The closest I got to popular music was when a friend and I went to see Billy Joel at the ASU Activity Center. He was popular with his most recent album, An Innocent Man. However, his older material like "Angry Young Man" and "Only the Good Die Young" was more my preference.
My brother, 9 years older than I, would make me mix tapes. One of my favorites had the following lineup of songs--
Life on the Road--The Kinks
Words--The Bee Gees (before disco)
Let My Love Open the Door--Pete Townshend
Paint It Black--The Rolling Stones
Whenever You're On My Mind--Marshall Crenshaw
Gimme Some Lovin'--Spencer Davis Group
Messing With the Kid--Sam & Dave
Soul Man--Sam & Dave
Gotta Get a Message to You--Bee Gees
Gonna Get You--Pete Townshend
That'll Be the Day--Buddy Holly
It's So Easy--Buddy Holly
Life Goes On--The Kinks
Talk about a musical education! 45 minutes of incredible songs!
Bruce Springsteen was the most popular or mainstream as he ever was in 1984. MTV showed his video for "Dancing in the Dark" constantly during the summer and this single made it to #2 on the Billboard charts. Only Prince's "When Doves Cry" beat Bruce out of the #1 slot in August 1984.
Bruce was touring with his E Street Band. My friend and I were going to get tickets! We waited in a line of people outside the Diamond's at Fiesta Mall from 4 AM until we realized at 10:30 AM they were going to sell out and we didn't even get in the door of the building! Augh! Note to young self, camp out at 10 PM the night before and maybe you will have a chance!
So no Bruce but I used the fall of 1984 to catch up on his back catalog of albums and buy magazines like Rolling Stone and Musician which had feature articles on him. I was definitely a fan!
But when would I see Bruce? Would I catch any of this tour? Would I end up with just bootlegs of some of the concerts? Stay tuned for future installments of my reminiscences!
NOTE--Above photo of the author taken somewhere in West Germany, 1988.
