Number 113

 Nora Rocks, Nora Rolls

1. The first music I remember listening to was AM radio, top 40 pop. The specific station was WLS - a midwest powerhouse out of Chicago. It didn't quite reach the part of Ohio we later moved to, but I found a local top 40 station, and continued to listen to Casey Kasem's "America's Top 40" each weekend. In the late 70's, I began to purchase music. It was a time when sappy love songs and disco ruled the charts. I started by buying 45's. (If you don't know what that means, ask someone old). I still remember the first four I bought: "Grease" by Frankie Valli; "Two Outa Three Ain't Bad" by Meat Loaf; "Three Times a Lady" by the Commodores; and "Take a Chance on Me" by Abba.

I soon graduated to albums. It's amazing to me that in a blog where I regularly write and post very personal and potentially embarrassing information about myself, I'm somewhat uncomfortable about admitting what my first album purchases were, but what the hell. My first album was "Barry Manilow Live!" (Be careful of live recordings that include an exclamation point in their titles - they're usually trying to over-compensate for something). That purchase was quickly followed up by Barry's "Even Now" album. No where to go up from there, right? Wrong. The next two albums were "Still Crusin'" and "Go West," by the Village People. Sigh.

Then something interesting happened. I discovered the FM dial, ditched the top 40, and started listening to rock 'n' roll.

2. I have always loved music. Many of you probably know that. But I've also spent big portions of my life being alone, periodically obsessive, and intellectually curious (especially when interested in a particular topic). Because I was alone so much, and almost pathologically shy, music became an almost constant companion in my life as I grew up. I began to devour and learn about about rock 'n roll bands and singers. I began to read about its history. I learned about different trends and eras. And when I discovered a new band or singer, the OC part of my brain required that I buy all the music I could find by that act. By the way, this is still pretty much all true.

3. Seriously, I love music. There's not a genre of music that I dislike, although it's certainly fair to say that I don't like all genres of music equally. It's also fair to say that my tastes have ebbed and flowed through the years. As I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate classical, country, jazz and other styles of music. I can enjoy a Beethoven symphony, a honky tonk bar on a Saturday night, and songs from the Great American Songbook sung in a smoky dive peopled by folks wearing a lot of black. But the music that remains near and dear to me is rock 'n' roll. 

When I was young, I assumed I would grow out of this phase. As I aged, so I thought, I would begin to listen to more 'reputable' music. Not only hasn't that happened, the opposite is, in fact, true. I'm a bigger metal head now, than I was as a kid. I openly embrace the bubblegum pop of my early years. Seriously, I can discuss the culture of Black Metal and the Partridge Family with equal aplomb. The early stuff, Stax/Volt and Motown, The Beatles and Stones, Psychedelia, Glam, Southern, Funk, Hair Metal, Power Pop, and on and on. It all still puts a smile on my face and a beat in my shoe. I'm still delighted when I discover pockets of rock 'n' roll that I missed as a youngster (often, unfortunately, because racism segregated the music radio stations played). And Itunes, where the ability to purchase music is only one click away doesn't help when that OC part of my brain kicks into action.

4. So at 54, I'm still waiting to outgrow my love of rock 'n' roll. In truth, I long ago realized it was never going to happen. Is it the primal beat of the drums that has me hooked? The rhythmic thumping of the the bass guitar? The screaming solos of the lead guitar, or the driving beat of the rhythm guitar? A melodic hook coming from the keyboards? Don't know, don't care. To paraphrase "Wild Thing" by the Troggs; rock 'n' roll, "it moves me." Amen and amen.