Editor's note: A few weeks ago, I asked my good friend Adam Knapp if he would like to write a guest blog on my account. I didn't know if he would actually go for it, but he took the idea much more seriously than I thought he would. He didn't just write one blog. He wrote four and over the week, I'm going to run them all.
I've always seen Adam's writing as an extension of his easy going, good-humored personality. Twenty years ago I could read a sports feature he wrote for the Wichita Eagle and say, "Yup, that's Adam." Reading his contribution to my blog is like hearing him talk.
He made his name in journalism, covering sports, for which he won several awards. But music, film, pop culture - those are also passions of his and he has strong, definite opinions about what he likes and dislikes in the arts as well as the sports world. There's a lot more I could say about Adam, but I should get the hell out of the way and let him take center stage. Here, Adam talks about the people who influenced his ever-expanding musical tastes. In the four essays that will run over the next few days, Adam counts down his personal top 10 influences. It's a cool read, well worth your time, and Adam's unique voice all the way.
-- J. Guy
Before I get into starting a list of the top 10 musical influences in my life, let me first answer a question that will surely pop up – how can I not include my best friend Russ Thomas?
The answer is simple. Russ’ musical tastes haven’t left an impression on me. I mean, we listened to a lot of the same stuff, and I love the guy, but he’s pretty predictable. Seriously, his best argument for being on this list would be lending me his Billy Squier cassette when we were teenagers. (When I returned it to him at our 20-year high school reunion, and he disgustedly threw it back at me.)
In fact, Russ’ older sister Shanna has a better claim to being on this list than him. The albums she owned were epic – Kansas, Meatloaf, Queen, et al. That girl had good taste.
Her brother? When we were briefly roommates, Russ also introduced me to the Tracy Chapman hit “Fast Car.” That’s a good song. But that’s about it in 35 years of friendship. Billy Squier and Fast Car. And I’m not even that crazy about Billy Squier.
| Robert Johnson |
So what are the criteria for being on my musical influences list?
First of all – and this should be obvious – it has to be someone I know personally. No DJs, no music critics, nobody I know only through social media. Lester Bangs doesn’t count.
Secondly, it has to be someone who is responsible for what you decided you loved – directly or indirectly. If you happened to be with your aunt the first time you heard “Stairway to Heaven” on the radio, that’s not her influencing you, necessarily. That’s just her being in the same room.
However … if that same aunt was playing the same song on her record player, that’s a different story. She has now influenced you, even if neither of you realized it at the time.
Sometimes the influencer knows exactly what they’re doing, and can predict what you would like better than you could.
Or maybe, just maybe, you like the person so much that you want to like their music.
OK, I think you get the idea. Here are my top 10. To enhance the meaning of each honoree, I suggest you listen to the song I selected as you're reading about them.
10. The instigator.
Am I sneaking Jeff Guy onto this list simply because it’s his blog you are reading right now? Possibly, but hear me out. The man knows what he likes, and he likes a lot of music that you’ve never heard of.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, I’ll bet Jeff has exposed you to a hidden gem you had no idea even existed. Some of them are from artists everyone knows (Sinatra, The Beatles). But many, many others are not. How he’s aware this stuff, I have no idea. But he’s done a good thing by giving them a new life on his blog and exposing them to me, and hopefully a lot of others.
I love talking music with Jeff, because we disagree on just enough to keep it interesting. Jeff’s like me in that our musical tastes run deep and wide, but we both have a soft spot for anarchy.
Also, Jeff gets bonus points for chiding Russ for his musical selection over the years. (Michael Jackson may have been a hugely popular musical genius, but no red-blooded male in the Midwest should ever be caught listening to “PYT.”)
9. The Ex Wife
Those of you who know me might be surprised to see the mother of my children on this list, but I’m just giving credit where credit’s due. All of these things actually happened before we were married, from 1988 to ’96, and they help remind me that we really were good friends.
| Tom Petty |
She was old school with the Byrds. She was grunge with Hole. I don’t know how I managed to live 22 years without hearing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” but I’m thankful she popped that one night during one of our little drives to nowhere.
Bonus points for the way her hair flipped around in a circle when we were rocking out to White Zombie. That might be what made me marry her.
8. The Human Beat Box
The first time I heard Run DMC’s Raising Hell album, it was in Shannon Haralson’s living room, on the same day he announced he’d bought it. A few weeks later, we did the same with the Beastie Boys’ License to Ill.
| Run DMC |
But his influence didn’t stop there. Shannon was the first one I remember to have a CD player in his car – his car! – and it was there that I got my first prolonged exposure to Aerosmith, who had a huge comeback in the late ‘80s, thanks mainly to their collaboration of a remake performed by …. wait for it … Run DMC.
In the years that followed, in was in Shannon’s apartment where I learned about groups like Siouxsie and the Banshees. Just listen to this song and tell me you’re not mesmerized.
"Peek-a-Boo" -- Siouxie and the Banshees
Next: 7-5
