On That Note - Chain of Fool(ish stories)

[MeanDean]

Welcome to the pre-Christmas edition of On That Note. A weekly music post from @cyclones500, @CycloneRulzzz and me.

Last weeks offering can be found here: https://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/threads/on-that-note-the-animals-part-3-mammal-mania.253643/

Besides posting a bit early because of the holiday - this week we're going to try something different.

For two reasons:

1. @BoxsterCy when he responds to our threads likes to throw in his personal memory that he associates with the song. I love that!
2. Like the Christmas memories thread that @Angie started on Friday, this time of year does cause one to think about the past.

Hopefully I can satisfactorily explain how this is designed to work. (Whether it WILL or not, we'll see.)

I will kick it off. I will post a song with a story/memory I associate with it. Next someone will post a memory associated with that same song AND post another different song and story/memory. Any followup post can be a memory associated with ANY earlier song as long as the poster also posts a new song and memory.

So eventually there should be dozens of songs to choose from and share a memory - and post another song and memory.

And to kick it off, 500 and Rulzzz will hopefully chime in almost immediately. So there will be 3 songs almost right away.

And since this is kicking off a bit earlier because of the holiday there'll be a few extra days to post. I'll do my best to keep it on the "front page" during the week.

*************
Beach Boys (In My Room)

Working at the Muscatine HyVee, Mid 1970's. One of our employees came up to the pick-up lane to get his groceries. I was working that station. He had the 8-track (Endless Summer) playing. It sure sounded good coming out of the speakers on a warm spring day! At this point the Beach Boys were kind of a forgotten entity. I didn't get the album then but my ISU roommate, a few years later, had it.

When CDs were a new thing I finally acquired a copy on that medium. I remember some friends (slightly older) were visiting and were curious about CD's. To show them how the sound was crystal clear I played for them In My Room. The harp, especially, sounded so clear and to the front.

From Wikipedia: Endless Summer is a compilation album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1974. A collection of hits from the band's 1962–65 period, Endless Summer was compiled by their old label, Capitol Records, while the Beach Boys were contracted to Reprise Records. Its unexpected success bore immediate consequences for the band's then-progressive musical direction. It revitalized the band's popularity after years of lukewarm sales, but also inspired nostalgia for the Beach Boys' early surfing and hot rod-themed music, repositioning the group as an oldies act.

Four months after its release, the album reached number 1 in the United States and Canada. It was the group's second chart-topping album in the US and returned them to a level of commercial success they had not experienced there since the mid 1960s. The compilation spent 155 weeks on the Billboard albums chart...

 

[Sigmapolis]

Welcome to the pre-Christmas edition of On That Note. A weekly music post from @cyclones500, @CycloneRulzzz and me.

Last weeks offering can be found here: https://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/threads/on-that-note-the-animals-part-3-mammal-mania.253643/

Besides posting a bit early because of the holiday - this week we're going to try something different.

For two reasons:

1. @BoxsterCy when he responds to our threads likes to throw in his personal memory that he associates with the song. I love that!
2. Like the Christmas memories thread that @Angie started on Friday, this time of year does cause one to think about the past.

Hopefully I can satisfactorily explain how this is designed to work. (Whether it WILL or not, we'll see.)

I will kick it off. I will post a song with a story/memory I associate with it. Next someone will post a memory associated with that same song AND post another different song and story/memory. Any followup post can be a memory associated with ANY earlier song as long as the poster also posts a new song and memory.

So eventually there should be dozens of songs to choose from and share a memory - and post another song and memory.

And to kick it off, 500 and Rulzzz will hopefully chime in almost immediately. So there will be 3 songs almost right away.

And since this is kicking off a bit earlier because of the holiday there'll be a few extra days to post. I'll do my best to keep it on the "front page" during the week.

*************
Beach Boys (In My Room)

Working at the Muscatine HyVee, Mid 1970's. One of our employees came up to the pick-up lane to get his groceries. I was working that station. He had the 8-track (Endless Summer) playing. It sure sounded good coming out of the speakers on a warm spring day! At this point the Beach Boys were kind of a forgotten entity. I didn't get the album then but my ISU roommate, a few years later, had it.

