Rust Never Sleeps
I Hate Disco
Thursday, 11 February 2010 13:27 Hrs
❝ The year was 1979 and Disco was unstoppable.

My first record was named after an advertising jingle for "Rust-oleum" and released at a pivotal point in rock music history. But to understand why it was important, you have to go back in time: Pre Internet and mp3; Before MTV and video; Even before CD's and Triple RRR. [0] A land of Countdown, cassettes and vinyl LP's. Music was dictated by commercial AM radio. A bland mixture of over produced pop, rock and Disco.

I hate Disco.

Up till this point my musical tastes where my Dads tastes. From progressive sounds of Rick Wakeman to the symphonic sounds of Supertramp, Queen and ELO. The pure pop of Elton, the stripped back rock of early Dire Straits. Being a bit of a HiFi nerd, Dad slowly built up a stereo system consisted of a Hafler DH-200 power-amp connected to a NAD 1020 pre-amp with speakers big enough to drive the sound.

School intervened. An assignment meant I had to find lyrics to a song of my choice and discuss it in class. Tuning to the radio of those days was a wasteland of sound. Rarely did you find new, good music. By chance I heard an acoustic tune on the radio. Sounded catchy and was by the same musician who released a Nashville inspired album released a year previously. I taped it off the radio, laboriously transcribed the lyrics. Wrote up a paper and discussed it in class.

I'd recently got a job at the local supermarket. So I purchased the LP, my first. Got it home, listened to the first side. Okay, similar to what I'd expected. Flipped it over, turned it up. Distortion at 100 RMS. Nothing was ever quite the same again.

The year, 1979. The album, Neil Young's, "Rust Never Sleeps".

Reference

[0] Triple RRR radio started broadcasting FM in 1980.

[1] RockWiz is in the process of creating a "Family blog" so I thought I'll add mine.

http://www.sbs.com.au/rockwiz

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