Music has always had a huge place in my life. I may not be able to play an instrument, but music has been playing in the background somewhere. Growing up in Southern California I have subjected to many different radio stations over the years. KMET, KLOS, KLSX, KRTH, KLAC and KROQ, just to name a few. RIP KNAC and PIRATE. Anyhoo, my musical developement really was born in the driveway and yard of a house on Concord Lane in Glendora many moons ago.
It seemed that Sunday or Labor Day weekend or Fourth of July were the days that car washing, waxing, rebuilding or yard work was done in the Crawford home. That meant that the radio was on and it was music or Dodger Baseball. Vin Scully has always been a favorite, even if I hate the Dodgers. On Labor Day, memorial Day and Fourth of July there was always a countdown of the best songs in Rock n Roll. Depending on the channel, most of the Top 5 were pretty consistent. You always had "Satisfaction", "Hey Jude", "Light My Fire" or "Stairway to Heaven" be the #1.
This really shaped my musical tastes. As an 11 year old, my favorite albums were "Born in the USA", "Eliminator" and "Tattoo You". I then fell in with the nasty hair metal craze. I finally realized the genius of the Ramones and Social Distortion in my adult years. I see that the origin of Rock n Roll were not wasted on these bands. The implementation of the core in their music has really caught me in their web.
Why is this important? My soon to be four year old son, Jackson, has found these two bands to be right up his alley. He has had an affinity for the Ramones since he was about 14 months old. "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Beat on the Brat" have his favorites since the beginning. We were watching Social Distortion on a show on DIRECTV from Guitar Center in LA. It is a combo live performance/interview show. He was reluctant at first, of course cartoons were more important. When that first chord came from Mike Ness, Jack was hooked. He really got into "California (Hustle and Flow)". A great tune that reeks of the Stones. Jack was singing it tonight at dinner and I was a proud pops. Now, if I can only get to him to like baseball and football.......
