So a recent excursion down to the dregs of Eastern Parkway, which is in the middle of absolutely nowhere in Brooklyn to the Brooklyn Museum, to see the famed Who Shot Rock and Roll exhibit that had been the talk of the town for the last few months. The Brooklyn Museum is a grand building and is actually one of the oldest museums in the US. Kinda cool that I can randomly go somewhere and have that level of history right at the edge of my fingertips. My venture brought with me Timothy O'Brien, a gentleman whom I have bonded with here in the great NYC, and who has become near and dear to my heart, the vain Irish mick. :)
As a child of rock and roll, growing up rock music was iconic for me. The legend, the dirt, the grit, the rebellion, the angst, the sweat. Mosh pits were my second home from 14-18. I did not buy into the bullshit that they were too intense for girls. I moshed in the Subhumans pit on their last tour before breaking up forever when I was 15 and cracked a rib. It is one of my most treasured memories. Rolling Stone magazine may be a hallowed shell of what it once was in the 70's and again in the 90's but for me at 14 it was the most important thing in the world, as the cover of that magazine showed Kurt Cobain's face after his unfortunate early demise that robbed rock and roll of one of the most innovative talents to set foot on the stage.
To tour through this museum and see these images that have captured moments in history that have defined not only myself, but millions of others, as people was a level of exhilaration that I can only express through how I felt looking at these pictures. Maybe you will understand what rock music has meant to me.
The first time I ever heard the Ramones self-titled album was when I was 12 years old. I promptly walked to my CD player, picked up Aerosmith's newest record, and threw it into the trash. Punk rock had been born in my life and I was never going back. Joey Ramone's high pitched mocking of anything and everything set to poppy sing-along punk rock molded punk into what it is today. I never got the pleasure of seeing them live, nor did I ever get to see the world famous CBGB, but they have a special place in my heart. Joey Ramone's tragic and painful death due to lymphoma in 2001 saw the end of an era.
Mick Jagger's raw sex appeal and channeling of Elvis' controversial and provocative dance style brought about lust in teenage girls everywhere. Watching it now is mostly sad as it holds little fire now that he's 268 years old, but it was compelling to watch videos of it. And then to top it off, the man had a set of lungs that could only be matched by the genius of Keith Richards. The man has looked like a caricature of himself for over 20 years but I believe his hands should be preserved in a museum after he dies to be studied by future guitarists on how to capture that level of brilliance. "Paint it Black" matched a dark period in my life.
"One baby says to another 'I'm lucky to have met you.'" I feel about Nirvana a way I cannot put into words. Twelve years old and I heard Nevermind for the first time and knew that my life would be on a path that would forever be different. I was a happy go lucky straight A student with a dark streak that was emerging as the ever elusive and dreaded teen years began to descend into my life. Kurt Cobain's emergence into the dead world of rock and roll changed everyone. Whitney Houston was topping the charts and nothing significant was happening in rock and roll. Magazines were scrambling to cover stories on Michael Jackson. Smells Like Teen Spirit united an entire generation of angsty, flannel wearing teens who had nowhere to go but down. I was one of them. His death touched me so deeply that months after those horrific images of his dead body lying in his Seattle home were leaked to the press I still could not help but cry at Kurt Loder's random tributes on MTV news. Rock lost a hero in Kurt, albeit a tortured one. This photograph proves, as Tim so succinctly put it, that if you believe Courtney killed him then you're an idiot. This man was clearly in pain. To one of rock's greatest innovators, whether you were a fan or not, we should all recognize the depth that his power cord structure and reflective lyrics brought to this world of rebellion and youth.
I will post more later but am tired and in need of a good nights sleep.