When CDs were a new thing I finally acquired a copy on that medium. I remember some friends (slightly older) were visiting and were curious about CD's. To show them how the sound was crystal clear I played for them In My Room. The harp, especially, sounded so clear and to the front.

From Wikipedia: Endless Summer is a compilation album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1974. A collection of hits from the band's 1962–65 period, Endless Summer was compiled by their old label, Capitol Records, while the Beach Boys were contracted to Reprise Records. Its unexpected success bore immediate consequences for the band's then-progressive musical direction. It revitalized the band's popularity after years of lukewarm sales, but also inspired nostalgia for the Beach Boys' early surfing and hot rod-themed music, repositioning the group as an oldies act.

Four months after its release, the album reached number 1 in the United States and Canada. It was the group's second chart-topping album in the US and returned them to a level of commercial success they had not experienced there since the mid 1960s. The compilation spent 155 weeks on the Billboard albums chart...

I listened to an excellent podcast recently --

https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/political-beats/episode-60-matt-welch-the-beach-boys-part-1/

Recapping the early history and discography of the Beach Boys. There is a Part 2 that handles their career after Pet Sounds, which is fascinating in its own right with the failure of the SMiLE project and their slow dissolution afterwards.

I mostly found it memorable because, of course, "In My Room" was discussed and I listened to it on a drive in/out to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for work. I basically did it all in one sitting. I had a productive time with a favorite work colleague, so it was nice to remember that. I was pretty familiar with the Beach Boys' discography prior to the trip and the podcast, but even then (and I consider them probably one of my Top Five groups of all-time, and Pet Sounds might be my favorite album of all-time), I still learned lots from it, particularly the backstory of individual songs and goings on with the band.

I would recommend that podcast (and they have probably 50+ bands covered now) to anybody interested in the history of popular music on here. Yes, I know it is from National Review, but there is absolutely no political content in it.

My turn!



This was the first real pop song I learned how to play as a freshman trumpet player at Boone Senior High School in 2001. I was 13 years old, could barely hold the horn up properly at that point, and somehow they gave me a first part for my trouble but, my oh my, after that first year of marching band, access to an FM radio, the early "musical Internet" of the time if you catch my drift, and my father's old LP collection of records from the 1970s, I have never really looked back on music. Music is great, is best with horns, the genres featuring them are the best (e.g., 60s and 70s pop, big band, jazz, and 1800s+ classic), and classics are generally classics for good reason. I still listen that way.

The competing popular music of the era... gangsta rap, twangy country, and boy band- and Britney-inspired pap... did not exactly help make a case for itself.

Trying to think back to where it started, I would have to say, "And When I Die." It is still quite a lovely song with an impeccable arrangement on one of the best albums of the late 1960s, an incredibly productive time for art and culture.

 

[cyclones500]

The "In My Room" story I have pales in comparison to MeanDean's, both for amount of detail and quality of detail. But if you mention the song title I immediately remember when I first heard it.

I was hanging out with my second-cousin at his house, sometime in ’77. We decided to play some records, so I was looking through his family’s collection. He’s only about 3 years younger than me, his parents were closer to my generation than my parents and I were, so their selection of music was between my older sisters' and my parents. I immediately spied the 45 for “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions,” so we played that.

Then I looked at their albums, among them was "Endless Summer" -- he asked if I liked The Beach Boys. I knew only a few off the top of my head at the time -- such as Help Me Rhonda and Fun, Fun, Fun ... We decided to play a little of the LP. At some point he asked if I knew "In My Room." I said "I've heard it", even though I was lying (I was still at "That age") He played it. I was underwhelmed. I think we moved on to another album after that.

I didn’t hear the song again for quite a few years. I realized I hadn’t appreciated it during my first lesson. With age comes wisdom, I guess. Probably still an overlooked track from the band’s catalog.

* I'll take my turn at a different song in a separate post. Still deciding.

