Does going to see a band from my high school at CBGB's count? If so, it was the Connotations, known for such fine songs as 'The Gentrification Skank'. If we're talking a real band, then the Pogues.
How geeky am I? It was Chuck Mangione.
if you want to skip Brazilian bands no one's heard of, Elton John, with Sheryl Crow opening.
...and I'm straight, I swear.
also, you guys should start putting author names on the RSS feeds.
Police: Synchronicity.
The tour, by the way, indicates my late arrival to rock&roll more than my age. It's not my fault; it's my upbringing. I was raised believing that Ticket To Ride was written by Helen Reddy.
Yeah, yeah. Fuck off or I'll hit you with my walker.
Green Day for me too. I got a late start, I didn't go to a real concert until my junior year in high school. It was the HFStival in D.C., Spring 2001. Green Day was the big "surprise" guest, they hadn't been announced in advance.
Also at this concert: there was this thing called the TranceMissions Tent, which (obv.) was a big tent with trance music playing inside. I thought it sounded interesting, so I went in for a bit. Right away I hit a thick cloud of pot smoke, apparently the whole crowd was hotboxing the place. I stuck around for maybe 15 minutes, and went outside high as a kite. From the second hand smoke! The rest of the day was a nice haze, though my parents to this day think I'm some big druggie, since I was still a little buzzed when I came home that night. Also, the dilated pupils.
My first non-festival concert was Reel Big Fish (yeah! ska!!)
I kid! Mine was a band called Putty. They were the poor man's Mudhoney. I guess the first show with a legitimate fan presence was Throwing Muses/Sunny Day Real Estate.
I'm not sure, actually. It was either Radiohead or Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Eventually someone's going to cop to NKOTB.
w-lfs-n, ever the hipster. B, Mangione? That kicks ass.
I kind of figured it would be Ben, actually.
(yeah! ska!!)
Smasher's modest, but his band opened for Less Than Jake back in his Florida days.
Smasher's in a band?! Where are pics?
Mostly my guitar just gently weeps from neglect these days.
his band opened for Less Than Jake
Dude, that's awesome! I saw them in concert a while back.
And here I was just reading that "Fusing the rock of Superchunk, the pop of Velocity Girl and the vocal beauty of Ida, Pohgoh remains, to this day, the quintessential female-fronted indie-rock band from "Emo's" hey-day."
Jethro Tull? Wow. That beats Mangione.
I was really into Mangione when I was, what? 14 or so.
As you might imagine, my peer group thought I was a bit square.
Jethro Tull, eh?
Everyone should remember that Jethro Tull was actually good. Would you rather Blodwyn Pig?
Oh man. Here's a picture from my crappy Austin 'core band.
B.B. King, with Crazy Horse (sans Neil Young of course) opening.
Then the glasses are an excellent addition. (kidding)
Bob Seger opening for...wait for it...BLUE OYSTER CULT! In December 1976. (Gene was REALLY great on cowbell back then)
I'm not sure why no one else has had to ask this in order to clarify, I guess you're all assuming the answer is the same thing I am, but this question has to be asking about the first concert one went to without one's parents or other family supervision, right? Assuming it is, Mighty Mighty Bosstones at Roseland in either 1995 or 1996. So I'll echo that yeah! ska. At a later festival when I was about sixteen, I got into an argument with their lead singer.
asking about the first concert one went to without one's parents
Not if the chaperoned one is funnier, no.
I started listening to pop music when I was 14, and decided to hit a concert not too long after that. At the time, a "major" concert in Little Rock was about a bi-yearly occurance, and so my friends and I just went to whatever pop stars deemed to visit. So, my first concert was Third Eye Blind and Eve 6. I'll admit I was fairly excited about going, even though I don't think I even had their CDs. About halfway through my friend and I sat down in our chairs and closed our eyes to see if we could sneak in a nap.
I didn't get to see a guy do a stone-cold drop faceplant onto concrete until the Rob Zombie concert the next year.
I think for me it was Modest Mouse and the Flaming Lips.
But I think I might have gone to a "show" or two (at, say, bars) before that. Can't remember.
I've been thrown out of a Billy Joel concert for underage drinking, though that was a good three (or maybe even four) years after the concert in 34.
Hipper than Blackfoot, anyhow.
What does that even mean?
"I started listening to pop music until I was 14"?
See, now, silvana, that's hipster material. Modest Mouse and Flaming Lips.
As a first show, BRMC is much hipper than Blackfoot.
Is not the essence of hip the dennial of hipsterdom?
Oh, see, I didn't actually read most of the post, so I didn't get the reference.
dennial
What does that even mean?
Something to do with Denny's, I think.
But MM and FM are indie-hipster (esp. a few years ago), which is a'ight, not Ashton-Kutcher-is-my-Lord-And-Savior hipster.
I was unaware of the many varieties of hipsterism.
Oh for fuck's sake, people, it's after midnight. Cut me some slack.
w-lfs-n, I thought you were going to start correcting mistakes rather than discussing them. I even left indications ("BW?") in my own comments of words or constructions thant need checking.
