Saturday, September 22, 2012

Does Anybody Remember Laughter?*




"Everybody's talkin' about the new sound,
Funny, but its still rock n' roll to me."
-Billy Joel

One thing that makes me feel good, blessed even, about growing up when I did, was the music culture that existed when I was growing up. I was an ‘80s teen, but its not just the ‘80s that I’m talking about. I’m talking about this wonderful thing that came out of the 1950s, and evolved and grew during the 1960s. This wonderful thing called Rock Music, which by the end of the ‘60s had become the anthem and rallying cry of nonconformist youth, and continued strongly throughout the 1970s and 1980s.


I’m not sure how I would have gotten through my teen years without rock music.  Before the age of 12, I really was a rather unhip child, fairly unaware of popular music, rock or otherwise. But once I discovered rock, I grew to love it… all of it, not just the ‘80s, but wonderful stuff from the ‘70s and ‘60s and ‘50s as well.  By the time I was a teen in the ‘80s, it was something that had already been handed down by prior generations. And it was a world all its own… one that nurtured generations of nonconformists . . . rebels of all sorts . . . hippies, freaks, glam rockers, punkers, New Wavers, and others . . . music with a message . . . or with an attitude . . . with a difference . . . a music that told many an odd, strange, misfit kid (like me) that it was okay – even cool – to be odd, strange, and misfit.


I remember spending a lot of time by myself, solitary, in my room, some great record (yes, records, on a turntable, remember those?) on the stereo… it could be something great from the ‘80s.. or from earlier decades… maybe U2, maybe the Police, maybe the Beatles, or the Stones, or some Led Zep, or some Talking Heads . . . maybe something mellow, or psychedelic, or hard… but whatever it was, it had the same effect on me of immersing me into a different world - - perhaps one that was more heroic, or magical, or full of greater possibilities that encouraged an odd, freaky kid to imagine great things.



I didn’t go to my school senior prom. It fell on the same date that Pink Floyd (that’s the ‘80s Momentary Lapse of Reason version, say what you will), was having a concert in a local arena. I had wanted to see Pink Floyd in concert (even a Roger Water-less, David Gilmour dominated Pink Floyd) for ages, and when it came time to choose between going to a rock event from a seminal rock band, and going to some social event that celebrated fitting in to a place I never fit in . . . well, I chose to rock.


I remember the line for the tickets. I and a good, fellow freak friend of mine, agreed to show up at the Specs music store early on the morning of the ticket sale to get ourselves Pink Floyd tickets. I showed up early enough, I thought, but to my surprise there was an enormous line of people who had camped out and waited in line to get tickets. I thought for sure that I had messed up, and that by the time I even got inside to get my ticket, they would be sold out. I looked around for my friend, and to my surprise, there he was, almost at the front of the line, looking disheveled after having camped out there all night. He was hungry, and when a nearby Eckerd Drugs opened, I went to get him a candy bar. We stood in line and chatted with some of the other people there, fellow freaks, as if we were all old friends, or some extended freaky family.  Soon enough, Specs opened, and my friend got me a ticket.. and we rejoiced that were both going to see Pink Floyd.


On the night of the concert, I arrived at the arena and took my place among the packed crowd, but I could not find my friend. I actually was a bit concerned that he didn't make it for some reason. The concert started and there I was, enjoying a Pink Floyd concert. At one point, it started to rain, and this being an outdoor concert, we got a bit drenched. But that didn't matter, we stood there enjoying the music, all united together withstanding the elements in the name of rock n roll. The rain didn't last long, and when it stopped, the water glistening over everything, on came the song "Wish You Were Here." It just seemed poignant, and meaningful... and I thought of my friend. The concert ended, and indeed, it seemed shorter that night than I would have liked... I guess I would have wanted it to go on longer . . . but off I went with a mind full of memories. 

My friend, incidentally, did actually make the concert, and had staked out a place close to the stage to groove to Pink Floyd. I found that out when we next saw each other, both at school, and both wearing Pink Floyd concert shirts.

To me, at least, the true era of rock ended in the around the early to mid '90s. Rock continued, of course, and there were and are many good new rock bands.... but no longer would rock dominate as the voice of quirky, rebellious youth . . . and an era, and a culture, would recede into the past. How, indeed, do today's youth even manage to grow up without Rock?


*The title of my post comes from Led Zeppelin's classic 1976 concert film (of a 1973 concert) The Song Remains The Same, where during a performance of "Stairway to Heaven" Robert Plant comes to the line about "the forest will echo with laughter," and he ad libs "Does anybody remember laughter?"



6 comments:

  1. Sadly, I've been reading more and more how rock as we've come to know it is dead, at least on modern radio. The music conglomerates as we know it would rather promote talentless peons who don't know how to play an instrument and who "dance" to synthetically made music. Tom Petty addressed the changing times in his album "The Last DJ" which came out a good ten years ago...it seems Tom saw the writing on the wall.

    The great thing about the 80s is that a wide variety of music was still in vogue, from 60s Motown and rock to the New Wave 80s sound. Today I put on the radio for any modern pop station and everyone sounds the same (and they all for the most part sound terrible.)

    Anyways, sorry for the rant but thanks for the great post and the memories.

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    1. Pam--

      I couldn't agree with you more. It seems that a lot of music nowadays either sounds terrible, or sounds "technically" okay but lacks a sense of soul that was so present in years past. I feel so blessed to have grown up when I did. And you know I agree with your view of the '80s and its wonderful variety!

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  2. I was a 70s teen, and am a fellow rock aficionado. My 22 year old twins play guitar and bass in a blues-infused, psychedelic grunge band called BearKnuckle (http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCps3PMMx0t9UBN2MbWztqtg?feature=results_main & https://www.facebook.com/BearKnuckle?fref=ts) and I attend most of their shows. I don't know what we'd do without our music. BTW, I still have all of my vinyls! :-)

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    1. Helena-- I feel blessed that I grew up when I did, with the great music of the '80s, the '70s, and the '60s . . . all that great rock .. still on the radio and still in the hearts and minds of young people. And, yep, I too also have a large collection of vinyl records from back then. Best wishes to your sons' on their band.

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  3. Hey lazlo1988!

    I just wanted to pass by and suggest that if you have not been to my blog in a while, you may want to take a peek. Since you are into 80s rock, you may enjoy the posts I will be making over the coming days about a new rockumentary that releases this week about Rick Springfield. I have graciously been given the opportunity to pre-screen the film prior to its release, as well as to speak with the filmmakers about what it is like to make a rock documentary. I thought that you and your readers may be interested in this, because I thought the film was really good and would be interesting not only to Springfield fans, but to anyone who enjoys 80s nostalgia or the rockumentary genre. Feel free to link to, quote, or share the review I have posted, as well as other posts about the film that I will be making over the coming week or two. Thanks, and keep up the good work with this blog. I love my fellow nostalgia bloggers! :)

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    1. 80sMom--- Very exciting! I'll keep checking out your blog, and will direct fellow '80s music fans over to you. Thanks for the heads up about it.

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