It’s time to venture out from watches and go way back in time to the early days of my youth’s music. In general, when going back that far, it can only get embarrassing. Music is one of my passions even I’m completely dyslexic when it comes to playing an instrument or do any kind of dancing or singing. I’m more with the head-nodding and foot-tapping crowd. When I was in my early Teens, we really only had Radio and taping songs on cassette tapes. And Radio even back then, was mostly mainstream, playing what we all know today as popular Rock and Pop from the 1980s. As I said, it is going to be embarrassing.
Interestingly, 40 years later, I’m back to mostly listening to Radio, but completely opposite and feel free to go back to my Post about my favorite Independent Electronic Music Radio Station.
Winding back to the early 1980s again and my humble beginnings of listening to Radio and taping music. It was the obvious, the Top-40 Rock music of the 80s. I admit it, but I feel good about because while most people of my age have stayed in the 80s forever, I ventured out in the 90s into electronic house, soul and funk music and still discover new and fresh music today.
However, the story I really want to tell in this post is a different one, but is a music story and I needed the little intro to set the scene. So it is around 1984, I’m a teenager in East Germany behind the iron curtain, when my Dad was allowed to visit his sister who was living in the U.S., something unimaginable until it actually happened. And when he returned, for some yet unknown reason, he had two 7” single vinyl discs in his suitcase for me. I really don’t recall how he picked them up in the U.S. but there they were. Some East Coast / Boston Rock Band I never heard of: The Stompers.
7″ single like I owned
Straight and plain East Coast Rock but now that I had the vinyl’s, I listened to them from time to time and somehow got quite into it. Here I had something, nobody else had or even knew about. So little naive me thought, I might as well…
…write these guys a letter, a fan mail, from a German boy from East Germany. What could possibly happen. The record sleeve had a P.O.Box address, so yeah, I took paper and pen and wrote to the band. I never imagined that the Stasi would ever let that letter go through, let alone expected to ever get a reply, but then, quite some weeks later, a rather large parcel came with the mail and I simply could not believe it.
A parcel full of merchandise: stickers, T-Shirts, a Frisbee and and … and a very nice letter from the band. They were equally amazed getting mail from a fan from that far and from behind the iron curtain. As it is now 40 years ago, I don’t really have any of that anymore, after moving so many times through a number of countries. But in the year 2024, there is this thing called the Internet and of course, you can find all and everything even on a local East Coast / Boston Rock Band from the 1980s that never made it big.
While today this is no longer my taste of music, I still like this honest, handmade guitar rock music and this cool little story from my teenage years that taught me, never miss an opportunity no matter how bad your odds may be.
It’s time to venture out from watches and go way back in time to the early days of my youth’s music. In general, when going back that far, it can only get embarrassing. Music is one of my passions even I’m completely dyslexic when it comes to playing an instrument or do any kind of dancing or singing. I’m more with the head-nodding and foot-tapping crowd. When I was in my early Teens, we really only had Radio and taping songs on cassette tapes. And Radio even back then, was mostly mainstream, playing what we all know today as popular Rock and Pop from the 1980s. As I said, it is going to be embarrassing.
Interestingly, 40 years later, I’m back to mostly listening to Radio, but completely opposite and feel free to go back to my Post about my favorite Independent Electronic Music Radio Station.
Winding back to the early 1980s again and my humble beginnings of listening to Radio and taping music. It was the obvious, the Top-40 Rock music of the 80s. I admit it, but I feel good about because while most people of my age have stayed in the 80s forever, I ventured out in the 90s into electronic house, soul and funk music and still discover new and fresh music today.
However, the story I really want to tell in this post is a different one, but is a music story and I needed the little intro to set the scene. So it is around 1984, I’m a teenager in East Germany behind the iron curtain, when my Dad was allowed to visit his sister who was living in the U.S., something unimaginable until it actually happened. And when he returned, for some yet unknown reason, he had two 7” single vinyl discs in his suitcase for me. I really don’t recall how he picked them up in the U.S. but there they were. Some East Coast / Boston Rock Band I never heard of: The Stompers.
Straight and plain East Coast Rock but now that I had the vinyl’s, I listened to them from time to time and somehow got quite into it. Here I had something, nobody else had or even knew about. So little naive me thought, I might as well…
…write these guys a letter, a fan mail, from a German boy from East Germany. What could possibly happen. The record sleeve had a P.O.Box address, so yeah, I took paper and pen and wrote to the band. I never imagined that the Stasi would ever let that letter go through, let alone expected to ever get a reply, but then, quite some weeks later, a rather large parcel came with the mail and I simply could not believe it.
A parcel full of merchandise: stickers, T-Shirts, a Frisbee and and … and a very nice letter from the band. They were equally amazed getting mail from a fan from that far and from behind the iron curtain. As it is now 40 years ago, I don’t really have any of that anymore, after moving so many times through a number of countries. But in the year 2024, there is this thing called the Internet and of course, you can find all and everything even on a local East Coast / Boston Rock Band from the 1980s that never made it big.
While today this is no longer my taste of music, I still like this honest, handmade guitar rock music and this cool little story from my teenage years that taught me, never miss an opportunity no matter how bad your odds may be.
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