The one mistake I can't correct is your gullibility, SCMT.
Being a hipster when you grew up in fucking Cairo is very improbable. There's just some things you never catch up on.
A few weeks ago, I was wearing a bucket-type hat with a brim. As I was walking out the school doors I put it on and flipped up the brim just a bit (since it was over my eyes). The two friends who were with me were like "dude, don't fucking do that." I was like, "what"? They were like, "dude, Blossom" Again, "what?"
"You look like Blossom!"
After a long pause, I finally said "who the fuck is Blossom"? Hilarity ensued, &c.
Now anytime I'm confused about some cultural touchstone, we refer to it as a "Blossom" moment.
Flaming Lips had an (utterly anomalous) smash hit in 1995, while it's possible to return to indie status after such a hit, are we sure they did?
Dammit Woflson, that's actually funny.
As one hog produces many varieties of meat, alt. snob culture produces many varieties of hipsterism.
I was unaware of the many varieties of hipsterism.
They are catalogued in great detail here.
I probably wouldn't have gotten it either, Silvy.
I think that, given Zaireeka, we can.
Dave Eggers had an article (back before he was, like, famous and shit) in which he admitted to some snobby types that he had seen the Flaming Lips (this was before they, too, had really broken (again)), and he was accosted on the grounds of that hit. Unfortunately his response was not to say "hey, why are you such a snob?" and to proceed to examine the assumptions and whatnot underlying that brand of hipstery snobbery, but rather to engage in that very same snobbery at a deeper level, by referring to Zaireeka, their various experiments handing out tape players to audiences, &c. So the (presumably) intended lesson, that cultural shibboleths are stupid and failure to pass one doesn't reflect poorly even on the very taste it's supposed to test, was lost in the lesson actually conveyed: if you're going to institute a shibboleth, get it right.
The copyright page of AHWOSG is hilarious, he'll always have that. Other things too, but especially that.
Cheap Trick, maybe. Or Tom Petty. Can't remember.
cool word, ben!
Shibboleth originally comes from the Hebrew word (שבולת) that literally means "torrent of water" or "stream".[1] In the Hebrew Bible, pronunciation of this word was used to distinguish members of a group (like Ephraim) whose dialect lacked a "sh" sound from members of a group (like Gilead) whose dialect included such a sound. This term originated in the Book of Judges, chapter 12, which details a violent dispute between the tribes of Gilead and Ephraim. During this conflict, which occurred between 1370-1070 B.C., Gilead defeated Ephraim, and some Ephraimites began to cross secretly into Gilead's territory to escape retribution. In order to catch and kill these disguised refugees, the Gileadites put each refugee to a simple test:
And the Gileadites seized the passages of the Jordan before the Ephraimites; and it was so, that when those Ephraimites who had escaped said, "Let me go over," that the men of Gilead said unto him, "Art thou an Ephraimite?" If he said, "Nay," then said they unto him, "Say now 'Shibboleth.'" And he said "Sibboleth," for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him and slew him at the passages of the Jordan; and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. (Judges 12:5-6, KJV)
Bonus!: Understanding "shibboleth" is itself a shibboleth!
Yes, but if the copyright page is the best thing about your book, you're hurting.
Talking about shibboleths brings me back to the first place I heard the word, which reminds me the other thread about meeting people over the internet. There was a particular law school's applicant message board which turned into a giant, fucking funny behemoth of a thing not totally unlike unfogged (though, of course, inferior), and even though I didn't end up going to that school, several people from the board including me all ended up going to the same school, and I am excellent friends with some of them now. So it's weird, because I met them and first became friends with them on the internet, but I would have met them eventually anyway.
I'm putting off sleeping.
Hey, I liked AHWOSG. He may be a pretentious asshole at times, but he's got talent.
I first heard "shibboleth" in a West Wing episode thusly titled.
The man can emote! Surely that must be worth something.
I'm not really sure what my first concert was. I really loved folk music in high school, and I'd go see people in coffeehouses and little clubs. I think the Ani DiFranco is first person I saw that anyone here would recognize. My (straight male) best friend had gotten me into her, and I had to sneak out of the house because it was a school night.
It's not emotion. It's self-promotion.
Hey, that rhymes!
I'll admit that some of the things McSweeny's has done are cool. But basically, DE is the hipster of literary posers, and I find him hollow and irritating.
Billy Joel. A useful answer to avoid dating yourself, since he's been touring from about 1979 until now. I believe the various tours were the "I got divorced and need alimony money" tour, the "I got sued because some guy claims I stole his song" tour, and most recently, the "rehab is expensive!" tour.
The first album I ever owned was Billy Joel's Storm Front which I bought on tape from the grocery store at, I think, age 8.
Is that last the same as the, "I drove my car into someone else's house" tour?
OT: Bitch, don't you get annoyed with your commenters? Reading your latest post+comments made me think "god, I want to hit these people."
I'm always impressed by how you manage to handle it.
