Nostalgic guitar wanking for the... erm... older musicians here.
Another long-winded reminisce...
I was in Germany during my last three High School years (for those unfamiliar with the typical American public school progression method, that's the last 3 years of the traditional 12 year general education system for ages roughly 15-16, 16-17, 17-18.. I think I have that right... coffee-cortex-coprocesser not kicking in just yet) and "Metal" was something very different than the same termed musical category these days.
I'm not casting aspersions on what they call "Metal" these days, but it's very different from what we called "Metal" back then.
Anyway, man, Germany was a freakin playground for that kind of metal. German audiences were the best, very active and enthusiastic, even to the point of being laughably ridiculous at times. Spandex as far as the eye could see. Nothing like seeing a German nerd with his yellow and black spandex, shirt messily and bulgingly tucked hapzardly into them, late-teen proto-mustache below pimpled complexion and aviator-ish-style glasses, facial expression awed one moment, then contorted in a scream, raising a fist with index finger and pinky proudly extended high into the air.
German girls, nearly as numerous as the dudes, flooded every available space with barley covered breasts, just as enthusiastic and just as fun to be there with as your guy-friends. Seeing a fairly attractive girl wearing tiger-patterned spandex and a black corset, hair 2 or 3 different colors and sitting WAY up high in the no-smoking zone, actually air-guitaring to the music. Not a fucking duck-face to be seen, nor half the audience busy taking selfies.
I loved it.
Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! and MORE GUITAR!
Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, The Scorpions, Pink Cream 69 (yeah yeah, good band, though), Anthrax, Dio, Queensrÿche, AC/DC, Metallica, Helloween, Dokken, Accept, Motörhead, Ozzy, W.A.S.P... shit, I'm forgetting a lot, not to mention all the German bands who were never well known internationally...
...here's a somewhat local German band I caught by accident as an opening act to the show I was intending to go to.
Yes, that's some silly shit right there, for sure. Didn't care back then, didn't have to.
I got slobbery drunk with them, Pink Cream 69, and The Monsters at a kitsch Mexican restaurant/bar after the show. Yes, they have Mexican food in Germany... at least this place did. Come to think of it, it's the only time I ever saw Mexican food in Germany.
Anyway, me and the bass player from The Monsters, Gunter, in an effort to avoid any lull in the drunken revelry, ended up guzzling a rogue bottle of triple sec straight while waiting for more booze to arrive, which was just endlessly hilarious to the Germans... who were mostly all drunk... which probably explains the hilarity...
Watching that video is a bit embarrassing, but damn it was a fun time.
Re: Nostalgic guitar wanking for the... erm... older musicians here.
I'll play along here... for me it was glam-rock. My days in Hollywood hanging out at the Rainbow, Whiskey & Roxy.
We were inspired by the look of Mott the Hoople/David Bowie, etc. High heeled shoes, tight French jeans, shag haircuts, etc. I was in a band and we had a record on sale at the local Tower Records on Sunset Blvd, in a special rack right at the checkout counter (had my picture on it) so most people in town knew who I was. As a result I had my pick of groupie gals all the time - went to some great parties, met famous people. Truly wild times.
As for recording, I played in Cherokee, Gold Star, Larabee, Record Plant, Producer's Workshop and yeah, Sound City (which was actually known as a shithole at the time).
Tourists from the midwest would stop me and ask if I was someone famous(?). They would take my picture. It boggles the mind to think back on how we lived at times, but at the time we were just doing what seemed to be right on a daily basis. The downside was the nightlife that left us partying more than practicing.
I finally straightened up when I was about 25 - going to recording school. My friends and I ran a rehearsal/recording studio in downtown Hollywood where GIT is located now. The GoGos, Gary Myrick, Peter Case, Kim Fowley, Rodney Bingenheimer.
