First Record
Here I am the day I bought my first electric guitar. Truth be told, this was actually my second guitar. The first was a Hondo acoustic, the $50 Sam Ash house brand, that I got as a present for my 13th birthday. It was like a shot some incredibly addictive drug. I was hooked. It was enough to get me to go out and get a job delivering Pennysavers, the money from which I used to buy this Strat. And yes, I am actually wearing a Boy Scout uniform, and no, I wasn’t wearing it to be ironic.
This was around the time I was graduating from my siblings’ records and started buying my own. My first two purchases were Don Ho’s “Tiny Bubbles” and Barry Manilow’s “Mandy.” KIDDING, of course. The first thing I ever bought for myself was a 45 RPM single of “Train in Vain” by The Clash.
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The Clash changed me. Well, not just The Clash, but the entire New Wave that was cresting on American shores. As much as I loved the Beatles and the music of the early British Invasion, it was never really my music. It was a hand-me-down, like an older brother’s shirt. And as much as I appreciated the ethos of the 1960s rebellion, it wasn’t my rebellion either. Truth is, I, and my friends of the time, were really tired of hearing about the 60s. Seriously, there seemed to be a never ending stream of BMW-driving Yuppies who needed to convince themselves (and the rest of the world) that what they did as kids mattered. That their rock-infused youth gave some purpose to the soulless, materialistic adult lives. Well, to those of us entering high school in 1979 — the year Train in Vain came out — the world still seemed liked a pretty fucked up place, so maybe it was time those Yuppies moved to Florida like their parents had. (And guess what, most of them eventually did.)
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These two videos typify the New wave to me. The first one is from The Violent Femmes. Yeah, yeah, I know. “Blister in the Sun” has been used in every hackneyed movie made in the last 30 years, and is now a staple of every wedding DJ’s set list. But that wasn’t true when they debuted in 1983. Their sound was unique, and it was cool. And this song, “Add It Up,” is just killer. The second video, “Back of My Hand” by the Jags actually came out in 1979, but didn’t make it’s way to my turntable until a few years later. It’s a catchy pop tune with just a hint of edge, and an oh so cheesy vibe.
