// Category Archive for: Waxing Nostalgic

10,000 Maniacs, Blind Man’s Zoo

By Chelsea Spear

You are twelve years old. In your pocket you have some jangly change and a wilted sawbuck, heavy with sweat from your clammy hands—money you earned from babysitting your snot-nosed brother while your mom went out on another pointless date. You enter the Tape World at the mall—a store smaller than your bedroom at home—with the intent to buy the first album you’ll purchase with your own money.
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Metallica, . . . And Justice For All

By Christian Lipski

Fall 1988, I’m in my room in the Le Chateau co-op after class, having stopped off at Tower Records to get the new Metallica album. I had been into Kill ‘Em All and was excited about the first record from the great metal band that I would buy new. Little did I know that eventually all three things would disappear: the Co-op association would close down Chateau, Tower Records would go out of business, and Metallica would stop being great. The third of these happened in the Fall of 1988.
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Poison, Open Up And Say. . . Ahh!

By Christian Lipski

This was the first new Poison album to come out since their 1986 debut, Look What The Cat Dragged In, and I got the album (yes, vinyl!) for Christmas that year. I think this was the real and true beginning of my hair metal journey. I already had Poison’s first album, along with some Def Leppard and even Stryper, but this was the first real, commercial glam metal I had, and from there it never stopped.
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Guns N’ Roses, GN’R Lies: Then and Later

Then: Christian Lipski
Later: Michael Small
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Winger, Winger

By Christian Lipski

I could listen to “Seventeen” a million times, and each time it will take me back to my junior year in college, hanging out at my friends’ houses and watching MTV or The Box. Like all good glam metal, Winger is carefree and lightweight, and makes me believe (if only for three minutes) that the only important things are partying and girls. And at the time, those things were relatively important to me.
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Metallica, Kill ‘Em All

By Christian Lipski

For a brief shining period in my life, this was the hardest music ever. My brother (yet again), acting as the advance scout, returned from the fringes of the music world carrying Metallica’s debut in a thick mesh net. It was like the Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest I had heard, only faster, more aggressive. It sounded like freedom!
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Vixen, Vixen

By Christian Lipski

I will admit that the novelty of an all-female metal band was the initial attraction. Metal was so uniquely associated with the posturing womanizer that it was a great advantage to have a band that inverted the standard. But they could honestly play and more specifically, they could honestly play the kind of music I liked.
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Bon Jovi, New Jersey

By Christian Lipski

I remember buying this CD in college, in a love/hate relationship with Bon Jovi. On the one hand, they were so commercial and inoffensive and harmless (and barely glam metal). On the other, the songs on New Jersey were freakin’ flawless. My friends and I did the “ironic” thing, where we’d like the songs because they were cheesy, but deep down inside (at least for me), there was a real love for them. They’re fun fun songs, and epitomize the arena rock style.
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Megadeth, So Far, So Good. . . So What!

By Christian Lipski

I never actually owned this album until this year, but I’ve listened to it quite a few times. In the summer of 1988 my brother and I had jobs at the same company, so he would come pick me up at my apartment in Lake Merritt (Oakland) and we’d carpool. Since it was his car, it was his music, which was fine, as I liked hearing what he was listening to. That summer it was usually So Far, So Good. . . So What! at peak volume as we smoked and drove to work.
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1983: Music For Twelve-Year-Olds?

By Less Lee Moore

Remember when you were old enough to like “cool” music but still young enough to shamelessly appreciate crappy music? For me, that time was 1983.
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