The Olden Days
So, I’m listening to AC/DC’s For those About to Rock, and I notice that that album came out in…1981. 1…9…8…1. I was 9. I am old. For my twelfth birthday, I asked my parents for a Led Zeppelin album, a Van Halen album, and an AC/DC album. I may have asked for specific albums, but I don’t think that I knew which one that I wanted, so I think it was buyer’s choice. As my parents were more of the Mowtown type than the L.A. Rock city demons, they probably had a little trouble figuring out which album I would like.

Stevie Wonder? No problem: Talking book, Music on My Mind, Inner Visions, etc. AC/DC? No idea. So what did they get me? AC/DC’s for those about to Rock, Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same, and Van Halen’s 1984. No tapes. I didn’t have a tape player. No CD’s. They weren’t even invented, yet. This was wax, baby. Albums with liner notes, and the Song remains the Same even had afold out book in the middle.

I remember my Dad asking if the albums were ok, and I remember having no idea. I didn’t even know that the Song Remains the Same album was from a movie. I was rock and roll ignorant, and Motown savvy. If I like the albums 20 years later and get the same chills that I got when I was 12, I don’t think that they could’ve made better choices. I’m going to replace them on CD soon, and convert them to MP3, bringing myself in circle.

Alva
At about the same time as I got my albums, I used to watch 2 hour skateboarding competitions on TV. I saw Tony Hawk’s first performed McTwist, and jumped off the couch and yelled. I couldn’t do any of that crap on my skateboard, but I was amazed.

Recently, I watched a documentary on the pre-history of skateboarding, Dogtown and Z-Boys. Featured was Tony Alva, who was a pioneer of the vertical ramp. He and his buddies used to drain pools back in 1975, and skateboard in them. They would skate up the side of the pool, touch the lip, and skate down. Tony was the first one to actually launch into the air, turn in mid-air, and come back down. This single move paved the way for modern skateboarding moves such as Tony Hawk’s McTwist.

Fast Forward to 1997. Jon is listening to the Rock Stylings of Fu-Manchu. The Fu puts out one of Jon’s favorite albums, The Action is Go. Jon wonders what the hell the album cover is about. He enjoys it anyway, figuring it to be an old picture of a band member or something. Fast Forward to 2002. Jon sees dogtown, realizes that the picture on the cover was drawn from the footage in Dogtown. It is Tony Alva doing the first vertical jump out of a pool in 1975. This album was pre-Dogtown. Jon realizes the full cool of Fu Manchu. See? Music is informative or something. Damn. I wish there was a point here somewhere.

Posted in Misc.