Remember when MTV actually played music videos and radio stations provided the soundtrack to cleaning your house on Sunday mornings?
That was my life more than 20 years ago, a life punctuated by music in various forms. I listened to Hawaiian music at the beach, hip-hop while primping to go out, The Cure on rainy afternoons. Or I just left the radio on and left my life to the original “shuffle” mode.
I wrote about my love affair with music in an essay published in “We Go Jam: Celebrating Our Music, Our Soundscape, Our Hawaii,” by the Hawaii Council for the Humanities.
It was fun reliving my experience with music growing up on Oahu, from KCCN Birthday Bashes at the Waikiki Shell to concerts at Pink’s Garage. (I actually saw Kurt Cobain, frontman of Nirvana, play here back in 1992.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzZBLiY3QW4
A rare find: video from Nirvana’s concert at Pink’s Garage in 1992
There’s a part of me that misses those days. Wearing flannel and Vans and too much eyeliner, voting for my favorite songs at ballot boxes for Radio Free Hawaii, hanging out at Jelly’s on Piikoi. We felt like such rebels.
Now we’re working in corporate jobs, reading the Wall Street Journal, taking our kids to soccer games on Sunday, tweeting, blogging and buying $5 lattes at Starbucks. It’s interesting how that’s all changed.
So I’m interested: what’s your music memory growing up? What concerts do you remember? What did music mean to you? And what happened? When did we all grow up?
28 Comments
The first concert I saw was the Monkees in Dorton Arena on the NC Fairgrounds. I was a kid and it seemed like a big deal at the time. Several years later when I had my own car, 16 year old, I drove to Greensboro to see the Allman Brothers Band. What a difference. ABB was absolutely incredible that night. They played for 2 hours, took a break, played for four more hours. Growing up in NC it isn’t hard to imagine that I was a big fan of Marshall Tucker, Skynyrd, 38 Special, etc but I also was a devoted fan of Zepplin, Clapton, James Gang, Hendrix etc. I put an 8 track in my Mustang so I could listen to them with the top down driving to the beach. Over the years I have listened to everything from everywhere. In 1985, first trip to the islands, I fell in love with slack key etc. In 1986 I took a road trip to LA from NC and for some unknown reason wound up spending quality time with a bunch of local musicians. It was a blast, hanging out by the pool or on the beach it was an enormous experience. Can still remember sitting by the pool with Jennifer Warnes talking about Australia. Didn’t know who she was until all the ‘wannabes’ showed up and started drooling over her. I met writers from the show Cheers and the guy who penned their theme song. It was a slice of heaven.
If I were to pick a favorite concert it would be hard. It was either the Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd, saw them both around 1989. The Stones played Carter Finley Stadium and Pink Floyd played the Dean Dome. Needless to say they both rocked the house. I think the nod goes to the Stones. But I would be a liar if I said that they were much better experiences than listening to stuff played live in bars. Some of the best bluegrass I have ever heard was in a parking garage in Chapel Hill, Big Fat Gap was playing and they were incredible. Fidgety Feet played in a pub on Franklin Street and that was world class. A buddy of mine has a cover band that plays locally and they have some fun original music.
My friend Nazanin is a social activist and her song Someday is terrific. It is about her homeland of Iran. Another friend Michael Peterson writes and records excellent country music. His song ‘To Good to be True’ is not only good it is funny. So I guess music is a huge part of my life. I think I will start a trend and name my favorite eight (for the moment anyways) songs. In no particular order:
1.) What I like about You – The Romantics
2.) Made in the Shade – Lynyrd Skynyrd
3.) Plush – Stone Temple Pilots
4.) Been Caught Stealing – Jane’s Addiction
5.) Born to Run – Springsteen
6.) Hene Hene Kou ‘Aka – Braddah Iz
7.) Lay Down Sally – Eric Clapton
8.) Fire on the Mountain – Marshall Tucker
And yes, if you ask me again in six months I will have a different list 🙂
You saw Pink Floyd??? JEALOUS. The only band I wished I had seen live — and I guess I still could since they’re not dead yet — is The Cure. But I doubt they’ll be playing in Hawaii anytime soon.
Yeah, I missed Skynyrd on their last concert tour. Figured I would catch them next time… learned a valuable lesson on that one. Forgot to mention seeing Little Feat, great live band. If Steely Dan makes it around this way again I will see them for sure. The Cure… a friend in LA says they are great. Saw Chicago twice… yes indeed women were involved.
