1985. Not the song by Bowling for Soup, but the real year - 1985. Particularly the month of June. I was there. I was 16 years old. We finally had a VCR. I learned to bootleg MTV. But most importantly, I discovered...
HEAVY METAL.
The genre that has way too many sub-genres now but back then? Very different.
Let me give you some background information first. I’m gonna back up to my birthday that year. I even have pictures.
For some reason of unknown origin, I was in the dumps about people not remembering by birthday. (Sixteen Candles, anyone?) I was being a typical sulky teenager. So my mom said, “Let’s order a pizza and you can go with me to pick it up.” (Mena’s Pizza Hut did not offer delivery then.)
We go. I sit in the car, a 1984 Pontiac Phoenix (a car that deserves a blog of its own), while she goes in to retrieve it and the box is about the size of a two-car garage. She had to put it in the back. I’m surprised we didn’t need to put the back seat down.
Naturally I ask what was with the huge box and she said it was all they had.
Huh. Okay.
When we return to the house, I see movement through the back sliding glass door, which should be somewhat alarming because Dad was at drill (as always on my birthday weekend) and that was way too big to be a cat (even though Squeaker, our calico at the time, weighed about 20 pounds). I recognized the movement because only Robby Sanders could flit around like that.
So I walk in and like a jerk, say, “Okay! I know what’s going on!!”
Surprise party, LJ. Duh.
In attendance were my bestie Christine Cooper, Alena Lintag, Darrick Wilson, Shonna Lowe, Janna Liles, Wes Sunderman, and my “Lil Bro,” Rob Sanders. At least that’s who are in the pictures. If someone else was there, well, I’m sorry. Most likely the weather was bad (typical early February) or folks were out of town for the weekend. But it was a good time anyway. If you look closely, it’s quite obvious I was very much in preppy mode, with my button-down oxford and the argyle sweater vest. I don’t know whose haircut I was trying to emulate as this was the pre-Joan Jett shag years. I’m sure it was some actress/musician/popular girl at MHS. Simon Le Bon, maybe? I was not wearing makeup.
Anyway, this was the magic age of course, for any teenager. So I was learning to drive, albeit not well, and I was still listening to a lot of Tina Turner, Prince, Stevie Nicks...the only “rock” album I owned at the time was Van Halen’s 1984. Because everybody else did.
I was also in the middle of devising our act, Herky and the Xerkz, for the March of Dimes Variety Show. It was quite the lip-syncing extravaganza: Kicking off with Van Halen’s 1984, then the opening speech from “Let’s Go Crazy,” and after some heated deliberation, the main song chosen was “Wild Boys” from Duran Duran, which is suddenly interrupted by the guitar solo from “Firehouse”, (thank you, Eric Dodson), and ending with...sirens. (I still have this cassette mix, although the first part was eventually covered with something else at a later date. I don’t know if that was by accident or not.)
We had costumes, choreography, borrowed instruments that wouldn’t be plugged in, and even rehearsals. This was a fine example of how bossy I used to me, conning my friends and fellow youth group members into doing something completely ridiculous, because Rick Davis’ Goony and the Goonheads would not be on the bill that year, and we would be the most talked-about act of that Spring! There were several of us: Me (as the “Lead”), Rob (as Herky the alien, wearing Dad’s old flight suit), Tara Osborne as the girl looking for Biff, (Eric Dodson), who was abducted by the Xerkz and turned into a rock star. (Yes, that was the premise. We were nerds before nerds were cool and WE DID NOT CARE.) The other cast of characters were Suzanne Drager (unplugged guitar), Sherri Bates (unplugged bass), and Missy Langley (un-beaten drums). Back up singers were my always-present companion Christine and Shonna Lowe. Darrick Wilson was the stray goof-ball alien carrying a broom pretending to be the singer, or guitarist, or...whatever. It was geek mayhem. And it actually took a lot of work. And I, along with Rob, didn’t just instigate this ordeal, I also volunteered to appear as “Tina Turner” between acts for the daily shows for the middle and high schools. I used to do a pretty good impression. Still can.
The date for the show kept getting pushed back due to weather and was moved to some time in April. More time to prepare, but also more time to maneuver some big personal changes in my life. The first being the shift in my next big “this isn’t going to go anywhere” crush, and the second, the more important one, being my continuing disinterest in Top 40 Music.
The shift in “crushes” was really the catalyst for the shift in musical tastes, because the latest “crush” was a metal head. And as summer approached, a lot of changes were about to occur...
Stay tuned for…the REST of the Story….
AND HERE'S THE PICS!
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