Adam Knapp's Top 10 musical influences, Pt. 3

Editor's note: Here is the third of four guest blogs written by my good friend Adam Knapp. He's counting down his top 10 musical influences and we're down to 3 and 4 now. By the way, Adam has his own blog. Its focus is a documentary film he's directing. Yes, the talented Mr. Knapp is a filmmaker too. If you ever visit his home, you'll see books like "The Screenwriter's Bible" on his shelf. The film is not complete yet, but Adam and his crew are hosting a party in Wichita's historic Old Town district this Friday to publicize it. Read details on his blog.

                                                                         "Unchained" -- Van Halen

4. The old goat

Did I listen to Van Halen because I was friends with Andy Hawkins? Or was I friends with Andy Hawkins because I listened to Van Halen?

Andy is my oldest friendship, going back to the third grade at Garfield Elementary. Every once in a while I’ll call him “you old goat,” a nod to a 1992 grunge valentine Singles. (And in case you didn’t catch it, the first paragraph of this segment references 2000’s High Fidelity, another movie that loves music but isn’t a musical. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that is perverse. Do not tell anybody you haven’t seen these movies. Just watch them immediately. It’s gonna be OK.)

But back to Van Halen. Now, everyone knows who Van Halen is. But Andy taught me Van Halen was so much more than what they were playing on the radio.  I learned “Fair Warning” was the best Van Halen album, even if it wasn’t a huge commercial hit, and it wasn’t cool to listen to Diver Down because it’s just a bunch of cover songs.

When we were 17, Andy drove me down to Dallas in his Camaro so we see our first Cowboys game. The only thing – and I mean the only thing – we listened to was Van Halen and the Cowboys pregame show.

The White Stripes

Andy was even able to play a few Van Halen riffs on his electric guitar. I’m told this made him popular at parties when he went to college at Kansas State. (Of course, it was Andy himself who told me this, but that's neither here nor there.)

By then, Van Halen had become Van Hagar.  It wasn’t quite the same; we got a little more lukewarm with each album released. Over the next several years Andy had introduced me to a bunch of other music like The White Stripes, The Hives, Special Ed and Jay Z.

In 2007 Andy and I drove to Kansas City to see David Lee Roth’s triumphant return to Van Halen. Good concert, but we both agreed it was too … sterile. Dave had grown up and was behaving himself. His wide-eyed, slack jawed persona was of an era that had passed.

Then Andy got married and started a family. Now he wants to argue about politics and his right-wing values. But I know there’s a rock-n-roll soul that still burns in there somewhere.

3. The Dad

Well, of course my dad is on the list. If you’d spent as much time in a vehicle with my dad at the wheel as I have, he’d be on our list, too.

My dad used to to a lot of country and western. Now, I’ve never called myself a country fan.

                              "Louisiana Man" -- Doug Kerchaw

Particularly in the 1980s, this was not a cool thing to listen to, at least not with the friends I hung around with. Besides, it doesn’t seem to me groups like the Gatlin Brothers, the Mandrell Sisters and the Oak Ridge Boys have really stood the test of time.

But dad was more of an old-school country fan, and that stuff will live forever. Now when I say old school, I’m talking more about Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr. than Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams Sr. But when I listen to any of those artists now, I appreciate them. I really do. When I fell into a couple of free tickets for a Loretta Lynn concert last year, I decided to take my 14-year-old daughter. She enjoyed it, as I suspected she would.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

But the biggest thing I’m thankful for is that dad was a huge Creedence Clearwater Revival fan. My little sister and I would always perk up when dad reached for the Creedence cassette. Nobody, but nobody, had energy had Creedence.

Here we come again on a Saturday night

With your fussin’ and a-fightin’ won’t you get me to the rhyme

I wanna move, playin’ in a travelin’ band, yeah

Well I’m flying cross the land

Tryin’ to get a hand

Playin’ in a travelin’ band – ah WAAAAAAAA!

We loved it. We still love it. And it wasn’t just one song – Creedence would slow it down with something like “Have You Even Seen the Rain,” pick it up again with “Fortunate Son,” and would just hit it out of the park with every hit on that cassette. Beautiful chords on one track, great big screams on the next.

Have you noticed bands like Journey and Alice in Chains lost their lead singers and were able to replace them with somebody who almost sounds like them, even if you can’t tell me their name? Yeah, that’s not the case with Creedence. God only made one John Fogerty.

Dad drove my brother and I down to cut some firewood recently, and was playing some CD with Cajun music. That’s the thing with dad – you really never know what he’s going to be listening to. (This actually reminded me of another one of his traveling music staples, “Louisiana Man.” Listen to this for a minute or two and tell me you aren’t a better person for it.)

Without even trying, Dad also introduced me to blues, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch of other stuff. Even though I didn’t always approve of dad’s musical selection on those road trips, it’s clear to me now he really does have great taste in everything from rock and roll to musicals like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

And you know what really makes so high on this list? He likes Joe Walsh … but not the Eagles. ‘Nuff said.

Next: 2-1