Red Mosquito

I knew it was coming.

1994: was walking through a local mall and this guy came up to me and said "you want tickets to my show tonight?". I said yes and went to the concert at a local club. Shabba Ranks

I was at a wedding, and a guy hooked up with the groom's sister (married). So two of us stole his truck and cruised around town while he was busy. We ended up smoking all his pot and denting the front fender pretty bad.

He had a Joe Henry album in his player.

E.H. Ruddock wrote:1994: was walking through a local mall and this guy came up to me and said "you want tickets to my show tonight?". I said yes and went to the concert at a local club. Shabba Ranks

This is great.

ridleybradout wrote:I went from barely a casual Pearl Jam fan to full-blown obsessive fan after hearing some mates play a certain PJ song at our school's Battle of the Band contest. I had no idea who the song was by and had to ask the singer afterwards - to which he replied "Der! Pearl Jam!". Anyone wanna hazard a guess at what the song was?...

LetMeSleep wrote:State of Love and Trust

That one would have done it too, but it was actually Corduroy. I bought Vitalogy the next day and must have played track 8 about 100 times in the first few days.

14 years old, working at a record store. This was one of those epic record stores that carried something like a million pieces of vinyl, so it was well known. Touring bands stopped in regularly. One of them came in one day to browse. The lead singer had long black hair, tattoos, and a permanent scowl. Bought Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix records, as I recall. At the urging of the dudes who worked at the record store, I asked him to autograph my skateboard. He complied but wasn't a chatty, friendly guy or anything. The record store dudes also INSISTED that I go see the band's show that night. They were older guys, into jazz and funk and stuff like that, so none of them went, but I did -- alone. Incredible, life changing show in a little black box theater that occasionally hosted punk shows. There were maybe, maybe 50 people there. I watched with envy from the side of the mosh pit, until I eventually jumped in. That jump in was as much literal as it was figurative. Got a mohawk the next day and spent the summer seeing punk bands who were on the indie touring circuit. Joined a punk band not long after. Life changing.

Oh, the band? Black Flag. The singer? Henry Rollins. Been a fan ever since.

i found gg allin sleeping on my grandfather's grave

I didn't really get into this band, but I did really want to French kiss her:

so I listed to the Bengals (sister's tape, and via MTV).

darth_vedder wrote:I didn't really get into this band, but I did really want to French kiss her:

so I listed to the Bengals (sister's tape, and via MTV).

That is not weird at all my friend. I'd guess there's a lot of us who did this very same thing.

PryTo wrote:long black hair, tattoos, and a permanent scowl.

You tipped your hand too early. You might as well have just said his name right here.

Hank is one of the coolest guys ever, but yeah...there's a real defensive aggression to the way he interacts. Even when he's being uber-friendly it kinda feels like he's mad at you for something.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:St. Vincent: I was walking down a grungy alley in NYC when a hobo in a Big Bird costume attacked me, held me down, and forced me to take some bad LSD. I tripped for fucking hours. I saw things undreamed of - the dark Egypt which you call ancient, the cruel empire of Tsan-Chan which is to come three thousand years hence, the worlds that reel about the red Arcturus, the insect-philosophers that crawl proudly over the fourth moon of Jupiter. Through it all, a sound emanated, permeated, suffocated - a deafening roar, a peaceful hum, an ominous drone. It licked the pit of my stomach and made my muscles quiver. It was the most profoundly beautiful and miserably perverse sound I had ever heard. Then, after what felt like days, I began to awake from my psychedelic slumber, and I heard only the words: "She fucks her guitar."

Funny, I had this exact same experience. Except with Anna Nalick, not St. Vincent.

i don't think i have any really weird ones. I did get into Pearl Jam thanks to Moby.

My parents gave me OK Computer for Christmas one year out of the blue, without prodding from me which I found curious, yet awesome. According to my mom, they were in the mall for holiday shopping, and they stopped in the record store to look around. My dad asked someone working there if he had any recommendations for someone my age, and the guy suggested "Radiohead's OK Computer is a good new one". My dad turned to my mom, shrugged, and said, "John likes computers."

Dope