Flashback Friday - Bronski Beat

I had all but forgotten about this group until hearing one of their songs in the movie "Edge of Seventeen" which I had just recently watched. The song was Smalltown Boy.

I bought their album "Age of Consent" in late summer of '84. I listened to this album throughout the summer, but one song stuck out, it was Smalltown Boy. There was something hauntingly beautiful about this song that I didn't quite get until later in life. Listening to the lyrics I thought the song was about a teenage boy running away from home. Not fitting in at school and being picked on.




I remember the first time I saw the video, it was on Night Tracks (does anyone remember this?) It was a late Saturday night and I was probably the only one awake. I sat in front of the TV (like always) when it came on. I soon realized that it wasn't about a teenage runaway, but about a boy/young man struggling with his sexuality. Watching this I began to realized I was going through this in my life. I was struggling to find my own identity and figure out where I fit in. As I watched I saw how he was being treated by others and forced to leave home because he was gay. An overwhelming sense of sadness came over me as well as fear. I began to think that if I was gay, was this how I would be treated? I didn't want to be an outcast so I suppressed my feelings from myself and hid them from others around me. I remember thinking I'm 16 and it was only a faze, although I recall having these feelings since the age of 13. Hearing this song again reminded me of how awkward I was as a teenager. Struggling for years to find myself and never really feeling comfortable in my own skin. I struggled with my sexuality until my early 20's when I could finally be honest with myself.

Although this song reminds me of the tough time(s) I had earlier in life, I find the memories are more of a life lesson.  Of my personal struggles I had,  but learned from to become better person and the man that I am today.

Flashback Friday - Fake

Before each Friday I'd try and find a song for my flashback entry. I listen to music constantly if not incessantly to and from work and home, all in hopes to find that song. As each Friday approaches I stress myself out because I haven't found one to write about. Well it seems that my Friday morning commutes no matter how good or bad it is I am inspired by one of the songs that I hear.  And this Friday it was this one....

Back in my youth a few years ago, (haha!) I clubbed every weekend at a place called the Twilight Zone (i still have my membership card as well). It was an small old movie theater that they turned into a dance club in Alameda. I ended up there Saturday nights with my cousin Jon and friends. I'd get all dress up in my black shirt, black pegged pants, my creepers (my old fav shoes), put on a few rosary beads and crosses (hey it was the 80's and that was cool at the time), and black rubber bracelets. My hair would be perfectly quaffed and held in place by the can of aquanet I would use (damn I think I have a few pics of those nights). I was a huge fan of new wave music back then, siouxsie and the banshees, joy division, front 242, gene loves jezebel, etc. The Twilight Zone played all of that and more.


Without fail they would play this song....





I don't know what it was about this song, but when it was played the dance floor would fill up. It did have a catchy synth beat which most if not all 80's songs did. I would join the masses on the dance floor and dance my rendition of taffy pulling (hopefully some of you will know what I'm talking about). You had all the goths, modes, punks, and preps on the dance floor dancing along to what ever their dance style was. It was sort of cool, it didn't matter who you where nobody hated you because you weren't like them.


I loved that club and the space that it was in. The stairs around both sides of the dance floor took up up to the old balcony. This is where the DJ booth was located as it sat and over looked the dance floor. We'd go upstairs every week and request every song that we wanted played that night. And the DJ (for the life of me I can't remember his name) would play each and every one of them. Between sets of songs he'd  throw in a music video up on the screen located on the stage. This video would sometimes get played, but not often. 


I had to look this song up on You Tube and was glad to have found it. Listening to it this morning reminded me of the fun I had back then. 

Flashback Friday - The B-52's

(For some reason my blog didn't post last Friday so I'm posting it 3 days late)

The B-52's  are a group that I discovered in the summer of '82. Now while I'm not a huge fan of their current stuff I loved their first couple of albums. A song that I really loved which is also a title of an EP is Mesopotamia. This was suppose to be a studio album which they started recording with David Byrne of the Talking Heads, but Byrne ended up pulling out of the project before it was finished. 





I can remember the first time I heard it. I was at my cousin's house on Buena Vista in Patty's room. She said what I can remember, "Oh you should hear this group I think you would like them." She put on the EP and I sat on the edge of her bed and listened. After listening to the entire EP I knew I had to own it so bought it the next day. I must have played that EP non-stop for at least a month. There are other songs that I like, Cake, and Loveland, but Mesopotamia is my favorite. I liked The B-52's because I think they had a unique sound that no one else seem to have had back then.  Every so often I listen to this and it reminds me of summers that my brother and I used to spend here in California, hanging out with our cousin's Patty, Melissa, and Jennifer. Good times....

And So It Shall Begin....

After weeks of trying to decide what I want to write about in my blog I finally came up with a format. It may change over time, but this is how it's going to start...

Mondays - New Artist/Group (write about new and upcoming artists and/or groups that I think are going to be someone to watch out for.

Wednesdays - Suggested Listening (Artists that I like and think you should give a listen to.)

Fridays - Flashback Friday (a song from my musical past that envokes great memories everytime I hear it.)

Look for to my first "official" blog Monday March 1st.