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So, what were you doing 30 years ago?
- Thread starter Michedelic
- Start date
My trusty Ric and I were finishing college in Baltimore (fifth year Sr.; ended up taking six) and playing in the expected college cover bands. I recall that we added Lithium to the set list pretty quickly, but I remember that my guitar player not very enthused. He gave Nirvana (and PJ & STP) a listen, but never got into it. As a kid growing up with heavier music (Sabbath, Maiden, etc), I loved hearing it on the radio, but never got too into playing Nirvana. Had much more fun with Pearl Jam lines, personally. Being already tainted by Primus and King's X, hearing fretless and 12-string bass on the radio was great (and led to me eventually getting one of each)!
Me and the Ric are still at it, aside from a 20 year hiatus, and it is three feet to my left as I write this. Prepping up for some gigging this summer at the Jersey Shore. Hope I can say the same in another 30, minus the hiatus!!
Me and the Ric are still at it, aside from a 20 year hiatus, and it is three feet to my left as I write this. Prepping up for some gigging this summer at the Jersey Shore. Hope I can say the same in another 30, minus the hiatus!!
I was 19, working at a pizza restaurant, jamming with friends but not in a band just yet, had an apartment with a roommate and a girlfriend that worked at the same pizza joint. It was a bit of a lull for me at the time, just trying to keep my head above water, learning how to be a responsible adult, and have a little fun when I could. I had heard of Nirvana before this, a friend of mine had a copy of Bleach on tape, we had a few listens but I couldn't get into it at the time. Anyway, it's amazing to look back on that time and remember when Nirvana wasn't much more than an underground band from Seattle, and then a year later they are the most popular band in the U.S.
Playing bass in a all original alternative band in the Greater Mid-West. We talked about moving it all either to Seattle or Austin around that time. But the vocalist disappeared one day and the guitar player decided to go to Law School. So yeah..........
Recovering from the breakup of the best band I'd ever been in. Not listening to music at all, other than old jazz.
TBH, I missed most of the 90s, and when I finally started listening again I was, like, guess I didn't miss much....
TBH, I missed most of the 90s, and when I finally started listening again I was, like, guess I didn't miss much....
Thirty years ago I didn't know Nirvana existed. Still don't care. Not a band I prefer. My pivotal moments were when the Beatles came to the US, when I first heard Paul Revere and the Raiders, and especially when I discovered The Moody Blues and (later) Dick Dale. I was a radio DJ in the late 60's and early 70's, and that's still the music that moves me.
In 1991 I was in year 18 of a 24-year hiatus from playing bass while I established a career, got married and had kids. I started playing again in 1997 when my parents moved from the big house in the country to a smaller house in town. I had to pick up my bass gear (stored in my old bedroom) or lose it. Retrieving it got me started again.
When I started playing bass again, it re-introduced me to surf music, blues, and great oldies which are fun to play. Most of what I play varies from country to classic rock to blues, but almost none of it is current.
I like this. It's time shifted by about a decade from my story, but still a close parallel.
30 years ago I had stopped playing bass for 15 years by then. After a career in the tennis world until 2006, my last surgery ( of many ) I then sitting at home in a knee wrap with an ice machine keeping the swelling down decided I’d find some people to play music with as my days of running and.... were over. My wife knew I had played in bands as “a kid” but had no idea that I could actually play. So now 15 years or so later I’ve played shows out of the USA, many states, wrote parts and played on two albums / cd’s or...... have more gear than I “need” .......
But I knew I could just walk in and do it and as I’ve listened to music, I play the parts in my mind. So after I got a bass and amp to start this adventure
It was like riding a bike.
But I knew I could just walk in and do it and as I’ve listened to music, I play the parts in my mind. So after I got a bass and amp to start this adventure
It was like riding a bike.
I was watching MTV and saw the video when it premiered. I thought Teen Spirit was catchy but had no idea that the music world as I knew it was about to change. I was playing in a Christian rock band with a heavy Pearl Jam style / sound so the musical landscape change didn't really affect us. Plus we were more of a parking lot - flatbed trailer spectacle to get the message out than a money making enterprise. We flowed real well into the grunge thing when it happened unlike so many other bands.
Radio...has a way of...never...changing, does it?
We have a couple of stations here in town, a classic rock and hard rock/alternative, that still play '80s and '90s hard AND classic rock...alternately...they're owned by the same corporate company...
46 years ago I started playing on my home built bass - -neck made from 1" x 4", body from some other wood into an instrument, design taken roughly from a Jazz bass, but I made the scale 880mm ( the Jazz Bass was 860mm ).
It was an exciting moment to string it up as I made the fretboard calculating myself, I had no internet then, no fancy calculators, only logarithms to get the results !! But I succeeded. Later on I made a guitar like a Les Paul, same concept from raw materials to playable instruments. It was really funny. Of course I bought all the hardware. My tools were normal hand tools and an electric drill in a stand, nothing else.
It was an exciting moment to string it up as I made the fretboard calculating myself, I had no internet then, no fancy calculators, only logarithms to get the results !! But I succeeded. Later on I made a guitar like a Les Paul, same concept from raw materials to playable instruments. It was really funny. Of course I bought all the hardware. My tools were normal hand tools and an electric drill in a stand, nothing else.
The only station I ever tune in to is 88.1 WMUR first on your FM dial a community service provided by the massachusetts institute of technology
Radio made a monumental change in the '90s when Clinton passed a law that allowed conglomerates to buy up all the independent stations. The days of the (good) DJ and independent programming were over. Radio became homogenized, and still is.
I find it interesting that it was also the time when popular music in general took a collective poop. Coincidence?
One more coincidence - it was also the time when Pro Tools came onto the scene. The start of digital editing and mixing.
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