As much as you travel you will find The Cure soon somewhere.
my parents were very into the hawaiian music scene back when i was growing up so my first concert memories are from when I was…very young at some of the first kanikapila concerts at andrews ampitheater. they also used to bring me to the different bars as they went to watch live music with their friends. places like the Sty, Territorial Tavern, Chuck Wagon. watching groups like Sons of Hawaii, Sunday Manoa and Makaha Sons of Niihau.
I think my first non-hawaiian concert was Bobby Brown at NBC (back when “NBC meant the building first and the tv network second). Levert opened for him and stole the show (in my opinion, at least).
I’m not too into concerts (I like music just fine, but i’m not into crowds and standing in line so…) I’ve caught a couple up here in california but they’re either Hawaiian Music (slack key is huge up here so there’s, it seems, an endless array of concerts every year) or I got the tickets for free. Saw Janet in Oakland (Brother in Law got the tix for the family) and saw Rob Thomas in a smaller venue in Oakland when a friend who is friends with Rob and his wife offered me tickets. pretty cool show, also and we were introduced to Anna Nalick, who opened and sounded great.
a few years ago, at the one concert i remember paying for myself, we caught KC and Jojo at a local radio station’s “jingle bell jam”. a year or two later, in vegas during some awards show (not for me…just a coincidence i was there), i was watching the house band at the bar at the aladdin (I think) and KC and Jojo came up and sat in for a couple of sets. they were great at the concert in SF but they absolutely slayed it in the more intimate setting.
“When NBC meant the building first and the TV network second” — LOL! I know what you mean!
I wish I could get into concerts now. I think I’ve outgrown them. I don’t want to deal with parking and traffic and a sweaty crowd anymore.
I remember going to Journey at the Blaisdell, back when I was in high school. Pearl Jam at Andrew’s Ampitheatre, and Red Hot Chili Peppers at Aloha Tower – before it was Aloha Tower Marketplace.
Yep, but what was it called before? Just Aloha Tower? I was trying to describe this to some of my former students, and I couldn’t explain it.
CAT: the fact that I listened to 45 rpm records says it all!
Yes it does 🙂
Cat, when I was in high school, the Beatles and the English Invasion were the rage. I would record for our social club the soundtrack for our social dances on a reel to reel tape recorder. One of my early concerts that I attended in my Senior year was Sonny & Cher when they first came out. I had the opportunity to go to their press conference and got their autograph which I still have someplace in my house. I also saw the Rolling Stones, the Monkees live at the Arena before it was renamed the Blaisdell Arena. I also got to see the Ventures at the Exhibition Hall.
Wish I kept the ticket stubs.
Wow, those are awesome concerts. I heard about Jimi Hendrix playing in Diamond Head crater. That woulda been awesome, too.
i began wrestling with my dad to hear Elvis on the am radio of our new ’56 chevy. i ended with Iggy crashing on my floor after an Austin gig in ’79. i remember i once told you i had ‘stayed to long at the fair’. i guess i grew up when my son was born in ’85. since then i’ve watched it all play out again in his life. a string of bands and songs that don’t know and don’t get. i’m guessing you are closing in on the big 40 in a few. that was a watershed for me, and that was 25 years ago. these days when someone croaks at 80, i think, ‘damn, that’s too young to die’. instead of trying to catch up to the music i missed over the last 30yrs, i’m going the other way and listening to music from before i was born. have you ever heard Hoagy Carmichael sing ‘Skylark’ or ‘Two Sleepy People’? beautiful.
No, but “Two Sleepy People” sounds like me on a good day.
My first experience with music was listening to what my older brothers and sisters were into. They were into the late 60’s stuff. I remember an eclectic mix of the Beatles, Monkees, Seals& Crofts, Fleetwood Mac. My oldest brother was a drummer in school band so I started banging on his drums. Later when I was in my early teens I started listening heavily to the big British bands like LedZeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd and I started playing drums in “rock bands” with friends. The first song we played was Take if Easy by the Eagles. I was growing up on Maui so the only rock radio was the original KPOI out of Oahu. The first concert I went to to was Yvonne Elliman and a young Andy Bumatai opened that show with his High School days comedy.
My first real date with a girl was to see the Beach Boys when they played at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku. I was 16 and drove a Volkswagon van that my parents gave me.
This was the birth days of Mtv so it the TV was on at my house, it was on Mtv. Those videos were so corny but fun to watch. It was all such a fantasy world then. I couldn’t play as well as my musical idols so that music inspired me to practice and improve.
