Tag Archives: Guns N Roses

Whatever Wednesday: When did I get OLD?

I remember Nirvana’s Nevermind album like it was yesterday. Holding the cassette case in my hand, the baby floating on the cover, the soft blue waves, slipping the tape into my Sony Walkman and pressing Play (sometimes several times because the button would never STICK all the way down unless you got masochistic with it) and drifting away as diesel fumes from the bus wafted in through semi-open windows. Kurt’s haunting voice straining to be heard over the loud engine as the wheels rolled over back country dirt roads. Those were the days.

U2’s Achtung Baby. Oh, how I LOVED this album. Mysterious Ways. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. Even Better than the Real Thing. Trying to Throw your Arms Around the World. A definitive album for U2 and one which changed their sound and bonded them back together as a band. I also had the cassette for this album. I remember the smell of the hard plastic as I broke through the protective covering. Pulling out the cover and gingerly flipping it open all the way to read the lyrics as it blasted from my bedroom stereo.

Both albums released 20 year anniversary editions this year.

You can get them on CD now. I can even listen to them digitally through Spotify. No more cassettes. No more brown shiny thread surfing over the heads of a stereo. No more rewinding the cassette with the eraser end of a pencil. Nope. Not these days. Now, it’s all point and click. Mostly with a touch of your finger at that.

This morning I awoke to the news that the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Guns N Roses are all headed for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Wait, what?

Didn’t Licensed to Ill JUST come out?

Sweet child O’Mine isn’t that old, is it? November Rain? Welcome to the Jungle? Every Rose Has it’s Thorn?

Under the Bridge? Soul to Squeeze? Give it Away? Otherside?

What about No Sleep Till Brooklyn? Brass Monkey? Sure Shot? Or Fight for your Right?

I don’t remember trading in Fight for Your Right for a spot in Geriatricville. Do you?

As long as none of the band members are endorsing life insurance, Medicaid, Just for Men, “I’ve fallen & I Can’t get Up,” or Centrum Silver, I’m not gonna let this bother me. I’m not. Because I’m only as old as I let myself feel right? Right?

Today though?

I’m feeling it. Big time.