Heavy metal came from chemistry. That’s a given! Acid rock might have originated from geology and chemistry. Rap, I have no clue where that stemmed out of and I’m not apologetic for my ignorance. Whatever the term, they seem to come in different shapes and sizes for those who live and die for rock.
The world of rock music is packed with a long list of bands with ridiculous-sounding names. If you think remembering their names is a challenge, try listening to their music. It is daunting and as a baby boomer I had my share of the days of the great headliners such as The Who, Van Morrison, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, etc.
The tabloids these days are filled with rumors of Aerosmith breaking up. Take it easy, you won't hear me crying over their shaky future because I’m not a fan. And why am I writing about them you ask?
1975, five years into my stay in New York, I was curious as a country mouse lost in a cheesecake factory. Commuting to work in the city in those days was a killer and so I decided to make Manhattan my home during the work week and the weekend usually found me in my Long Island nest with my cousins. Some weekends I stayed in the city. I heard of a band that will perform at the Schaeffer Music Festival during one of those weekends so I decided to check it out. I left nothing to chance, I stood in line for tickets early. The venue was Central Park and the line snaked around the block. Jees - this band must be good I thought, judging from the number of people in line. I had no idea who the Aerosmiths were.
It's showtime! So here I was walking into a crowd my age and younger, only they have a better grasp of the music I was about to hear. It was deafening and head-scratchingly painful to my ears. Ugh! That reverberating sound from the acoustic guitar. This was not the rock music I expected. There's too much of heavy instrumentation and the musicians were belting out songs with incomprehensible lyrics. Definitely metallic!
On top of that I was surrounded by concert goers who were stoned. Some had that blank stare and others had their arms raised to the skies, but they all seemed harmless. They didn’t scare me, I just felt unwelcomed. I was hoping the music will grow on me. I decided to stay and gave it a chance but it failed to bloom. I started to get a headache instead so I left before the concert ended. I’m sure they were the great band that they were supposed to be but they didn’t do anything for me.
Nothing against you Aerosmith, but you are not for me. If that was heavy metal, no thanks, I’ll just stick to chemistry and my groovy (ha, ha) music. I can live with The Ventures and to some extent maybe The Rolling Stones. Different strokes for different folks, I guess, for sure I'll never be a convert.
It was an odd experience, but one I learned something from. Curiosity did not kill me!
