should've found her own ride home after pulling a stunt like that.

[Myherobobhope]

Ugh... 2000 is a mess...

outkast ms. Jackson

hive hate to say I told you so

rage against the machine renegades of funk...

 

honestly, I don’t think I listened to any of these in high school... definitely college.

 

[DrOldSchool]

It's funny, when I struggled to do my HS year of 97 I snap called 3 songs from 2000 which was the year I graduated college the first time. Granted 2000 had a lot of crap as well. But these take me back to a happy place, and I still use the first one when I teach.

 

[Myherobobhope]

Oh nerf herder... I miss screaming screeching weasel.

[uitar9]

1970-mine were albums-

Fairport Convention Full House

Tull Benefit

Pentangle Cruel Sister

The Beatles Let it Be

ABB Idlewild South

Bloodwyn Pig Getting to this

Lived on the east coast and had a significant British musical influence. I met a young lady who in late '68 (I was just 15) turned me on to sex, drugs and rock and roll. Through the various characters I met, non mainstream music was being found. Managed to live through it all

[DeNinny]

1989

[Bob Cat]

How Soon is Now is popular with THIS old guy.