By age 29 I was working in 24-track professional studios and learning mic and mixing techniques. I transitioned to stage managing on top cruise lines that went all over the world. By age 30 I had been all over the world from Tahiti to Rio, Italy to Norway. I sailed transatlantic about six times.
But the days when music was as important in all people's lives as TV and movies now could be gone forever. It's a changed world.
Re: Nostalgic guitar wanking for the... erm... older musicians here.
Nice, mott,
I was a bit too young (and mostly not existent yet) to be into the glam thing, but my older sister pumped my ears full of Ziggy Stardust from the time I could walk, heh. Bowie pre-1975 or so, was my hero, even though the Bowie actually existing when I was old enough to start appreciating him was completely uninteresting to me, with some notable exceptions while collaborating with Eno. The Thin White Duke and Popstar personas were the complete opposite of the genius I saw in his earlier "incarnation" (though who am I to define genius?).
I would have to backtrack later in life to discover a whole world of music I had missed out on, much the same as I did with Punk.
I was in Germany during my last three High School years (for those unfamiliar with the typical American public school progression method, that's the last 3 years of the traditional 12 year general education system for ages roughly 15-16, 16-17, 17-18.. I think I have that right... coffee-cortex-coprocesser not kicking in just yet) and "Metal" was something very different than the same termed musical category these days.
I'm not casting aspersions on what they call "Metal" these days, but it's very different from what we called "Metal" back then.
LOL, Metal back in my late grade school, freshman year was Black Sabbath. This was the Master of Reality days ;)
Heath wrote
Anyway, man, Germany was a freakin playground for that kind of metal. German audiences were the best, very active and enthusiastic, even to the point of being laughably ridiculous at times. Spandex as far as the eye could see. Nothing like seeing a German nerd with his yellow and black spandex, shirt messily and bulgingly tucked hapzardly into them, late-teen proto-mustache below pimpled complexion and aviator-ish-style glasses, facial expression awed one moment, then contorted in a scream, raising a fist with index finger and pinky proudly extended high into the air.
German girls, nearly as numerous as the dudes, flooded every available space with barley covered breasts, just as enthusiastic and just as fun to be there with as your guy-friends. Seeing a fairly attractive girl wearing tiger-patterned spandex and a black corset, hair 2 or 3 different colors and sitting WAY up high in the no-smoking zone, actually air-guitaring to the music. Not a fucking duck-face to be seen, nor half the audience busy taking selfies.
I loved it.
Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! Guitar! and MORE GUITAR!
Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, The Scorpions, Pink Cream 69 (yeah yeah, good band, though), Anthrax, Dio, Queensrÿche, AC/DC, Metallica, Helloween, Dokken, Accept, Motörhead, Ozzy, W.A.S.P... shit, I'm forgetting a lot, not to mention all the German bands who were never well known internationally...
Less we forget the likes of Alice Cooper, Rush, UFO, Pat Travers, Nugent too. Honorable mentions to the original Van Halen team. I suppose though that some of the one I mentioned would not be considered metal and certainly not by today's standards.
Heath wrote
...here's a somewhat local German band I caught by accident as an opening act to the show I was intending to go to.
Yes, that's some silly shit right there, for sure. Didn't care back then, didn't have to.
LOL - That might also fall into glam-rock or glam-metal.
Heath wrote
I got slobbery drunk with them, Pink Cream 69, and The Monsters at a kitsch Mexican restaurant/bar after the show. Yes, they have Mexican food in Germany... at least this place did. Come to think of it, it's the only time I ever saw Mexican food in Germany.
Anyway, me and the bass player from The Monsters, Gunter, in an effort to avoid any lull in the drunken revelry, ended up guzzling a rogue bottle of triple sec straight while waiting for more booze to arrive, which was just endlessly hilarious to the Germans... who were mostly all drunk... which probably explains the hilarity...
Watching that video is a bit embarrassing, but damn it was a fun time.
Sounds to me like you and I may have something in common; there very well may have been concerts we seen that we just don;t remember at all
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