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Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/70972
[ Editor's Letter ] Love at First Sound L evon Helm brought us together with My Morning Jacket. Helm, a native of the Mississippi Delta town/bend-in-the-road called Turkey Scratch, Ark., which isn't even a flea's knee on the map, died in late April. Helm was the driving force behind Te Band, which probably held more sway with musicians than the general public. I read somewhere that Jim James, frontman for My Morning Jacket, was musically indebted to Helm, that they even jammed together a time or two. So we thought about having James write something on the loss of Helm. Tat grew into a request for the Louisvillians of MMJ — James, bassist Tom Blankenship and drummer Patrick Hallahan — to, well, write whatever the hell they wanted about their musical influences while growing up in Louisville. To our delight, they agreed. And so, inevitably, we've been thinking about music around here. (It doesn't hurt that Forecastle is coming up this month, too.) Any conversation in the universal language must start at the beginning: Who reeled you in? Which band/voice/riff grabbed you by the throat and left you short of breath? So I asked our staff: What was the first album you bought and why? Here's what they said. Surely it'll get you thinking about that first trip to the music store when you just had to have…: I bought my first two CDs — Michael Jackson's Dangerous and Totally Krossed Out, by Kriss Kross — at a mall one day in the early 1990s. I was eight. Here's what I'd do: I'd put on socks, play "Jam" or "Black or White" off Dangerous and dance-slash-slide across any coffee table I could get my feet on. (Yes, Dangerous also has the song "Will You Be Tere" from the Free Willy soundtrack. And "Heal the World." Still happy with this purchase.) Kriss "jump, jump" Kross taught me to rap and, one time, inspired me to wear my jeans and T-shirt backwards to elementary school, just like the two rappers did on their album cover. I was a weird kid. Josh Moss Managing Editor Son of Joel, sound genius at WEBN in Cincinnati Te earliest album I can remember buying was Morrissey. Tere was a music store going out of business in the Dixie Manor [8] LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 7.12 Shopping Center called NRM. So I bought Viva Hate and Vauxhall and I, and I think one other Morrissey CD that was a "best of." I loved Morrissey; my friends had his music, and I decided I needed the albums myself. I skipped seeing a movie that night and hung out in the parking lot adoring my new CDs while waiting for my mom to pick me up. Mickie Winters Photographer on MMJ shoot Freelance photographer for Spin It was Beach Boys Concert (1964). Because the high-treble guitar, high vocals and high- pitched screaming girls made songs like "I Get Around," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Te Little Old Lady From Pasadena" and "Papa- Oom-Mow-Mow" all the more energizing to a jumpy high school freshman. I had three Beatles 45s by then, but no album. Jack Welch Senior Editor My brother and I pooled our allowances and bought Queen's Greatest Hits. Still have it — although "Another One Bites the Dust" has bit the dust. She skips too much. Suki Anderson Art Director Band member, Sandpaper Dolls I bought Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence and listened to it religiously. I remember a line about the words of the prophets being written on the subway walls and tenement halls. I had NO CLUE what a tenement was. Tought it was like a tabernacle or something, little suburban child that I was. Julie Crutcher Business Director Te first piece of music I bought for myself was a cassette tape — saved my allowance to buy it. I was in fourth grade. It was Olivia Newton John's Physical, and my song was "Let's Get Physical." Te afternoon after getting the tape, I remember having a jambox face-off with a boy down the street: "Eye of the Tiger" vs. "Let's Get Physical." Melissa Duley Associate Editor Te 10- and 12-year-old sisters across the street had a prerequisite for friendship with seven-year-old me: be all-knowing about Duran Duran. (Twenty-nine years later, I still can recite the band members' names.) One afternoon I handed them a blank cassette tape from Radio Shack. Tey slotted it into a tape recorder, placed the recorder next to the turntable on their shared dresser, pressed record and spun the scratched vinyl. Te next day I had my copy of Seven and the Ragged Tiger. Later, to again prove my bona fides, they sat me in front of their TV while they played elsewhere in the house and tasked me to yell for them whenever MTV aired "Te Reflex," which I recall was about every fifth song. Zach Everson Editor, Louisville.com Te first album I recall buying (with my own money!) was Earth, Wind & Fire's Tat's the Way of the World. We would hang out in my girlfriend's basement and sing, complete with imaginary microphones, and dance to "Shining Star" and "Reasons." Why did I buy it? Although a white teen from the 'burbs, I recall always having a love of funk and R&B.; Stacey Hallahan Advertising Director Mother of Jackson, drummer savant; cousin to MMJ's Patrick Hallahan I'm a little embarrassed to admit that the first album I purchased was Spice by the Spice Girls. Yes, I just said the Spice Girls. I remember being obsessed with Sporty Spice and knowing every lyric to the entire album. Not only was that my first album, but the Spice Girls were my first concert. I was one dedicated nine-year-old. Alicia McCarty Circulation & Promotions Director Te Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading, because the album cover was so, well, groovy. Just by looking at it, you could tell these dudes were some hip, far-out freaks. Also, I'm pretty sure I bought this Peanut Butter Conspiracy album along with Incense and Peppermints, by Strawberry Alarm Clock. Te fact that I have an incurable addiction to peanut butter and (strawberry) jelly sandwiches may have played an unconscious role in my decision to pick these two albums. Dan Crutcher Publisher Guitar god* *He made us put that in there.