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Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 13 Mar 2017, 13:19
by Hightea
The first album I bought was because of the album cover Yes-Fragile.
If you don't count that and stuff like Tull, Genesis and ELP.
then it would be Soft Machine.

Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 13 Mar 2017, 17:36
by Hugh
Gong were completely beyond anything I had previously heard when I was 13.

Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 13 Mar 2017, 18:16
by martha
PresMuffley wrote:I can't help but wonder what was expected by having a 'dress like a punker' day, and how you actually showed up, but perhaps you're saving it for your memoir.


Apparently to Flagstaff junior high kids in 1981 it meant you wore your least preppy plaid bits or something neon or you flipped up the collar on your Miller's Outpost oxford shirt because that somehow was "punk" and then you ratted your hair a bit.

Being from California and having an older brother who was a punk, I had a slightly more accurate impression of what punk was, or at least surf punk, but not by much and I had none of the classic grown up punk looking gear aside from a couple of band tees -- no docs, no leather spiked bits, nothing really cool or anything in my wardrobe at all. Really to be fair to the locals in Flagstaff, we were all pretty clueless, me included. I mean, I was a dorky honor student up to that point so my concept of punk probably wasn't all that more evolved. My brother was 10 years older than me and still lived in California so I couldn't ask him for help but I used the day as a way to transform myself. It was a turning point for me style wise.

I wore my circle jerks tee and rolled up a faded pair of jeans that I then defaced with razor cuts and made anarchy symbols on with lip liner and wrote band names all over them in sharpie. I was sent home because the shirt was deemed inappropriate by the school and I had "distracting attire" for school. I think it was just the band's name that caused the issue, but maybe the graphics on the shirt were offensive too? I thought it was just a guy dressed up like a punk though... It might have been the circle jerks tee but it could also have been the hair which I'd liberty spiked and dyed. My friend Mick and I had bleached and shaved most of our hair and dyed it with kool-aid the night before.

I remember that we showed up the next day for "silly hat day" or whatever it was and still had red, blue and purple hair and both of us got a few weird looks. But it wasn't until I came back on the next Monday with my hair still spiked and colorful that I was called to the principals office and told "it's not spirit week anymore -- wash that out!". As I recall Mick didn't get called in for his hair -- only me, which at the time I found really sexist. My mom was cool though and went to bat for me with the principal by explaining that it was semi-permanent and would take months to fully wash out and by pointing out that nowhere in the school rules did it say I could not dye my hair.

In the end I agreed not to style it in spikes after that and the administration backed off of me about it, so since no one bugged me about it I continued to dye it and my style began to change in all areas from dweeb to something more freakish. I guess it was trend setting because at the start of the next year there were several people with unnatural colored hair and then the school made a rule saying it had to be naturally occurring, so I dyed mine black after that and that's probably how I ended up goth instead of a punk or a mod in high school...well that and Siouxsie.

Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 13 Mar 2017, 18:59
by pcqgod
martha wrote:
PresMuffley wrote:I can't help but wonder what was expected by having a 'dress like a punker' day, and how you actually showed up, but perhaps you're saving it for your memoir.


Apparently to Flagstaff junior high kids in 1981 it meant you wore your least preppy plaid bits or something neon or you flipped up the collar on your Miller's Outpost oxford shirt because that somehow was "punk" and then you ratted your hair a bit.

Being from California and having an older brother who was a punk, I had a slightly more accurate impression of what punk was, or at least surf punk, but not by much and I had none of the classic grown up punk looking gear aside from a couple of band tees -- no docs, no leather spiked bits, nothing really cool or anything in my wardrobe at all. Really to be fair to the locals in Flagstaff, we were all pretty clueless, me included. I mean, I was a dorky honor student up to that point so my concept of punk probably wasn't all that more evolved. My brother was 10 years older than me and still lived in California so I couldn't ask him for help but I used the day as a way to transform myself. It was a turning point for me style wise.

I wore my circle jerks tee and rolled up a faded pair of jeans that I then defaced with razor cuts and made anarchy symbols on with lip liner and wrote band names all over them in sharpie. I was sent home because the shirt was deemed inappropriate by the school and I had "distracting attire" for school. I think it was just the band's name that caused the issue, but maybe the graphics on the shirt were offensive too? I thought it was just a guy dressed up like a punk though... It might have been the circle jerks tee but it could also have been the hair which I'd liberty spiked and dyed. My friend Mick and I had bleached and shaved most of our hair and dyed it with kool-aid the night before.

I remember that we showed up the next day for "silly hat day" or whatever it was and still had red, blue and purple hair and both of us got a few weird looks. But it wasn't until I came back on the next Monday with my hair still spiked and colorful that I was called to the principals office and told "it's not spirit week anymore -- wash that out!". As I recall Mick didn't get called in for his hair -- only me, which at the time I found really sexist. My mom was cool though and went to bat for me with the principal by explaining that it was semi-permanent and would take months to fully wash out and by pointing out that nowhere in the school rules did it say I could not dye my hair.