 

[MeanDean]

I listened to an excellent podcast recently --

https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/political-beats/episode-60-matt-welch-the-beach-boys-part-1/

Recapping the early history and discography of the Beach Boys. There is a Part 2 that handles their career after Pet Sounds, which is fascinating in its own right with the failure of the SMiLE project and their slow dissolution afterwards.

I mostly found it memorable because, of course, "In My Room" was discussed and I listened to it on a drive in/out to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for work. I basically did it all in one sitting. I had a productive time with a favorite work colleague, so it was nice to remember that. I was pretty familiar with the Beach Boys' discography prior to the trip and the podcast, but even then (and I consider them probably one of my Top Five groups of all-time, and Pet Sounds might be my favorite album of all-time), I still learned lots from it, particularly the backstory of individual songs and goings on with the band.

I would recommend that podcast (and they have probably 50+ bands covered now) to anybody interested in the history of popular music on here. Yes, I know it is from National Review, but there is absolutely no political content in it.

My turn!



This was the first real pop song I learned how to play as a freshman trumpet player at Boone Senior High School in 2001. I was 13 years old, could barely hold the horn up properly at that point, and somehow they gave me a first part for my trouble but, my oh my, after that first year of marching band, access to an FM radio, the early "musical Internet" of the time if you catch my drift, and my father's old LP collection of records from the 1970s, I have never really looked back on music. Music is great, is best with horns, the genres featuring them are the best (e.g., 60s and 70s pop, big band, jazz, and 1800s+ classic), and classics are generally classics for good reason.

The competing popular music of the era... gangsta rap, twangy country, and boy band-inspired pap... did not exactly help make a case for itself.

Trying to think back to where it started, I would have to say, "And When I Die." It is still quite a lovely song with an impeccable arrangement on one of the best albums of the late 1960s, an incredibly productive time for art and culture.

I remember And When I Die as a basic top 40 single. My sister ended up buying that album. She played it and then - "What's that crap?" The little instrumental part at 1:05 on the album version was edited out for the AM radio version to make it shorter and therefore easier to program. It's not crap, but that's what we thought!

One - Three Dog Night
Our neighbors across the road were involved in a Saturday Sabbath observing church. So one Saturday I'm messing around and happened to be in front of their house. Assuming no one was home. I'm just in my own head and for some reason One was the current earworm in my head at the time. So I'm just wailing away singing out loud and thinking I'm all alone. After about 20 minutes the Mom comes out and makes some comment about maybe singing in tune or at least something else, already!

Of course I was hugely embarrassed.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

A Endless Summer hit I enjoyed was Be True to Your School as it tied nicely with Iowa State's Forever True motto.

 

[Sigmapolis]

Your sister had way better taste than you in buying that album, @CycloneRulzzz.

Blood, Sweat, & Tears is a great album in a great year for music.

Three #2 hits --

"You've Made Me So Very Happy"
"Spinning Wheel"
"And When I Die"

...even if the single edits rob all of them of so much magic.

Really strong album cuts like "More and More" and "God Bless the Child." Probably the best jazz drumming and horns you will ever hear on any pop-rock record. Ever.

It does not have the psychedelic zaniness of Child is Father to the Man, another underrated 60s classic, but the arrangements are tighter and the playing is better.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

When I hear this I remember riding around with my dad. My dad really laid into the "riding along in my calaboose"

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

Your sister had way better taste than you in buying that album, @CycloneRulzzz.

???? I don't even have a sister.

 

[Sigmapolis]

???? I don't even have a sister.

Oops. Sorry.

I meant @MeanDean.

 

[cyclones500]

This memory has a Christmas holiday-related time element, so it’s a fitting go-to. New Year’s Eve ’77. Traditionally we and our close friends/neighbors rotated hosting a New Year’s Eve get-together, this time was at their place. It was only the parents and us two youngest kids (she was a grade ahead of me) so we hung out in the living room to listen to music instead of hanging with the grown-ups. We decided to go that route after she surprised me with a belated birthday gift (my birthday is between Christmas & NYD). Their family had a stereo with an 8-track player AND it could record from an LP (wow!!)

The album she dubbed for me: “Kiss Alive II.”

