LOCKDOWN LINKY – Rebecca Meehan
LOCKDOWN LINKY – Rebecca Meehan
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Your Cheatin' Heart
Hank Williams
Hello to you and you and you! The most beautiful and loving group of folks on the interwebs, the mighty AF Gang! I send these songs not only straight from the ancestral tribal lands of the Pueblo of Isleta in the great state of New Mexico in the U S of A, but straight from my heart. My husband, 13 year old daughter and our three cats send you all love and hope where ever you may be in these uncertain times.
Seeing that I’ll be turning 50 (!) in a few months, I wanted to give you a bit of me from the beginnings of my personal musical journey through the greatest years of all time, the 1980s. It’s going to be a bit scattered so sit back and enjoy!
One of my earliest memories was an 8-track player in an old adobe house in the mid-70s. This player sat on a tall bureau that I could barely reach, yet I still remember pushing in the tape and hearing it engage, then waiting for the music to start; I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. My great grandfather built this house and I remember him, my great grandmother and my many great aunts and uncles here vividly. The 8-track player is long since gone, but I still have one great aunt left living in this old adobe house that’s over 100 years old
Beating Around the Bush
AC/DC
This album was released just after my 9th birthday. My aunt Toni, who was living with my great aunt mentioned above, brought it home one day and put it on the turntable. She was in high school and she was cool because she smoked pot, snuck out of the house regularly, had the best feathered hair and the brightest blue eyeshadow! I think this is where my love for rock ‘n roll started. Whenever I hear a song from this record play on the radio a flood of memories overwhelm me.
Misfit Kid
The Cars
Now we can’t forget to go back to 1978 and then through 1981, when this band was producing hit after hit like hits were going out of style. Their first three records were all instant classics, but I want to share this one because it’s just beautiful. I think we’ve all felt like that kid.
Misty Morning
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Also during this time one of my aunts on my dad’s side had just moved back from Michigan with her husband and their three small children. My aunt and uncle were huge reggae fans and that’s all I remember being played whenever we went to visit. This man quickly became one of my favorites then and that remains so to this day. Here’s my absolute favorite song by the legend.
She Blinded Me With Science
Thomas Dolby
In the early 80s we lived without luxuries like cable TV; however, we did have radio. Me and my sibs listened to and recorded our favorite songs on cassette (remember doing that?) for playback late at night in the dark. Anyway, you cannot be a kid of the 80’s, no matter what kind of music you liked, without remembering this song. I fucking love this song.
Midnight Moonlight
The Firm
Supergroup time! You know the amazing Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company fame and the most excellent Jimmy Page of the most excellent Led Zeppelin. One day these two beautiful souls decided to form a band. They called it The Firm and they birthed this amazing song that brings tears to my eyes every time.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner - 2015 Remaster
Iron Maiden
With all the electronic-synth music going on around me, by the mid-80s I was essentially a metal head at heart. I cannot present a list of my faves to you without including my favorite band of my early teens. Dave Murray, boys and girls, Dave Murray. Sigh. With that, I’m going straight to 1984’s Powerslave. Did any of you here see this tour? Amazing! Did any of you ever learn a bit of history from these boys? I did!
Uncovered
Soundgarden
A year later, my awesome sister would again turn me on to a record that was yet another game changer. The genre was different and suddenly there was this noisy, off-kilter, lyrically smart guitar driven music that I instantly fell in love with. This band, along with a couple of cool DJs at our local college radio introduced me to the true alternative/underground music that was going on in the late 80s and early 90s.