The irony of Ben exposing the stupidity of shibboleths on this thread, is that for me, the entire thing is a shibboleth (at least in my distorted perception; my rational self knows no one intended to institute one), since I don't think I can recall a concert I went to before college without anyone parental, because I was just that uncool. In college, I think it may have been Mick Moloney's annual St. Patrick's day concert, which I went to with my best friend from high school (I'm going to start giving key figures in my life some pseudonyms: she is Clementine). It was a great experience though; we heard the saddest song in the world and both started crying; something that can make you cry in the space of a few minutes is concentrated emotion indeed.
I wouldn't go so far as to say AHWOSG is good, but it had some good stuff in it. I thought that scene where he's throwing his mom's ashes over the Berkeley marina in a paroxysm of grief, and simultaneously worrying about whether he's being dishonest and performative and so dishonoring her, got at something really true. I have those anxieties some times, and so do a lot of people I know, and I'd never read them so directly articulated.
I'm up so late cuz I was doing homework, kay. I'm going to bed now.
"A hard-living student by night", indeed.
72 and 80 are spot on.
In fact, I'm trouble coming up with anything before seeing Kid Dakota in grad school.
Oh wait - two concerts with large amounts of family: DC Talk and James Taylor.
I think it's time to go back to lurking.
Iron Maiden, in about 1986, when I was 14, right at the start of a 2 year teenage 'metal' phase.
What about the best gigs people have been to?
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, at Six Flags Over Georgia.
Put another dime in the jukebox, baby.
Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Gene Vincent. All on the same bill. Yes, it hasn't been bettered since.
First? Stones, Greensboro, '72.
Best? Springsteen, Charlotte, '78; Police at Davidson College, '79; Brains at the Milestone Club, Charlotte, '82; Petty at Carowinds, '80; Pressure Boys, Rhythm Alley, Chapel Hill, multiple times in mid-1980s.
Late as usual, but I will reveal mine: Journey with Bryan Adams opening. With my mom. If I recall corectly, I thought it was pretty cool. Now, not so much.
Ditto to 3 (except I lived in small-town Modesto California where we did not have a CBGB's) -- the closest thing was Leonard's ArtSpace -- where I saw my friend Martyn's band (of forgotten name) when I was in 9th grade. Or going back even younger, numerous folk-music acts seen at my parents' church -- the most famous was probably Golden Bough, whom I saw several times between ages of 11 and 15-16 -- also Tom Hunter, he has a bit of a name I b'leeve. I think my first bona fide rawk concert must have been the Dylan-Petty show I described on the ass-grabbing thread.
Aw yeah, Lex, Pressure Boys always did great shows.
My best?
Sonic Youth, EVOL Tour, Cat's Cradle; Pixies/Pere Ubu, Memorial Hall (UNC); the Minutemen opening for REM in Raleigh, a couple of months or so before D. Boon died; and Sonny Rollins at Duke.
84 -- "I Love Rock & Roll" was the first 45 I ever owned -- first record of any sort that I ever bought for myself. Not sure what the first album I ever bought is but there's a slim possibility it was "In the Flat Field" by Bauhaus. (I'm pretty sure all the records I bought in jr. high were 45's, I know I bought ItFF in 9th grade, don't remember buying any records prior to that in 9th grade.)
#79: Yes. It's not so much the commenters as a group--mostly they're pretty cool--but the response to certain revelations is entirely predictable and does make me want to hit people.
Why do you think I hang out here?
Best concerts: Pharoah Sanders, Nina Simone, Tito Puente, Lionel Hampton.
Strangest concert. Nina Simone second on the bill to Dick Gregory. In Bristol, England in 1967.
Ooh, ooh, and Public Enemy on the Apocalypse '91 tour, with Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and Arrested Development opening for them.
First concert (w/ family): Whitney Houston. Oy.
First concert (sans family): Midnight Oil. Now THAT rocked.
Ooh, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. I saw them open for U2 on the Achtung Baby tour. Is it unforgivably lame of me that I think their version of "California Über Alles" is better than the Dead Kennedys'?
Saddest concert: Ted Nugent opening for Aerosmith in a half-house Omni in the mid-80s, when both were at the nadir of their careers.
Someone threw a plastic cup of beer at Ted, hitting him in the face. He stopped the concert in order to challenge whoever had thrown it to come up on stage and duke it out with him in front of everyone. (That would have made this my coolest, rather than saddest, concert.) When he said that everyone in the Omni would join him in kicking the beer thrower's ass ("pussy ass", I think he termed it), my friends and I agreed that no we wouldn't, because the beer missile incident had been the only interesting moment in the entire lame show. We, and plenty of others, began booing the Nuge.
(I'm still half-afraid that one day he'll stalk us all down like so many young deer.)
First concert?
Toto.
That's right. Toto. Wanna make somethin' of it?
First concert w/parents, a friend of my brother playing with his band at the legendary Electric Banana. Not the Spinal Tap one.
First concert without, Peter Gabriel on the So tour when I was a junior in high school.
I think this might have been my first comment at Unfogged: For me it's that below the well-crafted artifice of Heartbreaking is a mediocre writer. At points in the novel he exposes the Author Whose Heart Is True, always signified by a freeform kind of rambling, punctuation-less prose, and I always felt deeply annoyed by the fact that he was doing that and, worse still, not doing it very well.
