Well, we just had an earthquake about a half hour ago, epicentered in Rosemead about 40 miles from here. It wasn't major - just a 4.6 - but it was still strong enough to be a little scary, mainly for the same reason most quakes are scary: because you're wondering if they're gonna get worse. You'll notice I said "most quakes". The exceptions are quakes that start off worse. That was one thing about the Northridge Quake; you didn't have to wonder if it was gonna get worse; it began that way.
Anyhow, I've had enough of quakes for the moment. But hey, at least the smoke has cleared. It was great to hear David Lynch forecast his usual "blue skies and golden sunshine" once again, and I went up to Aliso for a nice hike in the late afternoon.
Just for something to do, I am gonna write about music again, this time to name a musical influence on me who came along even before Pat and the gang at College Records. That would be my late friend Mike Bellamy. I include his full name because he is no longer with us, and because he deserves it, being that he was a great guy in all respects. I should preface my comments to say that I was already a rock n' roll aficionado when I met Mike in 1970. I was ten, he was 18 months older. But I'd grown up listening to Top 40 radio. I knew every single song in the 1960s. If it was played on KHJ, I knew it, and likely by heart. And of course I began my listening career with The Beatles when I was not yet four years old. So by age twelve, I knew a lot of music. But I didn't yet know the kind of hard rock that was emerging in the 1970s. And that was because I didn't have a lot of albums, only a handful by Three Dog Night and The Beatles, and maybe a Monkees lp or two. Most everything I owned, up to that point, was 45 rpm singles, songs that were played on AM radio. They were all I could afford with my allowance, and besides, I did my music shopping at Sears and JC Penney. I didn't know anything about actual record stores at the time.
But Mike was a grade ahead of me. He was also studying violin, and his Mom wouldn't allow him to come out of the house unless he'd done his practicing for the day. One day, though, I was over at his house - I'm guessing this was about Fall 1972 - and Mike had two records he wanted to show me : "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath and "Machine Head" by Deep Purple. As an aside, I should note that "Paranoid" was released exactly 50 years ago today, September 18th 1970, which was also the same day Jimi Hendrix died.
But yeah, Mike had those records, and he loaned them to me, telling me to go home and listen to them. By way of describing their music, he likened Black Sabbath to "truck drivers". I've never forgotten it because it was "so Mike". Even as a kid, Mike admired tough guys, and in the band photo on the "Paranoid" album cover, Black Sabbath look pretty tough indeed, like guys you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. Mike thought of truck drivers in the same way, and so that's how he described the band and their music : "These guys........they're like truck drivers".
That was my introduction to Heavy Metal, courtesy of Mike. "Music as made by Truck Drivers". Mike knew I would get what he was saying, and now that I think about it, what are all boys given as toys, but Tonka Trucks? Or at least they were when I was a kid. So perhaps Mike was making a subliminal reference, but probably not, as he really did look up to Tough Guys of all kinds.
And boy did Black Sabbath's music sound tough. "Paranoid" was the first album I ever heard by them, and I just now looked up the track listing.
"War Pigs" is the first song on the album. So that would be the first song I ever heard by Black Sabbath.
Now, fifty years later, that song has been played to death and none of us care if we ever hear it again, because it's not particularly musical. For instance, it doesn't have the melodic staying power of "Stairway To Heaven" which has been similarly overplayed.
But good Lordy Moses is it ever brutal. And Holy Smokes is it ever a political statement. Imagine wriring a song called "War Pigs" at the height of the Vietnam War. The song sounds demonic, and the vocalist sounds like a witch.
Nowdays, we all know Ozzy as a beloved cartoon character of a Rock Star, but try to imagine hearing that song for the first time, almost fifty years ago, with it's leaden, bottom level notes and slow droning riff. And then the high pitched, frightening vocal and accusatory lyrics. "War Pigs"! Talk about speaking truth to power.
To say it was a game changer for me musically is an understatement.
So that was one of the two albums Mike loaned to me that day, in Fall 1972, when I was twelve and he was going on fourteen.
I will try to do "Machine Head" tomorrow, or soon.
How important is music in the world, and in our lives?
For me, it's been almost my whole life.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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