One Hot Minute

Alright, moving forward!

While studying in Israel, my sister used to come home for a summer vacation every year. So, in 1995 she was there, when I "broke out". When she flew back, she gave an advise to my parents for a birthday present referring to my growing interest in certain kind of music.

So, to my 13th birthday I was given a cassette by a band that I've also discovered in HaShomer summer camp, but still didn't know the name. And, maaaan, I liked this gift so much! I was listening to it constantly, mostly while assembling a paper model of a tank. This album is so strongly associated with that process, that I can smell the PVA glue each time I hear any song from it. This has become my last model, from then on I've lost all the interest in any military activity - FOREVER.

I've paid attention that most fans of this band don't like this album for various reasons. However for me this is their ONLY album that I can listen to without skipping a song. And in general, I absolutely DON'T like anything they'd released afterwards. Some say this is a heroin record - I think it's a successful attempt at creating a PSYCHEDELIC record. And I think this is actually one of the records that inspired my taste for psychedelia later on. Just listen to the opening song! :)

Are You Gonna Go My Way

Before I continue with what was happening after I discovered Nirvana, there's one more song that I discovered from the MTV segments on Belorussian TV, which by the late 1994 became strictly hit-parade.

I can't tell that THIS song turned me on funk - it's not funk at all. It's much more like Hendrix-meets-Sly-meets-British-white-soul-rockers. But the sound here is so 1969-1970! It kinda took the classic rock that I knew from my father into my generation's dimension. And I loved the video very much, but... why do they all have to dance in slow motion? It would have more effect if they were actually moving to such a badass beat!

I tried hard to like this artist later, but besides this and one more song, he just wasn't that good. :)

Nirvana

In the cult British sci-fi series - "The Tomorrow People" - term "breaking out" is used to explain the process of a child discovering his/her "tomorrow person" powers. I'm using this term to explain the moment, when I discovered my future self as a musician.

It was summer 1995, I was singing in the Jewish Agency's children's choir (yes, as weird as it sounds) and went to the summer camp, organized by HaShomer HaTsair, which was actually the first non-religious Jewish youth organization that had a branch in Belarus. And the rumour was spreading that HaShomer camps were the wildest: kids (both - hanichim and madrichim) were drinking almost every night, smoking in their rooms and yes - making their first steps in sexual life. I was small, naive, romantic and generally - a "good boy", staying out of trouble, but I was the witness and I knew perfectly what was going on around me. Everyone knew about it, no one was discussing it - you only needed to avoid being caught by the principal or other elders. And almost every night they were doing a discotheque in the hall, including all the "known" dance hits and the slow dances, of course. There were also hints for the rocking kids to have their pogo fun - and there I first heard THAT song. And THAT song, as obvious as it may seem, was a revelation to me. This was the reason, why I started buying cassettes, why I started listening to the radio and recording songs from the shows, why in a year and a half I've made my first attempt to form a band and make my own music. Back from the camp I knew that I MUST find THAT song, but I still didn't know its name. I knew only the name of the band - Nirvana, and I immediately bought the first thing I've found. THAT song wasn't there, but I've discovered another song, very similar to what I remembered, but different and still - fitting my demand perfectly! "Hello, kids! Meet the first long-haired boy in your class."

I know I was a bit late to love this band, but hey - I was still 12 years old! :)

 

Public Enemy

Ok, ironically, I was involved in some conversation yesterday and today, that has some tiny connection to today's tune.

I'm afraid that all the previous tunes made a strong impression on you, that I was a music head since birth and all my favorite toys were records and piano. It wasn't exactly so. I was a little, thin, often sick kid, that was dreaming about becoming a... general. Yes-yes! I was making my own cardboard soldiers, trying to build an army as big, as Alexander the Great's. I was reading books about the masters of war strategy and historical battles, and assembling plane models. In 1994 music was still not at the centre of my universe.

However, going to Jewish school on the other side of town and combining it with music school studies (3 piano lessons, 1 solfege class and 1 music literature class - every week), left me almost no time to hang out in the street. My social life was mostly at school, and further - inside the Jewish community. I don't know what does this all have to do with today's tune, but I guess, we'll find out later.

So, this was my first favorite rap tune and the beat was my first introduction to funk. No, rap music didn't immediately become my daily diet, because I pretty much hated most of the stuff in top charts. But this was the seed that grew up into a huge tree 4-5 years later.