From the thread linked in 33, did Drymala ever tell us more? (This would bring it around full circle if someone's first concert was Prussian Blue.)
My first concert was Charlie Christian, in Bismarck, North Dakota before he was discovered and went to New York. I had to sneak in because I was underage.
First: Who knows? Some nameless bunch of students in a pub.
Best: Muddy Waters.
Worst: Jefferson Airplane: Jammed for about 20 minutes then walked off because it was raining (The stage was under cover, we weren't. Fuck 'em.)
Strangest: Bowie. Ziggy Stardust had just gone huge and he was filling stadiums, but he was contractually locked into playing this tiny college, so there he was in this little room with about 200 people, trying to connect.
Charlie Christian
Holy moly, John. What a way to start.
First: Eric Burdon and the Animals (Sacramento mid-1960's)
Best: Grateful Dead (Oakland 1970)
radiohead (opening, at the time, for alanis morissette). but i went for the 'head. 1996, i think.
Catherine always goes for the 'head.
i really do, though. i think i've seen radiohead in the neighborhood of a dozen times. if only they'd been allowed to play grant park this summer, though...sniff.
I also went to the Hacienda in the summer of 1985, but don't remember who was playing.
From the thread linked in 33, did Drymala ever tell us more? (This would bring it around full circle if someone's first concert was Prussian Blue.)
I've got more to tell, in just a little while. I promise. (I'm going to have an actual press release/website to link to very shortly.)
I went to see some local bands in high school, none of them good, since it was San Antonio. "Uncle Monkey Head" was my favorite band name of those.
My first real concert was George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars, I think, in Austin. Bootsy was in the house.
My first concert was the Violent Femmes in 7th grade. My first in a big venue was AC-DC in 10th grade.
Hm, maybe it was just the novelty of Eggers that I found interesting. Also, that I read it as an angsty teen probably helped me to ignore its flaws.
Oh, and I just realized I forgot all the folk concerts I went to as a kid, with my dad. Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Smothers Brothers, the Kingston Trio, Mary Chapin Carpenter, I saw it all. I lived a wild life.
Oh, right, Matt F reminds me that my dad took us to see some Franciscan monk who played guitar, named John Michael Talbot; sort of a post-hippie for the Vatican II set.
First concert: Andy Gibb. Mitigating factor: I was in 8th grade. I rushed the stage and snapped a pic of him with my instamatic 110 camera. I still have that picture, somewhere.
I don't think I can recall a concert I went to before college without anyone parental, because I was just that uncool.
Ah, a kindred spirit.
and simultaneously worrying about whether he's being dishonest and performative and so dishonoring her, got at something really true. I have those anxieties some times, and so do a lot of people I know
Whatever the substance is that mediates affinity, your comment just resonated the bejeezus out of it.
I am the squarest of you all, because I have never been to a concert.
I was too much of a nerd in highschool, and it wasn't really an expense I could afford. Plus my parents moved to the middle of nowhere when I was in the 10th grade and away at boarding school, so I had no friends at home. Going to concerts where people could be drinking and smoking pot isn't the sort of thing that New England boarding schools routinely let their students do. (British public schools can be way cooler. My sister's had a club for the 6th formers which served beer, and they took a bunch of kids on a pub trip where they weren't too picky about stopping the under-18s from drinking.)
So,other than that, the answer would be the BSO children's concerts my grandmother took me to when I was 8.
Going to concerts where people could be drinking and smoking pot isn't the sort of thing that New England boarding schools routinely let their students do
Almost all of the people I have known who had gone to boarding schools in New England, were Deadheads. I'm not sure that this contradicts your point but it seems to.
Should we take up a collection to send bostoniangirl to her first concert?
At least one prominent New England boarding school prefers to have its students smoke pot, drop acid, and do various other drugs in the safety of its dorms.
Best- Bruce at Fenway Park, but I don't have too large a sample.
Worst- Eagles a couple years ago- Farewell Tour #132 or something. When middle aged rockers go on tour, some can pull it off (see above), but these guys were the epitome of ridiculous.
Both these cases were also influenced by the relative quality of the seats.
124: Bruce's shows are my picks for best shows, too. This one concert of his, we were in the 8th row, center, so Bruce et al didn't look like little dots...those were the happiest 3 hours of my life.
The Who, in the 80s, Chicago. My ears nearly bled. We were close enough to be hit by Townsend's guitar debris and come home with permanent hearing loss.
Apo, I was lying. I'm not 80 years old yet.
Charlie Christian was indeed discovered in Bismarck, and I did once visit a cousin there, about 15-20 years after Christian moved to NYC.
The first concert I remember was the Charles Lloyd Quintet in 1966 or 1967, which is where Keith Jarrett and Jack deJohnette got their start. This was right at the beginning of "jazz-rock", which remains one of my favorite styles of music. (Example: "Bitches Brew", Miles Davis).
121: JO. Yes, that's true, but they generally went to the concerts during vacations when they were at home. As I said, we moved to the boonies, and my family didn't have much money. Sure, plenty of people did drugs and drank, but they weren't allowed to go to a concert during the week. People were allowed to go away for the weekend with permission (That's Saturday after games were done to Sunday at 8PM--had to play at least 2 sports/year), but that wasn't a school activity. Sure, if you r parents gave you permission to go home or to stay at a friend's house in Boston, you could go to a Saturday night concert, but I wasn't that cool. There were chaperoned trips to plays and things, and there were kids who went out drinking--but they got kicked out pretty quickly. And I was too scared to drink at all until I was much older, because my Dad's an alcoholic. And I was too good to break the rules. I told you, a total nerd.
123: Yes, that's true. And the big school in the next town from mine was like that. But I went to a St. Grotelsex school with 320 students. I think drinking and stuff happened in the dorms, and most of the smoking (of all types) was indulged in down by the lake. I was too scared to break the rules. (One Saturday at lunch after I'd been sick that mornign in the infirmary, my Latin teacher told me that he hoped that I was feeling better. He wouldn't have had time to get the excused absence slip from the nurse, but he knew that I would never have skipped class unexcused unless I were sick.)
What about the first album/cassette/CD everyone owned?
Mine was Chicago 17, on cassette, and I was 8. I still like a good horn section.
128: Wow. Becks, I was embarrassed about my 8th grade Andy Gibb concert, but now a little less so.
130: Uh, can we include 8 tracks?
130 -- I gave my answers up in 92. Joan Jett and the Bauhaus!
Also -- first rock album I was ever given as a present was a twofer -- at Christmas when I was 11 or 12, my uncle gave me "Greatest Hits of The Little River Band" and "Dan Fogleburg's Greatest Hits". The following year a different uncle gave me "Stop Making Sense" for Christmas.
Should we take up a collection to send bostoniangirl to her first concert?
There's still time for the parenthetical in 102!
First album bought: Yesshows. I am filled with shame. (I did listen to some better music from my parents' and brother's collections at the time.)
I should perhaps say that I didn't go to this first concert, whatever it was, until college.
Yesshows: Not Yes's best multi-LP live set!
Best concerts:
Elvis Costello at the Beacon Theater 6/19/2002 (The stage lost power so he sang half the set completely acoustic not mic'd fake-acoustic, but with no help whatsoever. The whole audience had to hold their breath to hear him but it was amazing.)
Sleater-Kinney at Roseland 2/15/2003 (The night of the big anti-war protest very emotional)
David Bowie at Jones Beach 8/2/2002 (Outdoor venue in the middle of a raging thunderstorm they tried to get him to leave the stage but he wouldn't. God perfectly punctuated his songs with claps of thunder and an amazing light show.)
Pearl Jam with surprise guest Neil Young at Tol/edo Sports Arena 10/2/2004 (I took my brother to his first concert and Neil Young showed up and jammed unannounced. He thinks crap like that just happens at every concert now.)
Becks, those are each and every one of them awesome.
Apo, I was lying. I'm not 80 years old yet.
Ah, I didn't take the time to do the math. I'm changing my middle name from Unseemly to Gullible.
MC Hammer. Seventh grade.
Becks is the winner!
My first dozen or so albums were all KISS albums.
I didn't name it, because I thought the question excluded concerts you went to with your rents, but I believe my first concert was Neil Young with my dad. I think I was too young to appreciate rock at the time, which is regrettable, because now when I see some videotaped Neil Young shows I think of how incredible it must have been.
140: Yes, Becks wins. She should also get the award for most improved concert goer.
Thank you. First record albums, all bought on the same day: Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Stray Cats, Billy Joel, The Go-Gos
First concert: INXS, eighth grade.
(Almost, but not quite as embarrassing as MC Hammer.)
144: That was my wife's first concert as well.
becks' bowie comment reminded me of one of my best shows: tommy and i and some friends saw springsteen at san siro stadium in milan in the summer of 2003. it was pouring rain, but the italians were going absolutely insane (shouting bruuuuu che) and the stadium - capacity of 80,000 - was literally shaking the entire time. when the rain really started pouring down springsteen modified the setlist to include pretty much every song of his that even referenced rain, and he kept doing running slides on the stage. he was absolutely soaked and loving every minute of it. god, that man is sexy.
another best concert: a secret radiohead show at the 9:30 club in d.c. in june of 1998. radiohead was supposed to perform at the tibetan freedom concert at RFK, but it was canceled due to someone getting struck by lightning. my friends and i were driving around listlessly that afternoon when we heard a dj on WHFS talk about a "secret 9:30 club show" while "karma police" played in the background. the first 600 people would get in. i tore over there, nearly running over several elderly folks on the way, and we just made it in. pulp opened for radiohead with four or so songs. later, michael stipe came out and sang "lucky" with thom yorke. then my head exploded.
First cassette: Linda Ronstadt, Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind. If that's the album title.
Don't know if I've ever been to a concert that wasn't in a school gym.
First albums: Billy Joel, Innocent Man and, of course, Michael Jackson's Thriller.