In the end I agreed not to style it in spikes after that and the administration backed off of me about it, so since no one bugged me about it I continued to dye it and my style began to change in all areas from dweeb to something more freakish. I guess it was trend setting because at the start of the next year there were several people with unnatural colored hair and then the school made a rule saying it had to be naturally occurring, so I dyed mine black after that and that's probably how I ended up goth instead of a punk or a mod in high school...well that and Siouxsie.



We had a "dress like a punker" day in high school also. I recall one girl showing up dressed in a garbage bag and sunglasses. The metalhead kids were resentful that there was a punk rock day. :lol: I was one of about three or four kids who actually knew what punk rock rock was.

Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 13 Mar 2017, 19:13
by Muskrat
Sometimes, I'd buy an album just because the album jacket (remember those?) looked intriguing.

That aid, and of course depending on your interpretation of "weird," the answer would be either the first Mothers or the first Jim Kweskin Jug Band album, both purchased when they came out and with me knowing only what information (more on Kweskin) I was able to glean from the packaging. I regret neither experience, of course.

Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 13 Mar 2017, 20:27
by PresMuffley
martha wrote:
PresMuffley wrote:I can't help but wonder what was expected by having a 'dress like a punker' day, and how you actually showed up, but perhaps you're saving it for your memoir.


Apparently to Flagstaff junior high kids in 1981 it meant you wore your least preppy plaid bits or something neon or you flipped up the collar on your Miller's Outpost oxford shirt because that somehow was "punk" and then you ratted your hair a bit.

Being from California and having an older brother who was a punk, I had a slightly more accurate impression of what punk was, or at least surf punk, but not by much and I had none of the classic grown up punk looking gear aside from a couple of band tees -- no docs, no leather spiked bits, nothing really cool or anything in my wardrobe at all. Really to be fair to the locals in Flagstaff, we were all pretty clueless, me included. I mean, I was a dorky honor student up to that point so my concept of punk probably wasn't all that more evolved. My brother was 10 years older than me and still lived in California so I couldn't ask him for help but I used the day as a way to transform myself. It was a turning point for me style wise.

I wore my circle jerks tee and rolled up a faded pair of jeans that I then defaced with razor cuts and made anarchy symbols on with lip liner and wrote band names all over them in sharpie. I was sent home because the shirt was deemed inappropriate by the school and I had "distracting attire" for school. I think it was just the band's name that caused the issue, but maybe the graphics on the shirt were offensive too? I thought it was just a guy dressed up like a punk though... It might have been the circle jerks tee but it could also have been the hair which I'd liberty spiked and dyed. My friend Mick and I had bleached and shaved most of our hair and dyed it with kool-aid the night before.

I remember that we showed up the next day for "silly hat day" or whatever it was and still had red, blue and purple hair and both of us got a few weird looks. But it wasn't until I came back on the next Monday with my hair still spiked and colorful that I was called to the principals office and told "it's not spirit week anymore -- wash that out!". As I recall Mick didn't get called in for his hair -- only me, which at the time I found really sexist. My mom was cool though and went to bat for me with the principal by explaining that it was semi-permanent and would take months to fully wash out and by pointing out that nowhere in the school rules did it say I could not dye my hair.

In the end I agreed not to style it in spikes after that and the administration backed off of me about it, so since no one bugged me about it I continued to dye it and my style began to change in all areas from dweeb to something more freakish. I guess it was trend setting because at the start of the next year there were several people with unnatural colored hair and then the school made a rule saying it had to be naturally occurring, so I dyed mine black after that and that's probably how I ended up goth instead of a punk or a mod in high school...well that and Siouxsie.



Great stuff, Martha. Many thanks for sharing.

Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 13 Mar 2017, 22:13
by Sneelock
I liked to flip through the record stacks when we went to people's houses. if you were lucky you saw a lot of Sandy Nelson records or some Herb Albert "whipped cream & other delights" type stuff. I got used to seeing Dylan's highway 61 and Rubber Soul. Both had an otherness to them one way or the other. NOTHING prepared me for "Freak Out!". I saw the Mothers of Invention sneering out at me and it was love at first sight.

I still have a soft spot for "who are the brain police" and "return of the son of monster magnet" which seem weird enough to meet the requirements of the thread.

Re: First weird band you got into?

Posted: 16 Mar 2017, 01:22
by Hightea
sneelock wrote:I liked to flip through the record stacks when we went to people's houses. if you were lucky you saw a lot of Sandy Nelson records or some Herb Albert "whipped cream & other delights" type stuff. I got used to seeing Dylan's highway 61 and Rubber Soul. Both had an otherness to them one way or the other. NOTHING prepared me for "Freak Out!". I saw the Mothers of Invention sneering out at me and it was love at first sight.

I still have a soft spot for "who are the brain police" and "return of the son of monster magnet" which seem weird enough to meet the requirements of the thread.


Oh damn actually Zappa/Mothers is my answer too, forget Soft Machine Zappa was much earlier.