through the Persistence of Time.
At some point last evening, while reading through some of the Dio obits, I stumbled onto some pics of the recently passed metal god hanging out with some of the guys from Anthrax, a band I hadn't thought about in years. I quickly did the re-acquaintance rounds (official site, Wiki entry, recent news), pirated (I really need to lay off the Mediafire, btw) some albums I deemed "essential", and was reminded as to why I liked these guys more than the other 3 of the big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) thrash acts of my 'tween and early teen years: their clear links to NYC hardcore and their sense of humor. While history has shaken out differently and I have come to adore some of the earliest efforts by Slayer and Metallica (I still don't really get the whole Megadeth thing), as a lad, I could never get past the staunch seriousness displayed by these bands while playing music that, as I knew even then, was more theatre than most people were willing to let on. Anthrax didn't bother with the posturing. They were working class skater punks from Queens and made no bones about it. While they could write an angry tune as well as any of the others, their public personae were always a little on the goofy side. In this they were able to appeal to both my suburban white preteen angst and the side of me that considered the Naked Gun movies to be high cinema. (for the record: I still do)
Now don't get me wrong - I was never a serious metalhead. I don't think I would have been allowed to be one in my house. I don't even think I purchased any music by these bands (instead relying on cassette copies from friends) until I was already in high school. So I was shocked by the immediacy of the memories and the nostalgia I felt for Anthrax's 1990 album, Peristence of Time. I guess listening to it was somehow akin to my opening a time capsule - as all of the other music I loved way back when has either stuck with me through the years (Guns n' Roses, Whitesnake) or has been canonized by the indieretrofuckbag movement as the ultimate kitsch (Vanilla Ice) and become ubiquitous whereas this album's very existence had completely escaped my brain - because I couldn't get the silly grin off my face as I walked to school this morning rocking out to this album that I have unfairly forgotten. No, I am not here to claim its being on par with metal classics like Slayer's Reign in Blood or Metallica's Master of Puppets - nor am I even claiming it to be Anthrax's finest hour - but this record seems to represent a very special time and place for me, and, after all, isn't that why we like the records we do?
So think hard folks. What were you listening to when you were 13 or 14 years old? When was the last time you listened to it or even thought of it? Would it still resonate with you? Would it at least be worth the cheap nostalic thrill? There's only one way to find out.
At some point last evening, while reading through some of the Dio obits, I stumbled onto some pics of the recently passed metal god hanging out with some of the guys from Anthrax, a band I hadn't thought about in years. I quickly did the re-acquaintance rounds (official site, Wiki entry, recent news), pirated (I really need to lay off the Mediafire, btw) some albums I deemed "essential", and was reminded as to why I liked these guys more than the other 3 of the big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) thrash acts of my 'tween and early teen years: their clear links to NYC hardcore and their sense of humor. While history has shaken out differently and I have come to adore some of the earliest efforts by Slayer and Metallica (I still don't really get the whole Megadeth thing), as a lad, I could never get past the staunch seriousness displayed by these bands while playing music that, as I knew even then, was more theatre than most people were willing to let on. Anthrax didn't bother with the posturing. They were working class skater punks from Queens and made no bones about it. While they could write an angry tune as well as any of the others, their public personae were always a little on the goofy side. In this they were able to appeal to both my suburban white preteen angst and the side of me that considered the Naked Gun movies to be high cinema. (for the record: I still do)
Now don't get me wrong - I was never a serious metalhead. I don't think I would have been allowed to be one in my house. I don't even think I purchased any music by these bands (instead relying on cassette copies from friends) until I was already in high school. So I was shocked by the immediacy of the memories and the nostalgia I felt for Anthrax's 1990 album, Peristence of Time. I guess listening to it was somehow akin to my opening a time capsule - as all of the other music I loved way back when has either stuck with me through the years (Guns n' Roses, Whitesnake) or has been canonized by the indieretrofuckbag movement as the ultimate kitsch (Vanilla Ice) and become ubiquitous whereas this album's very existence had completely escaped my brain - because I couldn't get the silly grin off my face as I walked to school this morning rocking out to this album that I have unfairly forgotten. No, I am not here to claim its being on par with metal classics like Slayer's Reign in Blood or Metallica's Master of Puppets - nor am I even claiming it to be Anthrax's finest hour - but this record seems to represent a very special time and place for me, and, after all, isn't that why we like the records we do?
So think hard folks. What were you listening to when you were 13 or 14 years old? When was the last time you listened to it or even thought of it? Would it still resonate with you? Would it at least be worth the cheap nostalic thrill? There's only one way to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment