Your Dad's Music

When I was in 7th grade, I can remember three events shaping my awareness and fondness for classic rock.

1. The death of Jerry Garcia
2. Woodstock '94
3. Forrest Gump soundtrack

1. Jerry Garcia's death made me aware that the Grateful Dead actually existed. To that point, the only way I was able to associate the band with its music was the drug references on the song Casey Jones. We had a little record store in town named Sound Cellar. It was a store way ahead of its time. It sold records, incense, hacky-sacks, paraphernalia and most importantly - Grateful Dead shirts. It was a bit like a haunted house - you did not want to go in it because you weren't sure what was in there (or that you'd come out), but you had to see for yourself. It seemed like every kid had a Grateful Dead shirt. Every kid had one because they were cool. The artwork on those shirts still mesmerizes me. I wish I could have the same graphic designer do all of my school stuff. Anyway - I just remember Jerry Garcia's death set off a domino effect of tie-dye shirts and hemp necklaces. There was one rule - you had to know some Grateful Dead songs to actually wear the shirt to school. Being a poser was not tolerated or allowed socially. It wasn't so much about the Dead's music as it was looking the part. It was like my school had turned into Dazed and Confused (obligatory Alright, Alright).  

2. Woodstock '94 was huge (obviously not as huge as the original), but what made it huge was radio and MTV. It was everywhere. I have talked in previous posts about the rise in popularity of alternative rock and this was very evident at Woodstock '94. The larger point is that it brought into my existence the performers at the original Woodstock. I was curious. I was suddenly asking my mom to let me buy Led Zeppelin's IV and Jimi Hendrix CDs. I remember that we had a comprehensive social studies unit on the Vietnam War, but it was the music that got all the attention. I have always said that popular trends usually hit public schools a year or two after they have actually been trendy - well, this one happened to be 25 years in the making. 

3. The Forrest Gump soundtrack. A great movie with an even better soundtrack. It has sold over 6 million copies. It wasn't all heavy classic rock, but a nice mixture. It had Elvis, it had The Doors, it had The Beach Boys, it had Fleetwood Mac. Bands that I had not heard of, but began to explore. I'm sure there was a major resurgence in the soundtrack's featured artists’ album sales in 1994/1995 purely due to this soundtrack alone. A mini music-Renaissance. This soundtrack had me asking questions about the artists - namely from my dad. When I was in middle school, I rode to school with my dad every morning. It was not a long drive, but long enough for me to remember. We used to listen to Bob and Tom every morning on 92.3 out of Fort Wayne (when it would come in). Back then, Bob and Tom seemed to play more music - namely classic rock. Bob and Tom know their music. Whenever there was a segment that was inappropriate on Bob and Tom, my dad would jokingly ask me to cover my ears (I went through the motions). It then lead me to ask him questions about the songs and the artists - did you like them growing up and so on. 

I still listen to Bob and Tom every morning. 

An Ode to 1994

I was in 6th grade in 1994. Middle School. I remember this time as a time when everyone was trying to fit in with some group in some fashion. It was a very typical middle school experience. Everyone wanted to be popular and accepted by a peer group. If I visually transport myself back to that time I see JNCO jeans, wallet chains, pants sagging (been around for awhile), Starter jackets, the latest Nike shoes and clothes, Silvertab jeans, etc. - clothes communicated a lot about you in middle school and still do. It was really the first time that I remember commercialism. It is also the first time I remember alternative rock music. My previous posts have been predominantly about rap/hip-hop, but in 1994 I quickly realized that the music scene was branching out in many, many different paths and doing it in a commercially successful way. I remember going to basketball practice and wanting to have the latest Nike shoes and gear, but then going home, throwing on my rollerblades and wanting to be like the skaters I saw on the X Games. There was something for everyone, and the music was no different. I remember this as being a time that radio stations started to rotate the music of the 90s heavily. Fort Wayne had an alternative station at the time (102.3?) and it was always on in my room. I would often try to make mixtapes on a blank Maxell if I caught songs at the right time.

I have said this often, but 1994 needs its on SiriusXM station, Pandora station, whatever streaming service exists - you need a 1994 station. I've always had an inkling that it was a huge year, but when I did the research - it truly was. I will list some of those albums below, but the list could go on much longer. I simply picked the albums that I listened to and STILL DO. I want you to pay attention to a keyword in there - ALBUM. If you remember my CD investment rule - the disc had to have at least three songs that I liked in order for me to drop some hard-earned coin on it.

Personal favorite 1994 releases:

• Green Day - Dookie
• Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
• Soundgarden - Superunknown
• Offspring - Smash
• Nas - Illmatic
• Live - Throwing Copper
• Weezer - Weezer
• Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
• Warren G - Regulate...G Funk Era
• Hootie and the Blowfish - Cracked Rearview 
• Coolio - It Takes a Thief
• Jeff Buckley - Grace
• Rusted Root - When I Woke
• Blues Traveler - Four
• Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
• Dave Matthews Band - Under the Table and Dreaming 
• Korn - Korn
• Tom Petty - Wildflowers
• TLC - Crazy/Sexy/Cool
• Bush - Sixteen Stone

The list could really go on and on. It's amazing how commercially successful and diverse the small selection I posted above was and continues to be. I can also remember the artwork of these albums - you will be able to as well. Just do a simple Google search and you'll definitely have some "aha" moments. These are classics. It proves that there really was something for everyone in 1994. This is when I remember the tree of music really growing its branches. It was also the same for the kids in my school. 

Extra treat: How many people remember that Microsoft sent out Weezer's Buddy Holly music video as part of their Windows 95 package. I remember watching that video all the time on the Gateway 2000s at my school 😁. 

Parental Advisory

In the span of about a year, two albums were released that I still know every lyric to every song. They were two albums that I should have had no idea about at the time. The albums that I speak of are seminal classics - Dr. Dre's The Chronic and Snoop Doggy Dogg's Doggystyle. One of my friends, when I was in 5th grade, had a purchased a copy of Snoop's work at a garage sale. We would sit in his room and listen to the album over and over again. I know I heard words and innuendos I shouldn't have at the time, but I never remember repeating them or understanding exactly what they meant. This was also the time that I realized there was such a thing as parental advisory labels. The parental advisory label was introduced in 1990. With its inception, it was only reserved for very explicit albums, but by 1992 there were 225 albums with the parental advisory label. It took me a while to realize that the albums I was purchasing at Walmart and Kmart were very different content-wise than the ones purchased at record stores and in the mall. Do you remember that they sold edited versions?

I remember those two albums not necessarily because of their music, but because of the videos that accompanied many of the albums' songs. The low riders, the White Sox hats, the Carhartt shirts (buttoned at the top button), the Chuck Taylors, the Ray-Ban Wayfarers - ALL.OF.IT. Sure there were gangster rap albums that preceded these two, but I remember these as the first commercially successful ones. Even our local, yokel radio station played What's My Name (they quickly changed the station's format and content). We would often call the station and request songs like What's My Name just to have the DJ become annoyed :). It seemed so real and it was a glimpse into a world that I had no idea existed. When I think of L.A., I think of the glitz and glam of Hollywood. I had no idea that the world that Dre and Snoop portrayed actually existed. Sure these two albums were popular, but one particular album during this time was actually bigger than both with the majority of my friends and it all had to do with one song. Warren G's - Regulate. I remember hearing this song for the first time via MTV and on the Above The Rim soundtrack. We simply could not get enough of that song (the album actually had several hits). I remember even certain teachers would let us listen to the edited version as a reward in class. It's a song that has definitely stood the test of time.


The West Coast scene was very popular in the early 90s and would only get bigger. These three albums also opened the doors for me to George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. I'm 35 and still listen to these albums on occasion. No matter the content of the albums, they're still classics and will always be. They're a glimpse into a different time and era. For me, it was the time I realized that there was such a thing as Parental Advisory Explicit Content.

Fresh Prince and a Satellite Dish

I grew up middle class during a time when being middle class offered you a pretty comfortable lifestyle. My family was by no means rich, but we never wanted for much. This is probably a similar story to many people growing up in the 80s and 90s. One luxury that my family always had was...satellite tv. It was a non-negotiable with my dad. I knew about HBO way before any elementary school kid should. My dad was a satellite savant. We are not talking about the small dish that we are accustomed to nowadays, but a beast that looked like you were trying to contact life on another planet. I remember having some kind of paper guide for the box that came with the dish, but you essentially had to know the right "galaxy" code to pick up any kind of programming. ESPN may be on channel 24 on Galaxy G4. You'd punch in this information and then the satellite dish would actually rotate to the correct position. The only way to fix the dish was to get parts from Radio Shack - back when Radio Shack was predominately for ham radio nerds :). I remember moving houses when I was 7 and my dad actually brought the satellite dish and the equipment with us to the new house. I think he actually installed it himself. I caught on to the navigation of this system this pretty quickly. My parents did not have a ton of rules on TV, but there were programs that my mom was not a fan of and would make me turn off immediately. Some of the programs I remember were - Dinosaurs (not the momma!) and The Simpsons. One program that my parents were not quite hip to was MTV - which was surprising given my dad's position as a school administrator. 

MTV was obviously huge in the 80s and 90s. This is no secret. The majority of the reason that the network was so popular during this time was that they actually showed music videos. As a young, impressionable white kid growing up in a small town - it was a window into the world I had not previously been exposed to. You could gain access to all types of genres, clothing styles, and regional cultures. It was absolutely fascinating. I remember the early 90s as being the time that I fell in love with two things (primarily because they were becoming increasingly popular) - the NBA and rap music. One TV show that bridged these two for me was The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Will Smith was talented. I had read somewhere that he had achieved a perfect score on his SAT. Once I had saved up enough money to buy my first CD, it was up to my parent's consent to actually let me make that purchase. I'm pretty sure the CD cost $16 back then. I remember it like it was yesterday - my parents had taken me to the local KMart and had allowed me to use some birthday money to purchase this bad boy - in all of its over the top, cardboard induced, packaging glory....

