1982 - Metal Health Will, In Fact, Drive You Mad - SOML Post 20

And then, once again, everything changed. Thanks to MTV, I had slid into the quagmire of common listening. I only listened to what they told me to listen to. And although the next three posts fall firmly into the category of popular music, their affect on my life was to correct my course and send me into what could only be described as "Metal Health". Three bands moved me from pop syrup to heavy metal: Quiet Riot, Motley Crue and Def Leppard. They reignited the passion for loud and heavy music in my life. And even though these bands weren't particularly heavy, they pointed my compass in the correct direction. Dio, Iron Maiden and Metallica, were just over the horizon...I remember being on the soccer field in 8th grade, and hearing a kid in my class say he went to the Quiet Riot concert. I seriously doubted the validity of his claim, but I wasn't about to get my butt kicked for countering some one who MIGHT have been at a Quiet Riot concert. I wasn't exactly a athletic kid, and come to think of it, I believe that was the last time I was on a soccer field. Anyway, he said when Quiet Riot sang this song live they didn't say "Girls rock your boys". They said something much more explicit in the place of "rock". I was floored. Rock n roll bands weren't allowed to cuss like that on stage were they? I mean, wouldn't the government or something get involved?Once again, I was caught in that desire to experience the darker side of music. Quiet Riot's was bad, I mean really really bad, and even more bad if what the kid on the soccer field said was true. I had to have it. And then the video broke on MTV, and I think this was the first time I really wanted to be a musician. Check that - not a musician - A ROCK STAR! When those giant speakers blew down the walls and there was the band, I said to myself "I don't just want to listen, I want to BE this music!" Oh, and the fire was lit. The clouds rolled in and darkness fell over the land. It was my flame, and I fanned it into dark deliciousness. D