Thursday, May 26, 2011

Miss You by The Rolling Stones (Summer 1978)

My parents divorced when I was about six.  My dad moved to Texas, but visited whenever he could,, usually when he was in New York on business.  He'd detour to Maryland to see us before he headed back to Dallas.

My taste in music at that time pretty much reflected my mom's.  She was into 70s soft rock like The Carpenters, Carly Simon, John Denver, stuff like that.  Which is actually great stuff, don't get me wrong.  I still listen to soft rock; my taste in music is very diverse.

But there was no rock in my life; I didn't really even know what it was.  

On a weekend when my dad was visiting, though, my music world was turned upside down.  We were going somewhere; I can't remember where now, but Dad turned on the radio and the song "Miss You" by The Rolling Stones blared from the speakers.  Wow, this was a really cool song! I asked my dad who sang it, and he answered.  I replied I had never heard of The Stones - my dad was shocked.  "You've never heard of The Stones?"

I was twelve years old and had never heard of one of the greatest rock group of all time.  But Mom didn't listen to that kind of music, and I didn't really know the local radio stations yet.  We listened to whatever Mom wanted to listen to in the car (as my kids do now!).

So I got a bit of an education that day.  The station Dad had tuned in played Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, The Steve Miller Band, and other great bands of that summer in 1978.

"Miss You" is still my favorite Stones song, with "Gimme Shelter" a close second.  But I wasn't finished with soft rock by any means - it wasn't long before Andy Gibb and The Bay City Rollers came into my life.


1 comment:

  1. Aren't you glad you ended up listening to rock? Nothing can get you racing faster in your car or pump you up the way a good rock song can. And to live through all the great bands must have been great. I know what you mean by having your parents dictate the music you heard until a certain age. I didn't hear a cuss word, unless it was The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

    Draven Ames

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