Okay, its almost 10 on a Saturday - and its not a good time to start new project - But I have done alot of writing on Saturday nights -so here goes...
6th Grade - A pretty big year and for me and the year I bought my first 45.
Don't know what a 45 is? Then you are not old enough to read what follows. Maybe you should think about going to bed now.
That was the year I began my quest in ernest to become exposed to popular music, which is the doorway into teenage Nirvana. That year my 6th grade chorus teacher did 2 interesting things:
First - she played cuts from every composer in the western world - Mozart, Debussy - we heard it all.
Second - she let people bring in popular records (sort of dangerous) and we listened to them in class
I know, that would probably not happen today - but lets face it - it was pretty cool
So with a sudden diet of popular music - Chicago, etc. We were hearing all kinds of things - most of it - appropriate. One of the 45's that year was a spoof of a political convention - with fake interviews with people like Richard Nixon, who answered with musical cuts - sort of strange I know - but it seemed very cool and very underground for 6th grade
I was converted, hooked - sold - I wanted it - had to have it - and on my families next run to KMart after that, I had nickles enough to buy my very first bit of popular music - and thus I discovered B Sides
After listening to the record I purchased - I realzed there was another song on the back - it had not even occurred to me - like a hidden treasure - a B Side - It was not a track I had heard - but I was thrilled to learn that there was even more cool music in my hands - or so I thought
I turned my 45 over to listen to a cut by the same group - and the B Side was called "Funky Butt" -( I know, I don't know the group - can't remember the A Side - but I can remember "Funky Butt" - okay - will you be able to forget that title now either?)
Okay - I realize how that sounds -but still there it was - I played it but was really disappointed to learn that the B side contained a song I did not like much
That is the way of a B Side - Its just fated.
Sometimes there is something else there - something people are not likely to like as much - its the OTHER SIDE - to a sound they do know and like - and like those old 45's that is what this will be - The OTHER SIDE - the side you don't know, haven't heard - like Funky Butt
Its not meant as a manifesto, or a complaint, a rationalization, or even a revelation - its just what has happened to me - If you like it fine, if not, fine - Its just my story - thats all - Because, sometimes, people assume they know the whole story - but often there much more there than they realize - or want to know, or are willing to acknowledge, accept or validate
Alot has been said about me, my life, my choices and all the characters in the drama - but its all been A Side - the popular sound, the one that got the most play and publicity - the song people bought, or in this case bought into
But remember, there are two sides to every story and two sides to every 45 and even if they are as old and out of date as I am - its still there -
So let the music begin
