Musical Memories - The Offspring

It's about time......

THE OFFSPRING

When I was a kid I basically grew up listening to whatever music my father liked. I remember the first time I heard The Offspring was because of my Dad. We pulled into a liquor store parking lot (my father, my mother, my older brother, and me) as "Come Out and Play" came on the radio. My Dad said something about liking the sound of the band and turned up the song as he got out of the car to get something from the store. So my mother, brother, and I sat in the car listening to the song. I remember thinking as a youngster that I liked the guitar sound and of course the catchy chorus. This was the first time I heard The Offspring.

Weeks or months later, I was at Harmony House in Southgate with my parents and my brother. My Dad was looking for CD's while the rest of us roamed around the store. My Dad showed me that they had Smash by The Offspring. He asked me if I wanted it and I said yes. When we got home I went up to my room to rock my new Smash cassette. I remember listening to it and then my Dad reading the lyrics afterwards. He started laughing and said something like, "These are some of the worst lyrics I've ever read! It's like a joke." I was bummed that my Dad didn't approve of The Offspring and I thought that meant I shouldn't like them, but I did. I remember being sad that my Dad didn't like a band that I liked, just because I was so used to sharing music with him. This was the first time in my young musical adoring life that I veered away from my fathers opinion.

I remember listening to Smash on my headphones during lunch at the Catholic school I attended. All my friends would ask to listen to "that one song with the swear words." That song was "Bad Habit." Remember, "stupid, dumb shit, goddamn, motherfucker!" In 5th Grade, at St.Cyprian, this is what me and my young friends were listening to. I don't remember ever getting caught.

Years later, the first concert I would ever attend would be The Offspring playing at St.Andrews Hall. I went with my friend Justin and his father. The Bumpin' Uglies opened (who I grew to love) followed by Unwritten Law. Then The Offspring played. We watched the show from upstairs and eventually moved down to the main floor near where the sound board was set up. I remember thinking how crazy the crowd was and seeing someone getting carried out because of injuries. Little did I know, in just a few more years I would be spending much of my time at this same venue and jumping around in "crazy" crowds like the one I saw that night.

Around this same time (8th or 9th grade) I was still playing hockey and I remember going out of town to play a game and listening to the album Americana to get stocked. I was siting in the car with my friend and teammate Faro while his mom drove us and we jammed to The Offspring.

In high school I saw The Offspring for my final time. They played with MXPX and I remember not being into it at all, however I did buy a shirt. I realized that The Offspring sucked! I don't listen to The Offspring anymore, but I will always have old ties to that band.


Videos

Come Out and Play ( Keep em' Separated)

Self Esteem

Gotta Get Away

The Kids Aren't Alright

Musical Memories - Soul Asylum

I have decided to start a blog series titled: "Musical Memories." I've realized how with much of my life I can remember different time periods and events based on what music I was listening to. So I am going to try to go through as many bands as I can remember that have become important enough to help me remember different stories in my life. I'm going to try to start from earlier points in my life and bring it forward till now. The first band is...

SOUL ASYLUM

When I was a kid I used to sit in front of my boom box and record songs I liked off of the radio. I always had a blank tape ready to go in case one of my favorite songs came on. When Soul Asylum's album Let You Dim Light Shine came out I was obsessed with the song "Misery." I remember that I would hear the song as it was half-way through a lot and miss my chance to record it. Then one day, I was ready. I knew "Misery" was coming up so I made sure my finger was on the record button. Then it started and I pressed record. I was elated until, half way through the song the record button popped up. The blank tape was at the end of it's reel and I would have to flip it over if I wanted to continue recording. I couldn't believe it, I was so bummed. I had once again missed my chance to have my own complete version of "Misery."

Later that evening, my father came home. I shared with him the tragic events of that afternoon. I remember he said to me, "Why don't you just buy the album?" I didn't know how to do that because I was a kid and didn't really have money.

Soul Asylum also had another single off Let Your Dim Light Shine called "String of Pearls." It was a long story type song. I remember me and my dad hearing this song a few times. At first I didn't really like it, but somehow I didn't know it was Soul Asylum. My father and I both heard the song a few more times and were like, "Who sings that song?" Then one day while doing yard work my dad had the radio on and said, " Hey Nick, guess who sings that song. Soul Asylum." We were both a little put back but, then grew to love the song once we knew it was Dave Pirner speaking to us.

I eventually got the cassette of Let Your Dim Light Shine, I don't remember how, but I got it. I listened to it all the time. I remember it was during summertime and my mom had the mother of some of our hockey buddies watch my brother and me during the day, while my mom worked. We would go over to their house in River Rouge each weekday. I remember having my headphones on and listening to Soul Asylum on the drives there. Gabe, my hockey buddy, would always say, "Let me hear that one song." He was of course talking about "Misery."

A few years ago, I saw the video for "Black Gold" on VH1 Classic, or something like that, and was pumped up about Soul Asylum again. So I went out and bought Grave Dancers Union and was reminded how well Dave could write great songs. While Grave Dancers definitely isn't as good overall as Dim Light, in my opinon, I still think there are some great singles on Grave Dancers. I remember I would basically just play "Black Gold" and the other singles from Grave Dancers a lot during this time. I really liked the line "I don't care 'bout no wheelchair, I got so much left to do with my life." I felt this line because around the time of heavy "Black Gold" rotation I had met this girl at a bar and I was really into her. I would have these unwarranted fairy tale thoughts of us having a great life together and think, "I got so much left to do with my life." Awkward how I ended up relating a song about oil and power, to a girl. She never wanted to hang out with me but was always real nice when I would run into her at the bar. I somehow understood where she was coming from, we barely knew each other, and I let the dream die. However, I still love "Black Gold."

Videos:

Misery

Black Gold

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Farewell TRL

This week MTV bid farewell to Total Request Live (TRL) and all I could say was, “Thank You!” However, I’m not sure I speak for those devoted fans ranging in age from 12 to 18 who watched the show everyday after school while eating chocolate pudding and potato chips. After contemplating what "TRL" brought to the media world and all it effects, I wondered; What can we thank "TRL" for? I decided to make a list…

Thank you "TRL" for:

- Decreasing teenagers already short attention spans by playing only 30 seconds or less of each video.

- Making “rock ‘n roll” look so intriguing with terrific interviews and performances from bands like Fall Out Boy ( who actually helped bid a farewell to a dying TRL phenomenon).

- Giving Carson Daly exposure which resulted in him having his own late night television show.

- Hyping up one hit wonders enough to allow them to record a second album that nobody wanted to hear.

- Teaching all actors that no plug is shameful as long as it results in more kids paying to see their new rom-action comedy.

- Giving bland, nerdy looking white boys their 15 minutes while placing them next to pretty girls who can’t read cue cards.

- Convincing historic music magazines (and lonely bloggers) that what is covered on "TRL" is important enough to be featured in writing.

- Thousands of screaming mouths full of braces.

- Showing us all that if you want to shut down Times Square all you need are four or five rat faced white boys.

- Fred Durst