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This song just came on the "Hair Guitar" SonicTap channel on DirecTV, so I felt compelled to write about it.
When this song, and the album it was on, Ratt's self-titled 1999 album came out, I was living with my (now recently deceased) aunt in a small town north of Kansas City, MO called Plattsburg. I had recently moved back in with my aunt as my uncle had just passed away and I was there to keep her company while she was still adjusting to life without him. A store had just opened in Plattsburg called Place's, which is kind of a cross between an old-school TG&Y (if you're even old enough to remember those stores) and a Dollar General. Anyway, Place's had a very very small electronics section, and I was beyond thrilled to find the new Ratt CD on the shelf and bought it then and there. I played it over and over and over, and fell in love with the first song on the disc, "Over The Edge". Shortly after the album's release, I got the opportunity to see Ratt live for the very first time ever, at Roadhouse Ruby's South in Olathe, KS. This would mark the first of what would become dozens of Ratt live shows for me.
Over the years, Ratt would occasionally put "Over the Edge" in the set, and it made me scream for joy every single time. One such time I remember clearly, the band was playing a field behind the Silver Slipper Saloon (strip club...ha!) in Ottawa, IL on the Metal Edge Rockfest tour in 2002. The crowd happened to have quieted down some, and the band began the familiar intro to the song, and I squealed...and several hundred heads turned to look at me like I was a crazy person. Good times. That was also the show where I got nearly the worst sunburn I ever got in my life, second only to the one I got last year in the Bahamas. Brutal. I was hurting. Drove all the way back to KC without a seatbelt on because I would have rather risked death than have a seatbelt cross my charred shoulders. My at-the-time boyfriend, Jeremy, also was burned, and I remember as we were hanging out in the strip club for the afterparty, Ratt bassist Robbie Crane comes over to greet us, and did that guy thing to Jeremy where you kind of smack another dude across the back in lieu of hugging them. Jer yelped like a dog whose tail had been stepped on. Minutes after Robbie did that, Warrant drummer Mike Fasano came over and did the same thing to him. It was funny. I mean, pain is funny, right? LOL
Monday, May 6, 2013
"Kansas City Lights" - Steve Wariner
I heard this song on SiriusXM today for the first time in a long time. This song, wow, stirs up a lot of emotions for me. I grew up and lived in the Kansas City metro for the first 28 years of my life. This song came out when I was 3 or 4 years old, and was a mainstay in Kansas City for a long time. You couldn't turn on 61 Country (the country station that was on 610 AM in Kansas City for just about forever) and not hear this song at least once a day. It was also used in countless advertisements and montages on KC television stations.
I moved away from Kansas City six years ago. Even though I keep swearing I will never move back, it is, and always will be, home. Hearing this song stirs up memories of seeing the Plaza lights at Christmastime, riding around in a carriage, bundled up and looking up at the twinkling buildings. It makes me think of parking off of 108th and Skyview with friends and watching the planes land at KCI. It makes me think of summer days spent at Worlds of Fun or Oceans of Fun or at Royals games. It makes me think of ridiculously good barbecue. It makes me miss everything great about KC, as well as the friends and family I miss up there. In the 3 1/2 minutes of the song, I start to reconsider my choice to move away.
Not to mention, ever since I moved away to Texas, the song never ceases to make me cry. Hell, I'm welling up just thinking about the song and of Kansas City.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
"Seasons in the Abyss" - Slayer
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Also in honor of a recent passing, specifically Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, I'll share my memories of the Slayer song "Seasons in the Abyss".
When the song and the album for which it was named was released in 1990, I had never actually listened to Slayer. I was 11, and certain that listening to a band like Slayer would send me straight to hell. I was actually afraid to discover such a band. However, I listened to Z-Rock religiously at the time, and sure enough, "Seasons in the Abyss" was released to heavy rotation on the station. The first time I heard it, I had no idea it was Slayer...remember, I had never listened to them at this point, so I just would not have known...and I really liked the song. When the DJ announced that it was a new Slayer track, I was surprised that I had liked it so much and was even more surprised that I was not immediately possessed by demons. I remember cranking my little beat up boom box every time it came on.
