WHERE I CAME IN
First impressions can be lasting, they say, but I was able to shake my first impressions of three giant artists.
My first exposure to Elvis Presley was his 1969 hit "In the Ghetto." I was in grade school and had just received a transistor radio as a gift. To grade school kids in the '60s, I suppose transistor radios were the equivalent of i-Pods. Anyway, this thing was glued to my ear. I was learning all about Tommy James and the Shondells and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. And in the middle of all this was some guy named Elvis Presley singing this slow, depressing song in a bizarre (to me) vibrato.
Around that time, I was thumbing through a teen magazine one day, when I came across an article about Elvis Presley which called him "The King of Rock 'n' Roll."
All I could think was: THE GUY WHO SINGS "IN THE GHETTO" IS THE KING OF ROCK 'N' ROLL?
Then there was Johnny Cash. My introduction to Cash was most ignominious: His 1969 novelty hit "A Boy Named Sue." THAT'S what I thought Johnny Cash was all about. I had a lot to learn on that score. It took me a lifetime, in fact. Just this week, I feel ready to declare "American Recordings V: A Hundred Highways" the most beautiful album I've ever heard.
The third artist was Chuck Berry. My first exposure to Chuck Berry came when I was a freshman in high school. There was a jukebox in Cafeteria 2 at Cherry Hill High School East in 1972-'73, and four songs were then in heavy rotation: "Get on the Good Foot" by James Brown, "Roundabout" by Yes, "Jim Dandy to the Rescue" by Black Oak Arkansas and "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry -- an eclectic mix by ANY musicologist's standards.
Some time later, I was visiting my dad at Dan McShea's Rustic Tavern, where he tended bar on the weekends, wearing a red vest and playing host to a colorful cast of characters. My dad was friendly with the keyboardist who was performing there. I actually heard the keyboardist mention the name Chuck Berry.
All I could think was: WHY WOULD A FRIEND OF MY DAD'S HAVE HEARD OF THE GUY WHO SINGS "MY DING-A-LING"?
My first exposure to Elvis Presley was his 1969 hit "In the Ghetto." I was in grade school and had just received a transistor radio as a gift. To grade school kids in the '60s, I suppose transistor radios were the equivalent of i-Pods. Anyway, this thing was glued to my ear. I was learning all about Tommy James and the Shondells and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. And in the middle of all this was some guy named Elvis Presley singing this slow, depressing song in a bizarre (to me) vibrato.
Around that time, I was thumbing through a teen magazine one day, when I came across an article about Elvis Presley which called him "The King of Rock 'n' Roll."
All I could think was: THE GUY WHO SINGS "IN THE GHETTO" IS THE KING OF ROCK 'N' ROLL?
Then there was Johnny Cash. My introduction to Cash was most ignominious: His 1969 novelty hit "A Boy Named Sue." THAT'S what I thought Johnny Cash was all about. I had a lot to learn on that score. It took me a lifetime, in fact. Just this week, I feel ready to declare "American Recordings V: A Hundred Highways" the most beautiful album I've ever heard.
The third artist was Chuck Berry. My first exposure to Chuck Berry came when I was a freshman in high school. There was a jukebox in Cafeteria 2 at Cherry Hill High School East in 1972-'73, and four songs were then in heavy rotation: "Get on the Good Foot" by James Brown, "Roundabout" by Yes, "Jim Dandy to the Rescue" by Black Oak Arkansas and "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry -- an eclectic mix by ANY musicologist's standards.
Some time later, I was visiting my dad at Dan McShea's Rustic Tavern, where he tended bar on the weekends, wearing a red vest and playing host to a colorful cast of characters. My dad was friendly with the keyboardist who was performing there. I actually heard the keyboardist mention the name Chuck Berry.
All I could think was: WHY WOULD A FRIEND OF MY DAD'S HAVE HEARD OF THE GUY WHO SINGS "MY DING-A-LING"?
posted by Mark Voger at 10:29 PM
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