Sometimes an era can be defined by a sound. One era I think a lot of people are able to recognize pretty easily when they hear it is the 1980s. While there was definitely a lot of cheese and overindulgence during that time, there were still plenty of great artists making a lot of great …
Before college, Ravi Shankar was the only Indian musician I had ever heard of. Even then, I only knew who he was because of his association with The Beatles. I never actually heard any of his music. My awareness of Indian musicians then expanded ever so slightly when I was introduced to an album called …
The first three Deftones records are ones that I can listen to over and over again. A guy I used to jam with in high school and I would actually play their song “Be Quiet And Drive” and it was a lot of fun. I remember hearing a few songs from a couple of the …
In 2014, I got an email from a website called goldstar.com, which sells discounted tickets for various events around town, advertising tickets for the band Yes at The Greek Theatre. I knew they were coming to town, but I was hesitant to buy tickets early on because they were not touring with their original singer, …
Primus played the State Theatre in Detroit in 2003 and this was the first time I saw them live. I went with a few friends from college and my girlfriend at the time. I was definitely geeked for the show, not only because it was my first time seeing them, but because they were scheduled …
Sadly, the first time I could associate the name Dionne Warwick with anything was when I saw her doing commercials for the Psychic Friends Network. Shortly thereafter, I found out that she was actually the singer of a couple of songs that I was very familiar with. Even as a kid, it puzzled me as …
Frank Zappa was unfortunately long gone by the time I heard any of his music. My buddy Joel, the big Neil Young fan from college, made me a cassette copy of the album Joe’s Garage after finding out that I didn’t know it. That cassette probably stayed in my car radio for about six months …
Outside of my current job, I probably got the most exposure to artists and music I didn’t know while I was in college. I lived in the dorms my first two years and just a couple of doors down from a gentleman we called Red Ryan (we knew about four or five Ryans at the …
We’re heading back to Europe in 1977 for both of the songs today. It’s hard to believe that’s almost 45 years ago. It sounds like a long time when I say it out loud, but it doesn’t feel like a long time as I get older. Maybe that’s a good thing, but I digress. Thin …
If a radio station in Detroit played Jane’s Addiction, there was only one of two songs you were going to hear, either “Jane Says” or “Been Caught Stealing.” Though I enjoyed both of those songs, I never really explored Jane’s Addiction further at the time. Cut to about 20 years after their first record came …