The Good Olde Days....?

Turned the stereo on this aft 2 play some CDs, & my sorta-faverite local FM station (Seattle's KZOK 102.5 FM, "The Classic Rock Station") was playing Elton John's "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding."
& I hadta just crank it up & let it go....
Took me back about 35 yrs, back 2 when my highschool buddy Jeff Mann & I would cruise up & down Nampa-Caldwell Blvd & thruout Boise, Idaho w/ Elton cranked-up loud & Jeff hanging-out the driver's-side window of his Mercury Capri at stoplites, screaming "Rock and Roll!!!" at startled passers-by....
In early '74, my fave local AM station (KFXD-AM 580 in Nampa) played "Love Lies Bleeding" more often than mosta the big hits & I always wondered why Elton & MCA Records didn't release that 1/2 of the song as a 5-min single -- coulda worked, & the song sure rocked more than NEthing else I remember ever hearing at the time.
When I heard it again this aft it occurred 2 me that the song's secret weapon -- even more than the long melodramatic opening, Elton's piano, David Hentschel's synthesizers, the strong tune, & Bernie Taupin's bitter lyrics -- is Davey Johnstone's driving, howling guitar, which punctuates brilliantly thruout the song's 2nd 1/2. The great backing vocals don't hurt either. It's always bn 1 of my faverite things that Elton ever did, I just hadn't heard it in quite awhile -- even tho I've got the GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD album in the house & could play it NEtime. Sometimes stuff just hits me harder when it comes unXpectedly outta the radio.
...& then they messed it up by following-up w/ ELO's "Evil Woman," which I always thot was boring & cliched, tho I know there R millions who feel diffrently....
4 me, The Good Olde Days run from the Nd of gradeschool up thru when I was sorta 4ced 2 Bcome a grownup -- from when I discovered music on the radio in the fall of 1970, up til when I went in2 the Air Force in Dec 1982. The period covers junior-high & highschool, my aimless 5+ yrs after highschool, my 3 yrs inna record store, & a yr of unemployment B4 I joined up. & there was music going practically non-stop (in my head at least) thruout it all.
At 1st I listened 2 & bot what every1 else did pretty much, but I got weird early & Njoyed & bot records that apparently made no known chart (& I'm still looking 4 some of them 2day) -- just Bcos they sounded good 2 me. By the time I met old buddy Jeff I'd given up buying 45's & was getting in2 albums. At 1st we talked all about the Beatles. Jeff was a HUGE Beatles fan. As soon as I hadda job I bot copies of the Beatles' '62-'66, '67-'70, ABBEY ROAD & the mindbending WHITE ALBUM -- followed shortly by the Moody Blues' 1st 7, which was my personal obsession & had bn since I 1st heard "Tuesday Afternoon," "Nights in White Satin," "Ride My See-Saw," "You and Me"....
Then Jeff Bcame a Wings fan & turned me on2 VENUS AND MARS. I already knew about BAND ON THE RUN. Then came Queen's A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, which Jeff played in the car on R way 2 R junior-yr school-newspaper banquet. I play NIGHT AT THE OPERA 2day & that nite still replays in my head.
Then came Kansas's LEFTOVERTURE, which Jeff & I both thot was something of a joke at 1st, but we caught on fast. On my own I was looking in2 Boston & Blue Oyster Cult & Journey, & we both were grabbed by Fleetwood Mac's louder stuff.
I was also looking 4 more stuff 2 follow-up the Moodies -- middle-period Genesis albums like A TRICK OF THE TAIL, & I stumbled over the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS after reading sevral rave reviews of it & grabbed it IMMEDIATELY, knowing only that it had 1 of my then-fave BB's songs on it, "Sloop John B," & "Wouldn't it be Nice," which I never really liked that much. The resta the album was a revelation....
Also tripped over the Incredible String Band's THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER, which Cmd almost more like a comedy record in places. Nice but VERY diffrent from what I was used 2, tho my intrest in British folk sounds later led me in2 Steeleye Span & Fairport Convention & Nick Drake & Gryphon & Al Stewart & Amazing Blondel....
