Independence Day and the Boss

The July 4th holiday just went by, a terrific holiday celebrating our Declaration of Independence from Britain. I originally thought I would celebrate by writing about freedom and the 4th of July in general, but after spending some time with my wife I found a better angle. So here it is.

Independence Day has special meaning for me because there were two Declarations of Independence for me. The most recent one happened on July 4th, 1999 when my wife and I moved out of my mother-in-laws trailer and into one of our own. I'm not complaining about my mother-in-law, it was very nice of her to put my wife and I up for a couple of years. It just felt great to have a place of our own. We no longer had to adjust our schedule to fit someone else's because we owned the trailer. We no longer had neighbors directly on our wall like when we lived in an apartment either (neighbors suck when they blast their music/tv and beat on each other 'til one of them cries).

As music is such a part of my life it's normal for me to equate a song to this. The song "Independence Day" by Bruce Springsteen is a pensive ballad about a person's rite of passage in moving out of the parents (in this case Father's) house. The song, about moving out of the house from your parent, is moving in it's wary caution and pride in leaving. It's on the Hungry Heart (1980) album and the Live 1975-1985 box set.

The second Independence Day (chronologically the first) actually happened on July 5th, when I asked the woman who would become my wife out on a date. We were watching fireworks while working at a major Northern California theme park when I asked her out. Then I had to dodge the Lead because she was on duty and I wasn't. July 5th is one of our anniversaries and we always think of that night when we watch fireworks (the first movie we saw together, Sleepless In Seattle, added to that a bit also). To paraphrase Green Acres, you are my wife-Bye Bye, single life!

Our song, Springsteen's epic "Thunderroad", is a poetic ballad about getting out of their town before family and economic opportunities force them to stay. "Thunder Road" is a great ballad with dark, urgent lyrics about taking one last shot at chasing your dreams. My wife and I used to sing this song together often (privately - no one else should have to endure my singing voice. Unless you're into pain!) while we were dating. The lyrics go:

The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways

Like a vision she dances across the porchAs the radio plays

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely

Hey that's me and I want you only

Don't turn me home again, I just can't face myself alone again

Don't run back inside, darling you know just what I'm here for

So you're scared and you're thinkingThat maybe we ain't that young anymore

Show a little faith, there's magic in the night

You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright

Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide `neath your covers and study your pain

Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain

Waste your summer praying in vainFor a saviour to rise from these streets

Well now I'm no hero, that's understood

All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood

With a chance to make it good somehow

Hey what else can we do now?

Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair

Well the night's busting openThese two lanes will take us anywhere

We got one last chance to make it real

To trade in these wings on some wheels

Climb in back - Heaven's waiting on down the tracks

Oh-oh come take my hand

Riding out tonight to case the promised land

Oh-oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road,

Lying out there like a killer in the sun

Hey I know it's late we can make it if we run

Oh Thunder Road, sit tight take hold, Thunder Road

Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk

And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk

From your front porch to my front seat

The door's open but the ride it ain't free

And I know you're lonely and there's words that I ain't spoken

But tonight we'll be free, all the promises'll be broken

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away

They haunt this dusty beach roadIn the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street

Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet

And in the lonely cool before dawn

You hear their engines roaring on

But when you get to the porch they're gone on the wind

So Mary climb in

It's a town full of losers and I'm pulling out of here to win.

There are many versions of this song, our preference is the live version on Live 1975-1985 (1986). It has some nice piano and an intimate feel to it.

Before meeting my wife, July 4th was really just another holiday with hot dogs. Now it is a day I can celebrate my marriage and the freedom our great country gives us to spend it together. And the Boss is the soundtrack to the whole thing. My wife just walked into the room and "Born to Run" just popped up on the IPOD at random. Meant to be!

Get Well Soon Grandma!

In a non-media related post, my Grandma fell down Monday and broke her hip. Tuesday, my wife and I visited her in the hospital and she had a successful operation to repair her hip. Grandma will be receiving additional care to help her with healing from the injury, she is a strong willed person and I hope her recovery is quick.

Number 50

It's been another gap between updating my favorite 100 CDs, but we're starting off with a good round number. Waltzing in at Number 50 is...

Metallica - Metallica (1991)

Remeber when Metallica rocked? I mean really rocked in that brutal, uncompromising take-no-prisoners kind of way. I do and here's the last time it happened, a "beginning of the end" in a way. After spending the 80's establishing a cult following as the best speed metal band on the tour circuit, Metallica slowed down and focused their sound to more of a hard rock feel. The result? One of the best selling albums of all time! The band gained fans and became the top hard rock band for the next decade. This fame and fortune would lead the band to turn their backs on what made them great to instead concentrate on finances and marketing (read: GREED) but when this album came out none of that had happened yet.

Metallica the album saw the band connecting with producer Bob Rock to tighten and successfully commercialize their sound. Starting in the early 80's, Metallica ranked side by side with Slayer as the best of their breed. Agressive speed metal with heavy riffs, fast beats, complex arrangements and snarling vocals were the order of the day. After spending all of the Reagan Administration dealing in what would be their creatively fertile period, Metallica decided a change was needed following the rambling, over thought (but not less powerful) ...And Justice For All album (1988).

Gone were the epic ten minute songs and in it's place were shorter, more consise songs. The classic "Enter Sandman" with it's sub-Sabbath riff and locomotive rhytm gained the band video and airplay that it never had before. Softer ballads like "Nothing Else Matters" and "The Unforgiven" added to their success by showing a softer (but not mushier) side. The Road saga "Wherever I May Roam" followed their Led Zep "Stairway To Heaven" style of build up to a T. Occasionally, the groups speed metal origins would leak out on the stampeding "Through the Never" and "The Struggle Within."

Best of all is the acerbic "Sad But True". "True" has another of those Sabbath style riffs layered under the barking vocals of James Hetfield. I love the song's attitude, how it soldiers on through adversity in the face of struggle and indifference. Another favorite is the rampaging rocker "Holier Than Thou". Maybe it's my distaste for my religious school upbringing that revels in how the song takes zealotry to task, but that opening line "No More / Crap rolls out your mouth again" and the chorus tag "Holier Than Thou / You Are / Holier Than Thou /You /Know not!!!" speaks volumes to me.

After this incredible high point, Metallica would take five years (!) off to raise families and buy mansions. When they returned, Metallica had gone from the leaders of rock to followers. They desperately foisted themselves on a Lollapolloza tour and cut their hair to blend in with Alternative acts. To make sure they didn't lose a single penny of their millions of dollars, they pursued the downloading program Napster with the ferocity of pit bulls fighting over a small piece of meat. The fact that the band's initial cult following grew out of home tape copying and they had already made enough money to run a small country meant nothing to them.

Other tracks, like the slamming beat of "Of Wolf and Man" or the bass heavy "The God That Failed" also were memorable. All in all, Metallica deserves it's classic status as a must have album. They have better albums, but none as well known as this one.