This is my 100th post here at DEFENDING AXL ROSE. I’ve been vaguely aware that the 100th post was looming on the horizon, and as such I’ve been trying to figure out what to do to commemorate this (small) milestone. In the end, I decided to go back to the very beginning. Not to December of 2011 when I saw an interview with Axl Rose on VH1 Classics (the impetus for this blog), but rather ALL the way back.
It’s embarrassing, but my earliest memories of music are of The Thompson Twins. My mother was a Thompson Twins fan and in the early 1980’s that was what was playing in our house. “King For A Day” and “Don’t Mess With Dr. Dream” were the soundtrack to my early, brain-forming years. I guess that explains why I am so hopelessly, utterly fucked-up. Luckily, it wasn’t all bad 80’s synth music in my house, I was also exposed to The Beatles very early in life. I have many fond memories of jumping on couches with my little sister listening to REVOLVER. That more than makes up for having the Thompson Twins forced upon me.
Right after I saw WAYNE’S WORLD (with it’s awesome “Bohemian Rhapsody” scene) I went to the mall and bought my very first music-purchase: a cassette copy of CLASSIC QUEEN. I still have the cassette:
From there it was a steady decline into to the seedy world of CD’s, vinyl records, turn tables, MP3 players, foreign music magazines, and did I mention CD’s? I own a modest 500+, but only because my wife has made me feel a bit self-conscious about my collection. There was a time (pre-Spotify to be sure) where I’d buy six or seven CD’s a week. Some of my favorite memories involve record stores. I’ll still never forget the time I went to the Virgin Record store in Nashville, it was like a dream come true…to this day I’m convinced they had every single album I wanted/would ever want (even stuff that hadn’t been recorded yet!). I know I’m supposed to hate big-chain stores, and I do, but that Virgin Record store was my idea of heaven. That’s all gone now, which is probably just as well. If heaven existed on Earth, what would mankind strive for?
Speaking of striving and working, I have pledged to continue to work on DEFENDING AXL ROSE until the end of 2012. I can’t say what will happen after that, but if people remain interested (and there’s still awesome music to write about) I’ll keep going. I want to thank everyone who’s ever commented on one of my posts, it really does mean a lot. Since starting this blog I’ve discovered a really cool online community of music nerds that have made me feel super-welcomed. So big thanks to them as well. I’ve added a Blog-Roll to the side-bar, anyone reading this should go visit all of those websites (they’re all awesome).
I guess that’s it for now. One hundred down.
Rock On.
Defending Axl Rose 