Years and years later, I was at a Faster Pussycat show at Hairy Mary's in Des Moines, Iowa. I remember after the set, I and my friends Brenda, Melissa and Jeremy were sitting on and around the pool table talking to Chad and Danny of Faster Pussycat when "Seasons in the Abyss" came on over the PA. I went, "yes!!! SLAYERRRRRRRR!" and my whole group looked at me strangely, as if they were REALLY surprised to hear me turn from happy-peppy-hair-metal girl to demon-possessed Slayer fan in the matter of a couple of notes.
I'm still sad that I've never gotten to see Slayer live. I did go to one of the movie theaters that was broadcasting the same-day show of the Big 4 concert from Sofia, Bulgaria a couple of years ago, and I bought the DVD when it came out. Slayer was the highlight of the show for me. Anthrax, Megadeth and even Metallica were good, but Slayer blew them all away.
RIP Jeff Hanneman...thank you for the riffs.
Also in honor of a recent passing, specifically Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, I'll share my memories of the Slayer song "Seasons in the Abyss".
When the song and the album for which it was named was released in 1990, I had never actually listened to Slayer. I was 11, and certain that listening to a band like Slayer would send me straight to hell. I was actually afraid to discover such a band. However, I listened to Z-Rock religiously at the time, and sure enough, "Seasons in the Abyss" was released to heavy rotation on the station. The first time I heard it, I had no idea it was Slayer...remember, I had never listened to them at this point, so I just would not have known...and I really liked the song. When the DJ announced that it was a new Slayer track, I was surprised that I had liked it so much and was even more surprised that I was not immediately possessed by demons. I remember cranking my little beat up boom box every time it came on.
Years and years later, I was at a Faster Pussycat show at Hairy Mary's in Des Moines, Iowa. I remember after the set, I and my friends Brenda, Melissa and Jeremy were sitting on and around the pool table talking to Chad and Danny of Faster Pussycat when "Seasons in the Abyss" came on over the PA. I went, "yes!!! SLAYERRRRRRRR!" and my whole group looked at me strangely, as if they were REALLY surprised to hear me turn from happy-peppy-hair-metal girl to demon-possessed Slayer fan in the matter of a couple of notes.
I'm still sad that I've never gotten to see Slayer live. I did go to one of the movie theaters that was broadcasting the same-day show of the Big 4 concert from Sofia, Bulgaria a couple of years ago, and I bought the DVD when it came out. Slayer was the highlight of the show for me. Anthrax, Megadeth and even Metallica were good, but Slayer blew them all away.
RIP Jeff Hanneman...thank you for the riffs.
"Jump" - Kris Kross
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Well I've neglected the crap out of this blog. I don't know why, it was easy to create content for it. I need to start posting again in this everyday. A musical autobiography is fun to write.
I decided to write about this song with the passing this week of one of Kris Kross' members, Chris Kelly. I've never been much of a hip-hop fan, but at the time this song was out in 1992, you couldn't avoid it. It was also significant that I was the same age as the then-14-year-old rappers, so I thought it cool that kids my age were making it big.
For some reason, my most significant memory of this song was watching the video at a sleepover at my school friend Samantha's house, along with Lindsay, Jessica, Stacy and some other girls from our very small school. Again, as a white girl from the sticks, I didn't get into much rap, but the video was all over the place and was hard to avoid.
Well I've neglected the crap out of this blog. I don't know why, it was easy to create content for it. I need to start posting again in this everyday. A musical autobiography is fun to write.
I decided to write about this song with the passing this week of one of Kris Kross' members, Chris Kelly. I've never been much of a hip-hop fan, but at the time this song was out in 1992, you couldn't avoid it. It was also significant that I was the same age as the then-14-year-old rappers, so I thought it cool that kids my age were making it big.
For some reason, my most significant memory of this song was watching the video at a sleepover at my school friend Samantha's house, along with Lindsay, Jessica, Stacy and some other girls from our very small school. Again, as a white girl from the sticks, I didn't get into much rap, but the video was all over the place and was hard to avoid.
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