Many of the important people in my life don’t have names–at least ones that I remember. Such is the case with the guy who saved me from an adolescence of wretched music. He was the friend of a friend, whose name may or may not have been Mark, and he looked like Wooderson from Dazed And Confused, but with black hair. Since it was 1979 or 1980, I must have, no doubt, been going on about Skynyrd or Kiss or Judas Priest, because at some point he said “Here, check this out. You can have it. I have two.” Then he handed me the Ramones Road To Ruin.
"...been a lot cooler if you did."
Within weeks, I had taped “Mark’s” entire cache of music, as mine had been rendered useless. For the next year, I listened to nothing but Pretenders, Clash, Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, Jam and all the Ramones I could get my hands on. Some part of my consciousness had been pried open and 30 years later it remains so. Virginia Beach radio was a horrific thing in the 70s and 80s and but for this…this saint, I would have continued to be defined by what it fed me for who knows how many years. So, “Mark,” this one is for you.
liveoakblues
Live Oak Blues 
Posted by Anonymous on September 6, 2011 at 10:39 pm
You know, I think the first time I listened to the Ramones was after borrowing an album from you!
Posted by liveoakblues on September 6, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Identify yourself, Anonymous!
Posted by godihateyourband on September 7, 2011 at 12:48 am
great post. i know exactly what you mean. my entrance into that world was a little weirder. my dad, a traveling salesman, came home from a trip and said, “the record store guy said this is what everyone’s listening to these days”, and dropped ‘London Calling’ on me in 11th grade. it was a bear for me. i had no context whatsoever. luckily, the palatable “Train in Vain” made me go through each cut one by one. went from that to the Clash debut. Bob Craver then turned me on to the greatest band of the 70s freshmen year
Posted by liveoakblues on September 7, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Now that you mention it, it took me a while to “enter” London Calling. I always think of it as this album that I intuitively knew, but that was not the case. It’s now my fave record of all time.
Posted by Riley A. Vann on September 7, 2011 at 9:15 am
I was in even worse shape than you musically when a friend of my dad’s gave me a cassette of John Prine’s first album. Chris, now you’ve paid it forward as well by turning people onto music they’ve never heard before with your radio show.
Posted by liveoakblues on September 7, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Thanks, man! I shudder to think: how was your music worse? Examples, please!