Hear's to you Will Smith - I've been supporting you since 1991. Maybe you can give me some test prep tips if I ever see you. I also want to thank you for being wholesome enough for my parents to allow me to purchase you and Jeff's work :). 

I leave you with a couple of my questionable, early purchases - probably around 3rd to 5th grade. Due to the early cost of CDs, my rule was I had to like more than 3 songs if I was going to make the investment. I'm glad to know that these guys went on to bigger successes :). Shoutout to Teddy Riley. 

    

Middle School Dances and Milking Parlors

I mentioned in my first post that I am an elementary school principal. My dad has been a school administrator for almost 30 years. I had some on the job training from an early age. I grew up in a family of educators and dairy farmers. My earliest recollections of any kind can be traced back to two places - a school or a farm. When I wasn't tagging along with my dad for various events, I was hanging out at the farm with my grandparents and uncles. I remember that my dad would actually take me to middle school dances in the 80s when he would have supervision duty. I also remember that I was completely unsupervised. I wonder how many parents would take their kids to a middle school dance today and just let their 5 or 6 year old just wander around 😃? These dances were held in the 80s, long before R. Kelly had released Bump-N-Grind, so looking back on it - what was going on with students probably was fairly innocent. I remember this being the time of hair bands and somewhat hard rock. Rap/Hip-Hop was still emerging and did not have heavy rotation in a rural setting (mostly just Tone Loc and Young MC). Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Michael Jackson and George Michael seemed to be in heavy rotation. So was stonewash and hairspray. I remember looking forward to these dances immensely as a child. They are something that I will never forget. If you went to Prairie Heights Middle School in the 80s, you may remember me busting a move to "You Shook Me All Night Long".

As for the milk parlor portion of this post - if you've ever been to a farm of any kind, a radio is always playing. It must be an unwritten rule somewhere in the annals of farming. The music usually comes from an old radio secured to a nail via a loop of binder twine. You never really change the station - ever. I remember the radio always being on WRKR - 107.7 out of Kalamazoo, MI. They've always been a classic rock station that you could barely reach in Northeast Indiana unless you had the antenna bent just right. Our old radio was in the milking parlor hung up next to boxes of Mt. Dew (another family love). I'm pretty sure our radio had cow manure on it. This is one of the first times that I can recall falling in love with Bob Seger. I'm not sure if its true, but my uncle used to play keyboard in a band in the 70s (I apologize for vagueness) and they would open for Seger before he was big via regional shows. That certainly added to my love of Seger. My family always jokes that Bob Seger is our family artist/band. I think part of it is that my aunts and uncles all grew up when he was huge (still is huge) and he's from Michigan. In a day and age when we upgrade everything all the time - you reflect upon all of the things you remember as a child that stood the test of time. I'm pretty sure that radio is somewhere still playing WRKR.

Who is your family's Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band?

I'm grateful for those memories growing up in the town of Orland, IN. I'll share in later posts about how growing up in a farming family in small-town Indiana left me at a crossroads in certain situations.

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been is the title of a compilation album by the Grateful Dead. You can simply find that out from an easy Google search. Duh!

More importantly, it also is a statement that many of us can agree upon when reflecting on the journey that we call life. I use it ALL.THE.TIME. It's only appropriate that I title my first post in this journey that I will call a "blog". It truly has been a long strange trip. I also remember the title of the Grateful Dead's album because Bill Bradley mentioned it during his unsuccessful 2000 Presidential campaign. I remember thinking to myself that a 50 something politician likes the Grateful Dead?!?! Side note - didn't every kid in the 90s have a Grateful Dead shirt? Looking back on that memory, I appreciate Mr. Bradley staying true to himself and what he personally enjoyed. It's also something that I was fond of in President Obama. These gentlemen shared the music that they love with the world as a reflection of themselves. Being an elementary principal, I share my love of music as often as I can. It's something I've even started with my staff every morning in our daily email.

I've debated on how to start this blog for quite some time and the first post is always the hardest. We've all had the same thoughts when writing - Is the title catchy enough? Do I have the right graphics? Will people actually read this? My idea in starting this collection of thoughts is simple - I am going to be highlighting the songs, albums, and genres that have shaped my life and memories. Who knows where it will all lead. I personally owe a lot this to my ability to remember really random "things". My hope is that it will make you laugh, maybe cry, or reconnect to a time in your life. I must include a disclaimer in this first post in that I was born in the early 80s. This will definitely play a large role in subsequent posts. I am what some may classify as a xennial. My xennial journey will take you from my analog childhood to living in a digital adulthood 

Ride along with me on this strange trip!