I had Thriller pretty early on as well, though I remember hearing "Beat It" for the first time at a restaurant as a little kid, and saying to my parents that the singer sounded like a really mean man, telling people to "beat it" and what not.
For about a year of my life, I moonwalked just about everywhere.
I don't remember the first album I owned. The first album (on vinyl!) I bought was Synchronicity, but it was a present for Dr. Oops' 14th birthday.
Matt #3 -- wow -- those were also my younger brother's first two albums purchased. (Or 2 of the first three -- he also bought "Private Eyes" by Satan and Lucifer, I'm not sure where that fit into the chronology.)
According to my parents, who had Thriller on vinyl (weird to think of parents as into music and things because that makes them people), I drew a picture when I was about four or five of 'Michael Jackson with his hair on fire' after some sort of filming accident with Coke or Pepsi.
They also remember the Motown moonwalking thing. Schweet.
Whatever the substance is that mediates affinity, your comment just resonated the bejeezus out of it.
SB, there are few things that make me feel more groovy than to resonate the bejeezus out of your affinity mediating substance. I mean that genuinely, not just as some opaque double entendre. But you can take it as an opaque double entendre too if you'd like.
'Michael Jackson with his hair on fire' after some sort of filming accident with Coke or Pepsi
I remember that. Pepsi I'm pretty sure.
Indeed -- it occurs to me that Jackson's spokesmanship for Pepsi may have coincided with the roll-out of the slogan, "Pepsi: the choice of a new generation".
Poor BG may never experience the joys of recovery. Everyone will be telling their puking stories and their waking up in the alleyway stories, and she'll just be sitting there ignored.
Jesus y'all are young. I'm not really 80, but I might as well be. Concrete Blonde is now an oldie, and they look back to Chryssie Hynde and "Blondie" Blondie as ancient influences, but I don't think of the Pretenders as oldies yet. Though they haven't put out any albums recently.
I dunno. I was about four years old, and I think my parents were having to explain to a preschool teacher why I was drawing someone with his head on fire. Pepsi, maybe.
This page seems to confirm my hunch in 155.
And here is a report on the burning-hair incident.
Thriller was a pretty sweet album, you have to admit. That fold-out spread with the tiger? Schweeet.
And thank goodness for preview, for I see Jeremy has scooped me on the hair-burning link.
Thriller is fantastic, obviously. Maybe the best album of the 80's, pop-wise.
Sign O' The Times is a possible runner up, along with Appetite for Destruction.
Hmm. Mine was Dandy Warhols. Of course, I'm from a wee little town and loved country music exclusively until college.
I do recall Michael Jackson being more famous than godd. Not that he isn't now, but then it wasn't out of studied freakishness.
Joe -- How 'bout Business as Usual?
That's pretty good, but in my " best pop album" category, something has to have sold no less than 10 million copies, and be considered a musical and cultural touchstone.
Purple Rain is probably a better candidate from the Short One, actually.
Cuts Both Ways by . . . Gloria Estefan.
#135: HAHAHAHAHA. Did I date you in high school, Matt?
First album I owned was Boston. Sigh.
Bizarrely, I did not do debate in high school. Put off by the fast talkers.
Also, bizarrely, I CANNOT READ. 'Debate' for 'date', sheesh. Always longing for eb where there is none to be had.
'Debate' for 'date'
The line between the two can be so thin.
My first concert was Simon and Garfinkle in 1982.
Good concerts:
Ramones multiple times in the mid-80's
Black Flag multiple times in the mid-80's
Prince
Freshfests II and III
beastie boys at the old 9:30 club before their first album
pogues at the 8x10 in Baltimore
Mekons in 1989
rem/dream syndicate at warner theatre
Public Enemy
Trouble Funk
Al Green
James Brown/Chuck Brown
Thesis: Concerts in NYC are always better than concerts performed by the same band in non-NYC venues. Bands feel the need to step up their game.
171: That Simon and Garfunkle concert was the first CD I ever bought.
First real concert: Stevie Wonder at Arco Arena in Sacramento. This was soonish after Arco opened and it was thereafter known as Echo Arena for its craptacular acoustics. I heard they got it fixed but like I want to drive up there to find out?
173 -- I think I disagree. My favorite concerts have always been small groups in small venues, not necessarily in NYC. When I go to see a big-name group in a big venue it is as much, I think, to add a tally to my experiential resume, as to enjoy the experience itself. I think of the big-name shows I've been to, the only three I really dug in-the-moment were the ass-grabbing Dylan show, Dylan at MSG and the Dead at MSG (and that last was as much about the drugs as the music). Whereas when I go to a smaller show I'm not actively planning to tell people "I saw 14 Scotland Road at the Dancing Goat" or whatever, and I'm more likely to actually enjoy the show. I guess that speaks more to the quality of my soul than that of the concert. But still. I have not noticed any trend in quality of small-venue shows between NYC bars and non-NYC bars.
