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Tuesday, Aug 2 2022, 7AM
Good morning! Today is a special show, as John will be sharing his music journey through life and the road that led to KEXP.
John shared that he would hear this song when the television program would shut off for the day and this song would play behind a flag.
Thanks for tuning in this morning! Hope you stay a while.
When John's mother was sick, he took her to see Simon and Garfunkel at the former Key Arena. She wanted merch, and John barreled through the crowd to the merch table to buy her everything and all that she wanted. He shared that she danced all night at the show.
"If there's one artist that reminds me of my childhood, it is Neil freaking Diamond." - John
One more from John's early music memories in the late 70s.
Gary Numan's 'Cars' is one of the first songs John remembers having an impact on his life.
"Cars" is the debut solo single by English musician Gary Numan. It was released in 1979 and is from his debut studio album, The Pleasure Principle.
When this video came out on TV, John and his brother watched it together. As John put it: "It was nothing like we'd ever seen."
MTV debuted just after midnight on August 1, 1981, with the broadcast of “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. Following the format of Top 40 radio, video disc jockeys (or “veejays”) introduced videos and would bantered about music news between clips.
Another one from the first-songs-John-remembers-having-an-impact archive.
The very first 7-inch record John ever owned.
Before moving from Sioux City to Spokane, John recalls what probably happened to this record. Prior to hitting the road, John's brother was frisbee throwing records into the forest by their home. So, somewhere in the wilderness of Iowa likely resides this Go-Go's record...
Entering the Spokane era. Men at Work was the first (or maybe second) tape that John ever owned.
One of John's first favorite bands was Duran Duran. He still has his Duran Duran tapes, acquired from a music mail service called Bill Me Later.. (or bill your neighbors later, if you sent them to their house instead...)
Duran Duran, again. Duran Duran, Duran Duran.
One of John's childhood friends had a cool mom who would let them go see R-rated movies. After one of their movie outings, John and his friend John attended a break dance contest, where he recalled this song.
While struggling with mental health at a young age, this was one song John would play over and over again.
You are not alone!
Another one from John's Spokane days.
In case you missed it - this week on KEXP is Radio Week, where our DJs share their music journeys. In today's show, John is sharing his story that led to KEXP!
Another one that John acquired in his tape-in-the-mail collection... around the same time that collections was also looking for certain unpaid tape fees!
A very special song that John heard one evening at a difficult point in his youth.
Years later, John had the opportunity to thank Bono for changing his life.
The flip side of that tape...
John's brother first heard the Pixies album at a record store in Phoenix. It was such a gamechanger, he purchased a tape on the spot, made a copy, and sent it along to John.
Heard on a radio station in Phoenix when John was visiting his brother, Eric.
John and Eric acquired this Jane's Addiction tape at Zia Records in Phoenix.
When John hears this song, it reminds him of going rock climbing in Joshua Tree with Eric and his girlfriend, now wife, Cindy!
A "cassingle" that John had.
A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980.
The year is 1991, and John attended his first live show at Eastern Washington University, where he attended.
He went in and had already missed most of the openers, but when the lights went low and this song started playing, John said to himself: "Oh okay. I want to do THIS for now on."
Shortly after the Jane's Addiction concert in Cheney, John got a job at the local Albertsons as a courtesy clerk. Eventually, he also started to work with the overnight freight crew and was one of the youngest on the team. After awhile, the crewmates let John play pick the music during their shifts.
This was one song John played nonstop - here's to the Albertson's overnight freight crew!
One of the most important live shows John attended. He is sending a shoutout to whoever caught him when stage diving!
John eventually left his job at Albertsons and moved to Seattle, where he stayed with his brother.
That year, Pearl Jam played a show at The Gorge (the one where the fences went down), and John made his way back east for the show. Here is an archived Seattle Times article about the concert. John was one of the five people taken to the hospital at Moses Lake to be treated for a concussion.
archive.seattletimes.com
"This was a good moment in my life." - John
Mad Season, Live at the Crocodile in 1996.
The Presidents of the United States of American were among the many bands decorating the lineup of Bite Back, Live at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle in 1996.
The first song John ever played on KEXP. And so began an incredible new journey!