(Side note: For the previous couple of months, my best friend had been talking about how great Kiss was -- I knew relatively nothing about the group, so this was a chance to hear for myself. It took only a few songs before I was hooked.)

Back to the New Year’s Eve -- She & I played a few other albums that night, but I kept wanting to go back and hear ore Alive II. I had become a Kiss Freak in the span of 3 hours and, eventually, wore out that 8-track while gradually purchasing some of the back catalog.

For some reason, she decided not to start at the beginning of Side 1 for the mix tape. (in fact didn’t include the first two tracks “Detroit Rock City” or “King of the Night Time World” weren't on it at all, nor were the live closers "Shout it Out Loud" or "I Want You"). The tape began with “I Stole Your Love” … ever since, I consider it the official “album opener” for me:

 

[drlove]

Welcome to the pre-Christmas edition of On That Note. A weekly music post from @cyclones500, @CycloneRulzzz and me.

Last weeks offering can be found here: https://cyclonefanatic.com/forum/threads/on-that-note-the-animals-part-3-mammal-mania.253643/

Besides posting a bit early because of the holiday - this week we're going to try something different.

For two reasons:

1. @BoxsterCy when he responds to our threads likes to throw in his personal memory that he associates with the song. I love that!
2. Like the Christmas memories thread that @Angie started on Friday, this time of year does cause one to think about the past.

Hopefully I can satisfactorily explain how this is designed to work. (Whether it WILL or not, we'll see.)

I will kick it off. I will post a song with a story/memory I associate with it. Next someone will post a memory associated with that same song AND post another different song and story/memory. Any followup post can be a memory associated with ANY earlier song as long as the poster also posts a new song and memory.

So eventually there should be dozens of songs to choose from and share a memory - and post another song and memory.

And to kick it off, 500 and Rulzzz will hopefully chime in almost immediately. So there will be 3 songs almost right away.

And since this is kicking off a bit earlier because of the holiday there'll be a few extra days to post. I'll do my best to keep it on the "front page" during the week.

*************
Beach Boys (In My Room)

Working at the Muscatine HyVee, Mid 1970's. One of our employees came up to the pick-up lane to get his groceries. I was working that station. He had the 8-track (Endless Summer) playing. It sure sounded good coming out of the speakers on a warm spring day! At this point the Beach Boys were kind of a forgotten entity. I didn't get the album then but my ISU roommate, a few years later, had it.




Didn’t realize you were from Muscatine

 

[MeanDean]

Grew up in Muscatine County - Rural Nichols and Nichols school for 7 years. Then merged with West Liberty so went there for Jr High and 2 years of HS. Then moved E of Muscatine off Highway 22 and went the last 2 years at Muscatine HS.

 

[MeanDean]

???? I don't even have a sister.

For some reason I read this in the same voice as the "I don't even have a garage - you can call home and ask my wife." part of this song.

 

[BoxsterCy]

I remember And When I Die as a basic top 40 single. My sister ended up buying that album. She played it and then - "What's that crap?" The little instrumental part at 1:05 on the album version was edited out for the AM radio version to make it shorter and therefore easier to program. It's not crap, but that's what we thought!

One - Three Dog Night
Our neighbors across the road were involved in a Saturday Sabbath observing church. So one Saturday I'm messing around and happened to be in front of their house. Assuming no one was home. I'm just in my own head and for some reason One was the current earworm in my head at the time. So I'm just wailing away singing out loud and thinking I'm all alone. After about 20 minutes the Mom comes out and makes some comment about maybe singing in tune or at least something else, already!

Of course I was hugely embarrassed.

Not a memory response, just a picture I just took to confirm my purchase 51 years ago.

 

[MeanDean]

Not a memory response, just a picture I just took to confirm my purchase 51 years ago.

View attachment 69371

If It's on Dunhill... Believe It!

 

[matclone]

I always associate Dunhill records with Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, and the Grass Roots. Either the first or second 45 ever I bought was "I'd Wait a Million Years". I think they (45s) were 99 cents at the time and I bought them at the local Ben Franklin store.

