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Re: Before otr...
> So what did everyone listen to before their otr days?
> > Anyone? Keisha
> ---------------
there will be two version of this presented, the short tale and the long
tale. delete as appropriate:
the short tale
__________
REM led the list for the past several years before i found OtR. "a day
without REM was like a day without sunshine" was my motto. when i wasn't
listening to REM i might be listening to (well, anything, but perhaps)
Elvis Costello, Warren Zevon, The Mission U.K., 10,000 Maniacs, Patti
Smith*, the Smiths, the Smithereens (it was entirely coincidental that
all those smithy bands showed up in this, the no-particular-order -except
REM list), Indigo Girls, Julian Cope, Tom Waits, Jesus and Mary Chain,
Syd Straw, Joni Mitchell, Graham Parker, Camper Van
Beethoven/Cracker.....
the long tale
_________
this question "what did you listen to before OtR?" was asked almost the
same way about 21 years ago. (over the rhine hasn't been around that long!
you protest.) yeah, but subsitute "patti smith" for "OtR" and it changed
my musical landscape in much the same way.
Back then i was listening happily to what they now call "classic rock"
(see, they didn't call it that back then....it was current rock, not yet
elevated to classic status, just like the car you're driving now is just a
car. hang onto it long enough and you'll be able to bolt "historic
vehicle" license plates on it someday). So i was into Rush, Blue Oyster
Cult, Boston, Neil Young, The Godz, Queen, Be Bop Deluxe, Yes (that
went back a little farther), and i'd have to go into the storage shed to
dig around into my old stacks of vinyl to come up with other names for you.
(it's been a while! and i had some, but i wasn't too into Black Sabbath
and Led Zeppelin. they were just o.k. with me.) At the very end of this
time period for me Elvis Costello came out, and i was enjoying the first
two Costello discs, but this really wasn't the same type of music at all,
and it wasn't Costello that drew me into this other side of music. That
would have been Patti Smith's __Horses__. Man, that was the album that did
it for me. i had heard nothing like that before (no, i didn't get on this
train in 1975 when __horses__ came out. i was still into Aerosmith
then....this is now about 1979 maybe 1980.) but once i heard it the doors
of punk/new wave/modern/alternative swung wide open. hello all other patti
smith albums! hello sex pistols, hello clash, hello blondie.....all of
which finally led up to Hello REM! (i didn't hook up with this band until
several albums in. i caught them playing on Letterman once and i thought
they pretty much totally sucked. then a workmate who loved them convinced
me that i'd like them and persuaded me to take his __Document__ home. i did
it, and damn was i wrong about that band! so there. that takes you
full circle. Classic rock to Patti to REM to Over the Rhine.
Jen, speaking of Patti.....reaction?
o.k. this was fun. thanks, Keisha!
jg
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