Around the same time I met highschool buddy & fellow frustrated fiction-writer Don Vincent, who urged me 2 continue looking in2 off-the-wall stuff. Don was the kinda music fan who would try something sight-unheard, just Bcos he liked an album's strange-looking cover. But 4 Don it always Cmdta pay off.
He bot David Sancious & Tone's TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE) cos he liked the mysterious, cosmic cover painting of a guy hatching out of a giant egg. Inside the album was some rather Xtreme synthesizer-based jazz-rock ... which sometimes had some nice tunes, or themes, or motifs, or whatever. & the good stuff was so impressive & melodically strong that I Nded up buying a copy 2. Neither of us knew Sancious usedta play keyboards 4 Bruce Springsteen -- didn't matter. & this album sounded NOTHING like Bruce.
Don was willing 2 take a gamble on some pretty wild stuff -- specially if it was cheap. He was the 1st among us 2 try out Gryphon, Amazing Blondel, Nektar, Synergy, George Winston, Pat Metheny, Tangerine Dream, Hawkwind, Rick Wakeman, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Return to Forever, & other off-the-wall stuff like Ethos, SFF, Eloy, Oregon, Shadowfax, Bo Hansson ... lotsa stuff. & he always Cmd 2 get something listenable out of it, the trick always Cmdta work 4 him. I'd pick-up something by some unknown weird band & Nd up w/ 40 mins of unlistenable noise....
I made a few discoveries. I was the 1st among R group 2 hear Providence, & Nded up buying copies 4 all my friends (at $2.19 each!) 4 Xmas gifts. After Don discovered RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, I was able 2 track down Gryphon's other albums & distribute summa those around the group 2. On my own I tracked down Happy the Man & Gentle Giant & finally found some King Crimson I could ACTUALLY HEAR, then later drifted in2 Al Stewart & Nick Drake & Sally Oldfield (Mike Oldfield came much earlier, TUBULAR BELLS was probly the 1st "Strange Music" album I ever bot, if it wasn't Yes's YESSONGS), Caravan & Camel & Renaissance & U.K. & Illusion & Steve Tibbetts & Sky & Group 87....
We sometimes copied each other's buying habits if R tastes were similar. When I worked at the record store I could stay pretty up-2-date on weird stuff & keep friends updated. & sometimes playing Group 87 in the store 2 C if mayB Don would buy a copy sold a coupla more as well.
But there was lotsa stuff that Don liked that I could never get in2, & lotsa stuff I loved that he thot was worthless -- & that was fine as long as we didn't inflict 2 much of it on each other. When Jeff, Don & I shared an apt in 1978, at least we all had bedroom doors we could shut 2 lock-out R roommates' unwanted music. Don & I useta have long discussions about whether Gentle Giant's GIANT FOR A DAY really was The Worst Album Of All Time. (W/ 30+ yrs of hindsight I can say w/ authority: Not Even Close. & I'd liketa find a copy of it 2day....)
When Jeff heard me playing King Crimson's "Red" & "Starless," he called it "mindfuck music," & that's stuck w/ me -- I think on some level KC's Bob Fripp would probly approve.... By that time, we thot Jeff's tastes echoed the hard-drinking hard-living crowd he hung-out w/ at work: Ted Nugent, Molly Hatchet, AC/DC, REO....
In some ways I'm following the same take-a-musical-chance mindset 2day, tho I try 2 do a little more research now B4 I put $$$ on the table. I would never have tried-out Van der Graaf or Can like I did recently w/o this "try anything 1nce" attitude in my background.
But I miss the days when I could just breeze down 2 the local record store & C what's new or what's available cheap in the cutout bins. If I'm lucky I get 2 hit my fave "local" used record store 1nce a yr -- it's 35 miles away, & I'm not even out in the sticks. It's just things R diffrent now & I live inna diffrent place.
Don's in Idaho & Jeff's in California & I'm in Washington, & I'll bet that no matter what the Xterior evidence shows, I'll bet none of us think we've changed all that much since 1978 -- less hair, a few more lines on the face, but not really that much diffrent, just a 50-yr-old teenager, still remembering The Good Olde Days just as clearly as if they were last wk.
I'm sure there's more good times 2 come. I'm not done yet. Far from it.