 

[MeanDean]

I always associate Dunhill records with Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, and the Grass Roots. Either the first or second 45 ever I bought was "I'd Wait a Million Years". I think the "B" side was "Hot Bright Lights".

Also The Mamas and Papas. One of my first was Monday Monday

 

[MuskieCy]

Grew up in Muscatine County - Rural Nichols and Nichols school for 7 years. Then merged with West Liberty so went there for Jr High and 2 years of HS. Then moved E of Muscatine off Highway 22 and went the last 2 years at Muscatine HS.

Dude,my dad was a partner in a very successful veterinary practice(ISU DVM "58, me Mary Greeley class of '57!) in Muskieville.

New Years Eve, 1977. An friend of my father moonlighted as a member of the Theater Workers Union. The union couldn't fill all needed positions that night. He asked my dad if any of us would be interested.

My third year at ISU, home for the holidays. Pops asked if I was interested in helping, I said heck yeah. I got to play roadie for the New Year's Eve show headlined by a somewhat local group that was breaking hugely nationwide,......REO Speedwagon. They played in the QC's frequently up to that point. Then "Live: You Get What You Play For" came out. They start getting FM airplay nationwide. Buh bye midwest.

The amount of drugs, alcohol, and girls backstage was UNBELIEVABLE. They invented hair metal,

 

[BoxsterCy]

Dude,my dad was a partner in a very successful veterinary practice(ISU DVM "58, me Mary Greeley class of '57!) in Muskieville.

New Years Eve, 1977. An friend of my father moonlighted as a member of the Theater Workers Union. The union couldn't fill all needed positions that night. He asked my dad if any of us would be interested.

My third year at ISU, home for the holidays. Pops asked if I was interested in helping, I said heck yeah. I got to play roadie for the New Year's Eve show headlined by a somewhat local group that was breaking hugely nationwide,......REO Speedwagon. They played in the QC's frequently up to that point. Then "Live: You Get What You Play For" came out. They start getting FM airplay nationwide. Buh bye midwest.

The amount of drugs, alcohol, and girls backstage was UNBELIEVABLE. They invented hair metal,

Need a ruling. Does this REO posting count as something i can respond to?

 

[matclone]

*************
Beach Boys (In My Room)

Working at the Muscatine HyVee, Mid 1970's. One of our employees came up to the pick-up lane to get his groceries. I was working that station. He had the 8-track (Endless Summer) playing. It sure sounded good coming out of the speakers on a warm spring day! At this point the Beach Boys were kind of a forgotten entity. I didn't get the album then but my ISU roommate, a few years later, had it.

When CDs were a new thing I finally acquired a copy on that medium. I remember some friends (slightly older) were visiting and were curious about CD's. To show them how the sound was crystal clear I played for them In My Room. The harp, especially, sounded so clear and to the front.

From Wikipedia: Endless Summer is a compilation album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1974. A collection of hits from the band's 1962–65 period, Endless Summer was compiled by their old label, Capitol Records, while the Beach Boys were contracted to Reprise Records. Its unexpected success bore immediate consequences for the band's then-progressive musical direction. It revitalized the band's popularity after years of lukewarm sales, but also inspired nostalgia for the Beach Boys' early surfing and hot rod-themed music, repositioning the group as an oldies act.

Four months after its release, the album reached number 1 in the United States and Canada. It was the group's second chart-topping album in the US and returned them to a level of commercial success they had not experienced there since the mid 1960s. The compilation spent 155 weeks on the Billboard albums chart...

I was hired for a new job in a Western State with a specified report date. Driving 700 miles to a place I had never been (except passing through) naturally required some road music (at that time: cassettes). One of my main listens on this trip turned out to be this album, that included In My Room, as well as a host of other great Brian Wilson songs, generally of the dreamy introspective type he was so good at. I discovered some songs I'd not heard before, and the only dud was the last song on the album.




Teenager with the radio on all night, waking up to a song that is loosely tied to a dream.

Here's one:



And another. I think I was dreaming about a Peggy Lipton-like blonde. Mary Travers owns this song with her vocal.