I've been to a lot of clubs but never a big venue. Never seen rock or blues in a place as big as Ravinia (probably about teh size of Wolf Trap, if that helps and I'm too parochial)
This thread is inspired for revealing details about posters, mostly age but also where they've been.
Wait a minute, I'm not putting out. Junior Wells, in his club, about '78.
I'm sure it was a Freudian slip, Matt.
Best - Pink Floyd - Oakland - 1987. The pot haze layer was enhanced by the giant pig with red glowing eyes.
First - Rick Springfield. 81 or 82, maybe.
Worst - Lynyrd Skynyrd - 1990 - New Year's Eve, Cow Palace. I was 4 months preggers with a drunk husband that insisted main floor was better than seats.
Oh! But I did go to lazer show with The Wall as a soundtrack in high school! That was with friends? Does that make me cool?
First, David Gilmour (with supervision. There was one row in front of Dad and I in the balcony, and the two people in front of us passed a joint. Sweet.)
Best, dunno. I'll have to go with one of the dead guys though. Frank Zappa's last tour.
First album, 90125. And Yesshows is a fine, fine album. The only one I can still listen to, really.
But I did go to lazer show with The Wall
Aww yeah! LaserFloyd at the Morehead Planetarium! Memories (the memory is actually pretty hazy, for the standard reason).
Frank Zappa's last tour.
If I could be any more jealous, I might explode.
The only one I can still listen to, really.
I have a deep sentimental attachment to Relayer.
The only one I can still listen to, really.
I still find Close to the Edge to be very listenable.
First album? Not certain, but probably the Alan Parsons Project, Eye in the Sky.
I actuallly didn't do drugs at the lasershow. Does that make me uncool again?
185: No, and I bet you have less trouble remembering where you left your keys than I do.
I don't know about that apo. In fact, my astonishingly low performance on basic life tasks is one of the things that keeps me off drugs; I just don't have any functionality to spare.
I've never been to a concert. At least I don't remember going to one (not counting school, or the singing group my mom was in when I was a kid).
There you have it: we have to set up BG and eb on a concert date. Nickelback's on tour.
eb and I are the squares! I'm glad that I'm not completely alone here, people.
I grew up in East Bumfuck, South Dakota, so I never went to any concets in high school. Here are the firsts, as best as I can remember them:
First College Basement Show: LippaBoogieGaroovians, 1991 (in a house I later lived in).
First Basement Show with a Band Someone Else Might Have Heard Of: Propaghandi, 1993(?)
First Arena Show: Metallica and Guns & Roses, Faith No More opening, 1992.
First Club Show: Arcwelder, 1993.
First Album: Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair.
eb--where are you?
Silvana and Kotsko are in Chicago which is where b-wo was until he moved to Stanford (can he afford to live in Palo Alto?).
There's a bunch of DC people--Smasher,Saiselgy and formerly Becks.
Tia, LB, Drymala and a bunch of others are in New York. Oh jackmormon is too, and I guess Cala is, although somehow I got it into my head that Cala was in Chicago.
Ttam Reniew is in Texas (I won't mention the name of his town for fear of blowing his cover.)
text--don't know.
Emerson--formerly Portland, OR--now somewhere in Minnesota with his sister.
The HERO,aka apostropher, is in Norh Carolina (somewhere near the research triangle, I assume).
Chopper and Tripp are both midwesterners, yes? Is Tripp in Minnesota?
Didn't we do a frappr map at one point? Makes this easier.
Oh an this guy named Tweedledopey who has these delusions that his name is jvance* lives somehwere in my neck of the woods.
*"Preach it, jvance," doesn't work as well as "Preach it, Tweedle!"
I'm in the San Francisco area, but have been in two other places in California during the time I've been commenting at Unfogged. And I am, in fact, seriously considering moving to Washington DC in the near future, but I have a bunch of things to work out (liking trying to find a place that will hire me and my extremely thin resume: grad school isn't the greatest builder of practical experience).
I was just about to ask for the link, because the MT search feature was giving me problems, and apo beat me to it.
"liking" s/b "like"
The Frappr map isn't necerssarily accurate. I haven't been to Death Valley in over a decade.
Well, when I go visit my cousins in SF and my friend doing a doctorate at Berkeley, I'll look you up--if you haven't already embarked for the east coast civilization. (SF is quite civilized, but the rest of California? Not so much.)
I've noticed in the past week that I've forgotten how to write and spell. Time to use preview again.
When are you heading out here? I'll be around for at least a couple of months.
Wow -- the Frappr map reveals the zip codes of certain Unfogged commenters who are generally secretive about their locations.
JO, I don't think ogged is really in Nashville.
Was Toads ever in Chile? In virtual life, where's he been?
I was thinking about Michael during the SOTU the other night. I was thinking about how little Bus had to say about it, and then I remembered Michael's horrible time trying to help people in LA after the storm.
I mention that only because (sorry, Michael) I'd forgotten that it was Michael who said it. It was only that guy who comments at unfogged. So, the frappr map reminded me that it was Michael.