I would say I grew up musically when I went to the mainland after high school and started seeing all my favorite bands in large arenas. In some ways, I was let down because they were not as good looking as their polished images on tv and they sound wasn’t as polished either. Mtv had left me with an image of them that wasn’t really accurate. Over the years, I’ve been able to see most of my favorite bands live. I wanted to see the Police, but only saw Sting as a solo at Maui Arts, I wanted to see LedZep but I got to see Robert Plant at the Blaisdale on Oahu. I saw Eric Clapton with Phil Collins and that was really top notch. I did see Aerosmith at the Greek Theater in LosAngeles in 84. Still one of my best memories and good times was right here in Hawaii to see C&K.
Now days I play in a local band and we play once a week here on Maui. I record the performances and load them into my computer and edit them using multi track technology. When I was a kid, the best anyone had was a 4 track cassette recorder. Now I burn my own CD’s . Life has changed.
Thanks Cat for the opportunity to share…
No, thank YOU for sharing 🙂
let’s see…
I remember seeing Britney Spears’ free concert here in Hawaii in 2000 on Fort DeRussy beach in front of the Hilton. good fun, and Destiny’s Child was the opening act !!!
LOL! I remember seeing *NSYNC play the halftime show at the OIA Football Championships!
As a relic from the “dazed and confused” era we listened to Foghat, Deep Purple, REO Speedwagon, the Stones, Golden Earring!
The best concert ever was a triple header: Journey, Heart, and Ted Nugent! Reserved seating tickets cost $7.50!
Walkman? Nope, this was WAY before anyone thought about boom boxes! I had a little round Panasonic transistor radio, about the size of a softball – AM band only! It ate a lot of batteries! I carried it everywhere!
FM radio? No way Jose! We didn’t dig that at all. FM radio played old school elevator music – instrumentals from 101 Strings, Lawrence Welk, and ancient Doris Day hits. Yeechh. No one that was considered cool listened to that!
Music was everything – the soundtrack to our lives. We dumped boyfriends because we couldn’t agree on bands, our milestones were marked with a tunes (Paradise by the Dashboard Light!) many played today as anniversary mementos…and why the heck did we ever grow up? Who said we had to?
“We dumped boyfriends because we couldn’t agree on bands” — I love this. 🙂
Music still means everything to me.
I’m in my mid-40s and about to begin my first non-music related job in my life (I still love the music business, but the business doesn’t love me anymore). I’ve done everything from radio to music retail to working with local music distributors to being a sales rep for a couple of major record companies and loved every second of my job. For most of my friends, the phrase “what have you been listening to” is as essential as saying “hello”. I love discovering old music that slipped through the cracks as much as I enjoy finding new music. It makes me happy to hear my seven year old daughter singing Beatles songs around the house, or her asking me to play an Eddie Cochran song again as we’re driving somewhere. My wife thinks I’m crazy because I can’t sit and watch TV, it’s always with the volume turned down and the stereo turned on.
I’m happy to play grown up, but I’ll never do it without a soundtrack.
You keep the TV with the sound off and the stereo on? That’s interesting. I’m going to try that. I bet I wouldn’t be as stressed out!
Going to really date myself, but seeing the Kingston Trio, Peter Paaul and Mary, Joan Baez, The coasters the Fifth Demension
at the Cater Baron amphetheater in NW DC.
ironic that your first concert featured a band from Hawaii but it was all the way on the east coast. now, you run into this question on a blog run out of…Hawaii.
The irony runs deep 🙂
The Fifth Dimension? Whoa.
One of the most popular groups to perform in Hawaii in the late 1960’s was The Young Rascals. Whenever they performed at the Blaisdell Arena, it was always a sell out. I found a performance which I believe is from “The Ed Sullivan Show” in January of 1967 of the group performing a medley of “Mickey’s Monkey” and “Turn On Your Love Light” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd_BEqg8wvc&feature=related
Wow. That woulda been an awesome concert!
@uncleb: You brought back some great memories in your remarks. Sonny And Cher performed in Hawaii for the first time in December of 1965 at the Blaisdell Arena as the headlining act at the Miss K-POI Pagent. The following year in December of 1966, The Monkees performed in Hawaii for the first time, also as the headliners at that year’s Miss K-POI Pagent. The Rolling Stones made their first appearance in Hawaii at a sold out concert at the Blaisdell Arena in July of 1966. That was the biggest concert of the summer.