Slaughter - their debut album (?) Stick It To Ya, particularly the single Up All Night blew me away at what??? 13 years old? Up 'til then I had been listening to teeny-bopper boy bands like New Kids on The Block and Madonna-wannabes like Martika. Even if these guys turned out to be a screeching flop at the end of the game, they did me the favor of opening a new door to me.
Cinderella - they day I saw the video for Shelter (from Heartbreak Station) I was hooked to Tom Keifer (vocalist) ... not only the beauty but the voice (beauty? yeah, well, questionable taste in men is an excusable flaw at 14 years old).
Basically these two bands were my poster boys for some time, but I didn't limit myself to them. To my cassette collection I kept adding: Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood, Poison - Flesh and Blood, Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet etc etc etc ... then I discovered the angrier side of it all ...
Metallica - I can't really remember how I found out about them but I do remember I started their appreciation with the Black Album and then backwards. Sad it is that the Black Album was their top-notch work, and all that came afterwards was chopped liver in comparison.
After them and (to make some honorable mentions) slight influences by Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Slayer, Sepultura and so on, I jumped straight into electronic/commercial music... yeah, the shit they played in the radio. For a few years and then ...
... these guys saved me. The Cranberries - it was a gradual seeping into the subconscious. First with Dreams (a single I bought in cassette) and then to the full-fledged craze over No Need to Argue and I remained faithful until they Buried the Hatchet (ohmygawd! cheesy play of words, I suddenly hate myself). But they joined me in a period of my life beautiful and unforgettable ... of pine trees and starry nights.
After them, I was basically at a loss for a passion until they handed me a tape recording of these guys:
Cafe Tacuba - They gave me Re in a pirated copy ... I was, to say the least, enamored with the spanish language again... someone else who helped the job:
Ricardo Arjona ... sorry. credit where credit's due.
I got into ska and punk, mostly latinoamerican-made music. latino rock, they still call it. And that made the first half of my college years all the more interesting: concerts and gatherings that to this day are remembered by the people that surround me but that I didn't know back then. This island is small.
(to be continued...)
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