#21 One of the big things to come out of the 80s was a scam, I mean, a deal which got you 11 records for $.01, provided that you paid full price for 3 more albums over the course of a year or 2. This was known as Columbia House Records. It was amazing to a 14 year old who scraped together every penny left over from buying smokes and eating candy bars for lunch to buy music with. The hard part came when it was time to pony up the cash for a full price record from CHR. They were usually about 30-50% more expensive than even the regular records at Fred Meyer. But that part didnt matter because it was the 80s - a decade which exalted the idea of party now, pay later. Without consulting anyone over the age of 14, I signed up for Columbia House Records and was soon receiving not only the 11 albums I originally ordered, but also the pick of the month. The pick of the month was usually something that I had no interest in listening to, but as long as I remembered to return the shipping package unopened, I didnt have to pay for the record. That deal ended up costing me a lot of money in the long run, because, frankly, I was 14 and lacked anything that even remotely resembled responsibility. I am pretty sure that if I really went searching through my parents house, I would find a few unopened CHR albums from the 80s... some of which might actually be a gold mine today (but not likely). One of the albums I picked up had come out a few years earlier, but it was still making regular play on the local rock station. The band was known for their experimental sound, intricate melodies, and their bass players ability to play the bass and keyboards simultaneously while singing with a sopranos voice. Aside from the album artwork, which featured a pentagram, the sheer talent possessed by this three piece was amazing. Other than Iron Maiden, I hadnt really heard a band which relied so heavily on the musicianship of the bass player, and half the time he was playing the keyboard at the same time as carrying the bass line. While I never became a huge Rush fan, like so many talented musicians I know are, I still place this album easily in my top 20 records of all time. Rush was able to pull off mixing experimental and unconventional rock with, well, rock. Although Red Barchetta was my favorite song off Moving Pictures, this one well summed up what I wanted and where I would eventually end up, albeit on a much smaller scale than I originally anticipated. Limelight - Rush youtube/watch?v=EKpn0esJ73w (side note: Limelight was an amazing song, but the keyboard heavy Subdivisions really struck a chord with its lyrics about the alienation found by those who were not willing to conform to the ideals of the masses. It really said a lot about being a teenager during the me decade.)
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 08:48:49 +0000