dEFROG ON 45 # 35: YOU GET TOO MUCH, YOU GET TOO HIGH

[defrog]

I grew up listening to Top 40 radio in the 70s. One of the drawbacks of getting yr music intelligence from Top 40 radio is the lack of context – you can hear a song by a band you assume is new but has actually been around for years.

For example, I had no idea who Sweet was when they released “Love Is Like Oxygen” in 1978. I just liked the song, and added it to my 45 collection.

It would be a few years later that I would hear a copy of Desolation Boulevard (i.e. the one with “Ballroom Blitz” on it, which of course surprised me, as I thought it was a Krokus song). It sounded like a different band to me. And I liked this band a lot more.

The moral? Well, there isn’t one. Except that sometimes the best way to discover new music is to explore the past. Or something.

FUN FACT: I heard Desolation Blvd at the birthday party of a friend’s sister, who also happened to be a lesbian. Consequently, there were a lot of LGBTs in attendance, some of them very obviously couples. I was 16, and whilst I was aware of the existence of LGBTs and was okay with that, I had never really been exposed to the LGBT community before.

Here’s what I learned: gay parties are FUN parties.

Sorry, Rick Santorum.

Gonna spend my days in bed,

This is dF