What They Be Doin’ Now? Crash Test Dummies

I didn’t want to do these back to back, but I have nothing to write about and I want to write. So here we go with another episode of Where The Fuck They At Now, Bitch?

This time around I’m picking everyone’s favorite Canadian band from the ’90s, the Crash Test Dummies!

I remember how I came to be a fan. I hadn’t heard anything on the radio, but I was a regular visitor to a music store in Forest Fair Mall, just north of Cincinnati. As of right now I can’t remember the name of the store, but I remember exactly where it was. I also have quite a few other stories about that store.

It was the store where I first bought a Green Day album. My buddy, The Cinema Sadist, had turned me on to Green Day right after “Dookie” came out. It wasn’t a hit right away, and he bought it and brought it to my house to listen to. It wasn’t until about a week later that they were getting radio play and people were quickly jumping on the band wagon.

He went to a record store afterward and saw they had two other albums out. These were the two Lookout! released albums before they got major label backing and became the band you know now. He had picked up the first one, “1,000 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours.” My dad took me to the store I mentioned above where I saw that one and the other, “Kerplunk.” I figured since my buddy had the first, I’d get “Kerplunk,” and that’s when I got that and “Dookie.” ON CASSETTE.

It was also where I got one of the first AC/DC shirts I ever owned.

It was also where I decided I wasn’t going to listen to Ace Of Bass.

It was ALSO where I discovered the Crash Test Dummies. Oh right, back to them.

Daily Post: Papa Loves Mambo

What sort of music was played in your house when you were growing up? What effect, (if any) did it have on your musical tastes?

I don’t remember much of the music played when I was a kid, before my parents got divorced. I’m not sure if that’s because not much was played, or I just don’t remember it. My mom used to listen to a record (yeah, records) when she cleaned the house, and that’s the only thing I really remember from then. It was usually Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton, or another, which I’m thinking was Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

That was mom’s music. Dad’s was more classic rock/rock n roll. He listened to WEBN, which was the local rock station. We have a few now including WEBN, but back then that was it. And they only had great stuff to play because up until then, the mid ’80s, rock was doing pretty well.

One of my dad’s favorite things to do was drive around, and he’d almost always take me with him. We would drive way out into the country, all over, for hours, just listening to music, and it was always rock with him. That’s when I learned who Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and all the other greats were. The first song I ever learned the lyrics to was when I was out driving around with dad, and it was a Doors song.

Because I had to drive around with mom a lot, I had to also listen to country, usually B-105, one of the local country stations. I didn’t mind it, because country back then was pretty good too. As I got older I drifted more away from country and towards rock, and that had to do with my parents divorcing and me living with my dad.

He was a garbage man and always brought home things that were still awesome, like big screen TVs and such. He usually picked up in nice neighborhoods where they would get rid of stuff if it were just slightly new because they got a brand new one.

One day he came home with a cassette of AC/DC’s High Voltage album and was listening to it loudly out of a little radio/cassette player while he cut the back yard. I went back there for whatever reason, started listening to that album, and that was the moment I became hooked on AC/DC. I’m not sure what age I was, or what song was playing, but that was the moment I fell in love with the greatest rock band ever.

At that time I had 3 step-sisters and they pretty much all listened to whatever Teen Beat told them to. New Kids On The Block and Def Leppard are the two I remember, so I heard a lot of that. They also listened to a lot of Motown, so I listened to a lot of that as well. And their favorite movie was Dirty Dancing, so I had to see that all the time as well, while falling in love with it and the soundtrack.

As they got older they started listening to rap, so I had to listen to that too, and enjoyed some of it. Basically, I was introduced to a lot of different kinds of music, and I grew up in a time when music was at its best for every genre. The late 80s and into the 90s were an amazing time to be a fan of music.

It wasn’t until I became a teen when I started listening to other stuff that my parents hadn’t introduced me to, but of course I think that most of the stuff I started listening to on my own was heavily influenced by what my parents listened to.

Blatant Rip Offs

I’m kind of sick of rip offs. Or followers. It wasn’t that long ago that following got you nowhere. Now you’re expected to do it to get anywhere.

As a musician you have to sound like everyone else in order to sell albums, or digital downloads, whatever. In movies, there’s a theme now that you have to not act your way to success. I enjoy their movies, but Seth Rogen and company, everybody who are typically in his movies, are all the same person in every movie they do. And that person? Themselves. Acting in movies now means you get in front of a camera and say your lines. They’re not the only ones.

The point here is, I’m sick of it. There’s not a lot of originality going on anymore. Why is that? Have we run out of originality? Hollywood has, as they reboot and sequel every movie that has come out in the last 30 years instead of putting out very many new ideas.

To give you a quick example of something I’ve been seeing a lot of lately, first I want you to take a look at the source material.

You don’t have to be a fan to know who AC/DC is. They’ve been around for 40 years this year and they’re one of the highest selling bands of all time. Never mind that almost everybody around the world has heard at least one of their songs. So sure, why not rip them off?

AC/DC Rides On

For those of you who have been coming here to get your AC/DC news, that’s awesome and, there’s probably a better, more reliable source for it. Even so, my bit RIP AC/DC is still one of my most viewed pages every day, so thanks.

With that said, they’ve been in the news a lot since then, and I thought it might be time to catch up here. I’m sure you already know about it, but here it goes anyway.

Right after news broke of Malcolm’s failing health, Brian Johnson posted on his website that the band is still moving forward with a new album and a new tour to celebrate being around for 40 years. I’d link to it, but his website seems to be down at the moment. If you don’t know it and would like to check it out later, it’s BrianJohnsonRacing.com.

Unfortunately, Malcolm is out of the band. He’s sick, nobody knows from what, as the band and family have wished to keep the matter private, and good for them. All we can do is wish him well and hope he gets better soon. That said, I’m sure he’s still got a say in what goes on, and his spirit is definitely ingrained in the band, so he’ll never actually be out of AC/DC.

Replacing Malcolm wasn’t too hard, which is to say he can’t really be replaced anyway. I’ve been playing guitar now for a long time and I started because of AC/DC. I once looked at some tab to a few of their songs, and even though they play basic rock cords, in E, on every song, Malcolm has a way of strumming and playing his guitar that is more complex than it really needs to be. But that’s why nobody sounds quite like AC/DC.

25 Songs, Day 25

A song I could listen to all day without getting sick of.

I guess I could list quite a few songs like that. Like my favorite song ever, which was just a couple of days ago, or quite a few others. However, I’ll end this 25 day challenge with another of my favorite songs. It’s actually my casket song. Someone once asked me what that was, and it was such an interesting idea that I had to think on it, and finally came up with this one.

Your casket song, by the way, is a song that you could listen to forever. Basically, if you have the chance to listen to one song inside your casket, for the rest of eternity, what song would it be. This is mine, and my answer to todays prompt.