The year was 1986. I was in the 10th grade. This was the era of Genera clothing, Coca -Cola sweatshirts, and the beginning of tight-rolled jeans (you know, when you folded the bottom of your jeans around and then rolled them tightly around your ankles). My gang of friends were REALLY into music at this point, so for Christmas, I got a few tapes (yes, TAPES...compact discs were really popular at this point...):
R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
I remember Weston White having this tape in the beginning of the school year. He had an older brother, Elbert, in college, and that's where he heard a good bit of "new" music. Elbert would come home from college and play the stuff he was listening to at Millsaps. Weston was always one step ahead of most of us regarding music. Anyway, after months of trying to borrow Weston's tape, I asked Santa to bring it to me. "Superman" was our gang's favorite song for a while. I remember riding around in Trew Brewster's car singing "Superman." Good times....
RATT - Dancing Undercover
At this point in time, I had been a RATT fan for a long, long time. In 1986, they released this album and the first single, "Dance." I couldn't get enough of the song, much less the video on MTV. As I wrote in an earlier post, I was certainly a "Rattaholic" and very glad to get this album from Santa.
The Police - Every Breath You Take: The Singles
Just 3 years earlier, Santa brought me Synchronicity, and ever since that time, I was a huge Police fan. As most people know, however, after that album the Police went their separate ways. Sting embarked on a solo career and Andy and Stewart practically disappeared. But in 1986, at least as far as we knew, they got back together to release this album. They released a new version of "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and the video was pretty cool. So, of course, I asked for this album, too. And Santa was nice enough to oblige.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - The Best of OMD
I'm still not sure where or how this one happened. Earlier that year (1986), OMD had a few hits, to include "Secret" and "Forever Live and Die". This was a greatest hits album, so it also included "If You Leave." For whatever reasons, I became a huge fan and wanted this album. Weston gave me a ton of hell about it, but I still liked a few of their songs.
Anyway, the whole point to this post is that since it is now the year 2006...that means that it was 20 YEARS AGO when I got those albums. 20 YEARS!!! It seems just like yesterday when we were all riding around listening to R.E.M. in Weston's car, The Ghost. The minute I heard the song, "I Believe" yesterday, it shot me right back to 1986. 20 YEARS AGO....and it seems like yesterday. Oh well, at least the music never gets old.....
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