The lean, bearded, Fiat Spider-driving, cowboy-hat-wearing, 27-year-old incarnation of myself had left the girlfriend and their little apartment in Boston behind to set out for a new life in Atlanta, Georgia. It was 1981. He was young.
Wordy Rappinghood may have been the fun party song of the year, but this is the music he primarily remembers listening to in 1981, on cassette, generally while driving around in that little, unreliable car.
Wordy Rappinghood may have been the fun party song of the year, but this is the music he primarily remembers listening to in 1981, on cassette, generally while driving around in that little, unreliable car.
Robert Fripp & The League of Gentlemen - The incredible Sara Lee on bass, while Fripp lays down all of those polyrhythms that the punk rockers of the time were hearing in their heads but didn't have the chops to play.
After No Pussyfooting (1973) and Music For Airports (1978), in 1981's My Life In the Bush of Ghosts, Eno redefined for him for at least the third time what music was capable of doing, and exponentially broadened his horizons. He owes Eno so much for how he thinks about and experiences music to this day.
For those of you keeping score at home, I expect this nostalgia kick to end pretty soon and regular posting to resume shortly.
You look so *Amercian* :-)
ReplyDelete1981 I was teaching 4th grade in London and listening to Capital Radio. It was not a good year for music in the UK: Adam Ant, U2 and a bunch of obscure British acts. Even John Peel had nothing much to offer in his late night alternative music show on BBC radio. I do remember this, which kinda sums up being a 26 year-old in London in 1981. http://youtu.be/MVE6C_m4IZA