Teenage Depression-Albums Of My Youth

My life has been pretty much been music this and music that and growing up, I had the privilege of having record stores up town and the big event was going to Woolworths in downtown CR or at that time in the old Town & Country Shopping Center, but I really didn't discover the albums till listening to the old Beaker Street show on KAAY (still running on FM but The Point will conclude that run on 2/6/11) and the old KFMW Progression that was on Saturday nights.

Highlights would be going over to my friend Jeff Kewley's place and seeing what his brother in his collection which turned out to be Led Zeppelin, early Rolling Stones (dude had the old red London Mono recordings) and Jethro Tull to name a few. For the most part, what I brought came from reviews of Creem Magazine or Rolling Stone when they were into rock and roll culture and not trying to be a lame version of People Mag or SPIN.

1977 became the first real time that I started buying albums on a regular basis which continues to this day. Sometimes I saved up to ride the bike out to Target and buy a couple at a time. I think the first weekend I did that was brought Led Zeppelin Presence, Steve Miller-Fly Like An Eagle and The Chamber Brothers Greatest Hits. But the albums that I played the most at that time were Foghat's Night Shift, for some reason that album got me through my sophomore year in high school. And of course Aerosmith Rocks. Throughout my high school year it was Foghat and Aerosmith most of the time.

When I learned to drive, that actually got me out of Marion to go to the great city of Cedar Rapids and the music stores of note were Record Realm and Big Apple (later Krackers). Both stores had a decent cut out bin of 2 dollar albums that might be of note and Record Realm sometimes had promo copies of the latest stuff for less. My Aunt Cindy was into The Moody Blues so I completed my collection by getting one or two at a time. I also brought 8 tracks which introduced me to The Alan Parsons Project I Robot.

As I gotten older I started getting a bit more into the punk rock happenings. I remember KUNI playing The Ramones for the first time and it was fun and so simple that I had to search for the record but Target and K Mart never had it but Record Realm did so I bought the original ABC/Sire album to which I foolishly gave away to a friend and never got it back. I was also into Blue Oyster Cult to which I know that some of you think they never made much great original albums but I must say that Spectres is one of my all time favorites. Being stood up for a homecoming dance I think I played I Love The Night about 20 times that night.

A lot of my friends were into Pink Floyd, at that time I wasn't. I wasn't much into KISS either but I was more into The Godz, a biker band from Columbus that made an album for Millenium. I recall the look of horror on my best friend's face when I told him this was the future of rock and roll to which I may have missed the mark on that. Heck couldn't wait for the followup, Nothing Is Sacred to which I called the best album of 1979. I may have been overrating that one but I really loved to rock out to Love Cage to which my best friend called it the worst bass played song he ever heard.

My senior year in high school I was introduced to AC/DC, a band that didn't the big time just yet but K Mart had their albums and I bought Powerage and was blown away by the riffs of the Young Brothers and Bon Scott's vocals. Seeing Tom Petty on The Midnight Special made me run and buy You're Gonna Get It to which I still like it more than the average fan and critic. If I would have saved my money instead of buying cheap made cassettes and 8 tracks I would have made a down payment on a house. But the cutouts also introduced me to the British Punks like Eddie & The Hot Rods, which Life On The Life I bought at Krackers one day and liked so much that I ended up getting Teenage Depression.

I guess you can say that my record collection was a lot like anybody's out there at that time. Maybe a bit more diverse but basically it's classic rock with a bit of punk thrown in. And of course Foghat.

A few of the old favorites. 1975-1979

Aerosmith-Toys In The Attic, Rocks, Draw The Line, Bootleg Live
Foghat-Fool For The City, Night Shift, Live, Stone Blue
Lynyrd Skynyrd-Nuthin Fancy, Gimme Back My Bullets, Street Survivors
Blue Oyster Cult-Agents Of Fortune, Spectres, Some Enchanted Evening
The Godz-The Godz, Nothing Is Sacred
Head East-Flat As A Pancake, Head East, Head East Live
Led Zeppelin-Physical Graffiti, Presence
The Who-Who Are You, The Kids Are Alright Soundtrack
Deep Purple-Stormbringer, Live In Europe
Bad Company-Run With The Pack, Desolation Angels
Nick Lowe-Pure Pop For Now People, Labour Of Lust
Dave Edmunds-Get It, Tracks On Wax 4, Repeat When Necessary
Blackfoot-No Reservations, Flying High
Steve Miller Band-Fly Like An Eagle, Book Of Dreams
Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush-Live
The Ramones-The Ramones, Rocket To Russia
Climax Blues Band-Gold Plated
Elton John-Rock Of The Westies
Rush-2112
Van Halen
The Moody Blues-Octave
The Outlaws
The Bellamy Brothers-Let Your Love Flow & Others
The Four Seasons-Who Loves You
Chicago-Hot Streets, 13
Steve Gibbons Band-Rollin On, Caught In The Act, Down In The Bunker
Burton Cummings-Dream Of A Child
AC/DC-Powerage, Let There Be Rock, If You Want Blood You Got It, Highway To Hell
Toto
Steely Dan-Aja
BTO-Four Wheel Drive, Head On, Street Action, Rock And Roll Nights
Ian Gomm-Gone With The Wind
John Cale-Guts
Eddie & The Hot Rods-Teenage Depression, Life On The Line, Thriller!
Devo-Are We Not Men, We Are Devo!, Duty Now For The Future.
Grand Funk Railroad-Hits, Good Singing, Good Playing
Tom Petty-You're Gonna Get It, Damn The Torpedos
Z Z Top-Fandango!, Tejas
Bob Marley & The Wailers-Live!
Ted Nugent
Duke & The Drivers-Crusin, Rolling On
Dr. Feelgood-Malpractice
The Trammps-Where The Happy People Go
Joe Jackson-I'm The Man, Look Sharp!
Ram Jam-Ram Jam, Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Ram
Styx-Equinox
Budgie-Impeckable
Black Sabbath-Never Say Die
Golden Earring-To The Hilt
Savoy Brown-Savage Return
The Pirates-Out Of Their Skulls, Skull Wars

and a few more that escape my mind....