Ordinary World

We're moving further in time - 1993: the first years of Belorussian independence, military conflicts in some of the ex-Soviet areas, deep economical crisis and painful process of privatization, Russian constitutional crisis...

But at the same time: Belorus takes part in NAALE program; my sister has passed the exams and is leaving to study in Israeli high school for three years; after finishing four grades of elementary school, I'm accepted to the just opened first Jewish school in Minsk; it's my 4th grade in the music school as well; I'm a huge Beatles fan; Belorussian state TV-channel starts airing weekly an hour segment of clips from MTV...

Metamorphoses

I'll step a bit backwards in time, because I forgot to mention that in 1989 I went to elementary school and also a music school, where I've begun studying piano.

Rock and punk was far from being the only music playing in our house. My dad had a great record collection, major part of which included jazz, classical and chamber music. Oddly enough, one of my favorite classical records was actually performed entirely on a synthesizer. This record was one of the first few to introduce me to electronic music - waaaay before I turned on Aphex Twin, Future Sound of London, The Prodigy and Jungle.

I've found out that some kind person has ripped the whole record, split in two sides, to post on YouTube. So here's not just one song, but the whole array of them! Perfect to listen in the dark. :)

Toy Dolls

And the last song from that collection is by another band that is hardly remembered - Toy Dolls. Few years later I was listening to their songs, when I needed a burst of positive energy. :)

The Pogues

Another song from my Sister's video tape is by Irish folk-punk-rockers (well, they used to be punk-rockers back then) - The Pogues. I had no idea this is a drinking song until I found this video on YouTube and read in comments. :)

Bauhaus

Yet another video from the historical tape. This time - by Bauhaus. And they still remain one of my favorite bands. :)

Public Image LTD

In the next few days I'll be posting some more songs from my sister's first video-tape, that became my childhood "classics".

Here's another one by PIL. I've already included it in my mixtape, but watching this video again brought back so many memories, that I just had to share it:

Anarchy in the UK

Today's tune is from my sister's first video-tape. She copied some punk and post-punk videos from her friend, including a piece of Public Image Ltd. concert. Each and every video on that tape made a strong impact on me back then and, I think pretty much defined the further direction of my taste as a teenager.

And the first song on that tape was...

Akvarium

We're moving further in time.

I can't help but post a song by this Russian band - Akvarium. Their bandleader, Boris Grebenschikov, was my sister's first long-term musical love, and I remember their music regularly playing from her room since I was in elementary school. This has opened the door to the world of alternative music for her, and in a few years - for me.

This particular song is not their first that I've heard, but it inspired me very deeply. It was probably the first non-Beatles song that touched me the way they did.

Queen

Today's tune is from my mom's favorite band.

Yes, she likes Queen very much! As much as USSR citizens could find behind the Iron Curtain, we had the Bulgarian pressing of their Greatest Hits. The tracklist was somehow shorter and it didn't include neither "Bohemian Rhapsody", nor "Under Pressure"... or at least I don't remember listening to these two songs back then, as I remember listening to this one... and I still like it. :)

Jesus Christ Superstar

OK, the first tune is from the album that you may find in every old rock fan collection in ex-USSR. And every old rock fan's kid knows this album by heart. Not only because it was the first rock opera, but also because Ian Gillan (Deep Purple) is singing the Jesus part (in the 1973 movie they brought a different cast).

Even before we had it on vinyl, I used to listen to it on my dad's reel tape. Yes, you read it right - REEL TAPE. And when I heard it again not long ago, I realized that this may be my first introduction to groove. Like this, for example:

Let's begin now.

It's three months to my birthday and I've decided on a special project:

We all grow up on music - the music that we hear at home from our parents, the music that we hear on the radio and TV, the music that we discover from elder brothers or friends at school. For a musician, the music that he grows up on as a child is one of the milestones of his own art and his aesthetic taste. Today, you can tell a lot about a person from the music that he is and was listening to.

So my project is this: From today till November 17th (my B-Day) I'll be posting DAILY a tune that I loved in my teens. Let's see, how many of these you remember and what will you learn about me from this. Probably, this will also help me to see a better picture of my musical taste. You're welcome to comment and reminisce back with me. :)

For the beginning, here's a mixtape I've prepared 3 years ago to point out some of the music I was listening to as a kid. This way I will also keep a space here for some other tunes. Enjoy! :)

Forgotten Words - Part 1 - The Influence by Markey Funk on Mixcloud