I remember those
tv dinner, jaffles and cup a soups in front of Countdown…though I’m not sure
what we at e in summer. I grew to hate certain songs that stayed number one for
what seemed like forever. Then there
were the music poster on that one wall in your room. The Pink Floyd triangle set on the vast
sheet of black with a rainbow of colour shooting through the mystical prism,
which was only mystical really because of the rainbow. And you know what – I
never did like Mike Oldfield. But what I did like was the raw punk music, that
Warsaw single before they became Joy Division. Maybe I’m mixing up memories
now, but I think you played that single over and over, on the record player
that I have now. Skip a few years and you introduced me to the Cure, and Shriekback
too. I was the only kid at the Culture Club concert excited by the supporting
act, and I’d never seen anything like it. And the Cure! I knew when I was accused
at high school for only liking their popular stuff, well I knew that kid just
couldn’t be more wrong. I grew up on the shit, and without knowing at the time,
had more cred than any other teenager at that school. Who else was going to Severed Head gigs at
the Paddington Town Hall? Hardly any of the kids at my school made it beyond
the Harbour Bridge. While other kids were watching video hits, I was getting
snuck into Do Re Mi gigs when I was much younger than 18. I was so nervous
walking into another world, pretending to be all grown up and most likely
failing. Then a few years on catching the bus all the way to your flat in Clovelly
I think, before seeing New Order at the Enmore. After that I was on my own, at
art school with the Sydney music scene at my feet, and my own little circle of bands.
But those years, they marked the beginning of my love affair with music. An
obsession with three piece bands - walls of guitar and noise. It all started in
that little suburban household, in a bedroom at the back. Your room, your music
and your big brother love.
Happy birthday.
I rb
Posts
I knew I should have checked your blog yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThis gift (picture and story) means so much to me. Funny thing was, I guess I was trying to influence you. Maybe not very early on; I think I was just naively sharing things. But later, as I became more aware of what was fashionable and maybe rebelled against that and turning more to subcultures, I was trying to influence your tastes. And then you started listening to your own stuff and I thought maybe I'd failed somehow (because I was so into the electronic and you were so into those three piecers). It took a while for me to realise that it's important for each of us to express our own tastes as long as they are our own and not the mass media's. And now I realise what was the important thing I was sharing with you: the enthusiasm and the passion for music.
So, yeah, I'm so proud of you. And I'm honoured.