Anyone is welcome to submit a Guest Blog Entry to torontomike.com. I received the following submission earlier today.
I love music and I listen to (something) almost continually. A few years ago, I found myself slipping slowly into the musical abyss of "classic-rock". Somehow - after a few months of painful reminiscence - I was able to pull myself out of the classic-quagmire and scramble back to the refreshing shores of new-music. I've lived long enough now to have seen (and heard) several music genres come and go. (Thank God!) As a child, my ears were inundated with a steady stream of "Country & Western" (now called "Traditional Country" - Johnny Cash, George Jones, Kitty Wells etc.) and "50's" Rock & Roll (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly etc.) Until age ten, I wasn't even aware that other types of music existed! The discovery of "K-Tel Records" (bless their soul) in the summer of 1972 opened a lot of musical doors for me. My sister & I began collecting every K-Tel record we could get our hands on - "22 Explosive Hits"..."23 Fantastic Hits"..."24 Incredible Hits" - it seemed to become K-Tel's challenge to see how many pared down versions of pop-songs they could cram onto each redundantly named slice of vinyl. (Years later - when I heard the full version of Derek & the Dominoes' "Layla"; I was shocked! - the version I knew and loved was only 2:32 minutes long!) K-Tel introduced my ears to the likes of The Guess Who, Elton John and the Five Man Electrical Band. I felt like such a rebel! My parents would never listen to this stuff!
Marty
I've been down that classic rock road. For periods of time I've lived on The Guess Who, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, CCR, Neil Young and Rush. Like yourself, I always find myself returning to new rock and that wonderful period between 1991 and 1995. I'm listening to Alice in Chains' "Dirt" right now.
I remember the K-Tel collections. I had a few on vinyl myself. Those were the days.