Right I wasn't necessarily talking about -gg-d -- there are other locations given that seem like plausible locations for the commenters in question, whom I do not recall as having given out their locations elsewhere. But then I haven't been reading Unfogged all that long.
eb, let me know if I can, I don't know, answer any questions for you or otherwise help you out from our nation's capital. Before you make a decision about moving here, I strongly suggest you listen to The Magnetic Fields' "Washington, DC."
Didn't you just move to Ess Eff, anyway?
208: Of course, no one here would ever provide information that was false, misleading, or in any way deceptive, would we?
209: Now, I remember that he wanted to crash there for a bit so that he could do some research at the two university libraries to see whether eb wanted to returb ti grad school. I'm guessing that you're not loving it.
I didn't realize washerdreyer lived in the East River.
Thanks for the offer, 'Smasher, I'm sure I'll be in touch. I spent a semester in DC in 1998 - I got there less than a week before Monica Lewinsky made the news, but my internship was not at the White House - but never really became as familiar with the area as I'd have liked. I did ride to the end of every metro line, however.
I did just move to EE, but it's only temporary, hence my willingness to go without a kitchen. The people who said lack of a real sink would be a problem? They're right.
211: Hmm, here I thought I was going to keep a bit less of my life online over the next few months. But I will note that since if I do a dissertation it will likely involve a fair amount of Congressional history, moving away from the Bay Area is not necessarily a sign of not enjoying being in the Bay Area.
Oh I think that the Bay Area is awesome! (I'm not crazy about the central valley, but the Bay Area rulz!) It was only that you mentioned looking for a job as opposed to applying for some awesome fellowships that I thought you might be ditching grad school.
Oh that's right. No sink, no kitchen. I remember. I can't believe you went through with that!
Would you feel environmentally guilty about using paper plates?
Not necessarily, although I worry about generating too much trash. The sink is large enough to deal with normal dishes - and without a stove there's no reason to use anything larger - but I don't want to push the limits of the drainage system.
This won't be such a problem when I'm finally back into the serious research and (I hope) writing. The last time I was heavily into a project I barely used my kitchen because I spent so little time around my apartment.
Arriving late, but I give three cheers for more unfogged music blogging.
(though my computer doesn't have sound, so I'm not going to listen to Ben's radio shows).
I have never gone to many concerts, but the first concert I remember was Leon Rosselson (majikthise approved).
I've seen Leon 3 or 4 times total, but that first concert was amazing. At the time it was supposed to be a farewell tour because he was giving up music to write children's books.
First concert: Ramones
Best concert: Elton John (seats in fourth row; w00t!)
First album: Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moon"
AHWOSG might be the most annoying book I've ever read.
AC/DC Fly on the Wall Tour Boston Garden
We went and waited in line for hours for tickets the day they went on sale and everything. I remember thinking that, for the first time in my life, I was really cool, because I could mouth the words to all the AC/DC songs screeching from the various boom boxes people had brought with them for the wait. I wasn't no poser.
Sadly, it was only 6 months or so ago that I finally realized I was vastly overestimating my coolness.
How tragically unhip am I? My first concert was the Village People! My mom took my sister and me, all of maybe age 8 and 9 and clueless as to who the band was.
You need to seriously recalibrate your concept of the unhip. That is totally amazingly cool.
Totally random request: Can anyone come up with a link to the original CCMC Onion infographic? Google's giving me no love.
(I chose this thread because Apo was recently active here and I figured if anyone would have it at their fingertips...)
But you can take it as an opaque double entendre too if you'd like.
One end of it, anyway.
Marvelous, Matt. Just what I needed. Thanks!
"perverse triumph", says Amazon.
We have a soundtrack!
Richard Shindell! My boyfriend has a joke about how he's going to make me sleep standing up in the hall, and that's slowly metamorphosed into more elaborate punishments, until it's "sleep standing up in the hall with the light on in heels listening to Richard Shindell." It's all because I ribbed him about his taste in fey folk singers, though in truth I have no established opinion on Richard Shindell. I have to say, though, I'm slowly and inexorably turning against Sufjan Stevens. I'm sorry to still the substance that mediates the affinity between me and SB, but it's the truth.
the substance that mediates
I thought we determined it was an opaque double-entendre. (Prefer translucent, but no biggie.)
Oh, great! Then let the mediating substance jiggle!
NO BIGGIE I said. Whoa.
Geoff Moore and the Distance, in the midst of their "Homerun" tour.
It was a Christian band (now defunct, as far as I know), and the Homerun to be hit somehow involved Jesus. That was the first in a series of concerts at a youth conference that included performances by Point of Grace (Christ's answer to Wilson Phillips) and Newboys (because -- get it? -- "gospel" means "good news").
I ran a search of this thread to make sure I was the only one who said Geoff Moore.
I no longer like where I'm taking this.
(True, but also: heh.)
But Standpipe, if it's resonating, then at least on some level, even if only molecular, it's jiggling. I saw a jiggle. Bigg- or smallie.
I didn't know The Onion originated "Cry, cry, masturbate, cry." Unfortunately, we guys don't cry easily, so I usually skip all the "cry"s.
Santana, Bread, and Country Joe and the Fish. Also my first date.
