Writing Tunes Under the Influence
A lifelong journey into the unknown — and unheard
Everyone Blames Beatlemania
I do too, damnit. It changed my life. Or ruined my life. Or something. I was just shy of seven when the Beatles freaked out 73 million people — me included — on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 and kicked off a musical revolution that upended 60’s popular culture and triggered a tsunami of look-alike, sound-alike, be-alike bands.
It was electrifying and exhausting at the same time. Bands came and went. Many sucked. Many hit a groove that defined new rock subgenres and permutations that persist today. Like just about every Boomer living through the anticipation and exhilaration of every monumental new Beatle release, deep in my protoplasmic seven-year-old brain, I knew I had to make this Sixties scene somehow work for me.
That’s how I began a lifelong journey into the unknown — and unheard.
Into the Abyss
I wound up playing in bands (and until 1973 or so, I use that term very loosely) that haunted teen clubs, frat parties, bars and ultimately recording studios. Along the way, I wrote dozens of songs colored by the Beatles, their musical influences, and their musical descendants.
Every guitar lick I played — every scrap of lyric I cranked out — every vocal phrasing I yelped — all of it came about because of somebody’s influence. There are whispers of XTC and Cheap Trick; the yowl of Little Richard; riffs influenced by Todd, the Cure, Jeff Beck, the obscure garage-dwelling band the Nightcrawlers; wise-ass Sparks-like lyrics running through the tunes; all with a Beatle DNA overlay.
Between 1974 and 2004, I recorded these songs with long-time bandmates in professional studios, including the long-storied Agency Recording Studios in Cleveland, Ohio — which famously burned to cinders along with the legendary Agora Ballroom, which was downstairs.
Of course, no one has heard any of these songs with the notable exception of family and friends who bit their lips and listened on a forced march.
Still, when I point out where I got the inspiration for this guitar lick or that lyric, eyebrows head north, a la Eugene Levy. So, I’m doing a tell-all on my song catalog. I’ll unravel the back story of these unheard tunes, the context in which they were recorded and the people who helped make them happen.
How did the Beatles and the subsequent musical evolution they sparked inexorably alter the musical DNA of a schlub from a working-class blue collar Cleveland suburb? Well, I may not be able to sell off my music catalog for ridiculous cash ransoms like Springsteen, Bowie and their rarefied ilk, but I can save a ton of therapist fees explaining to you (and really, to myself) what I did, why I did it, and how in God’s name I came up with these cockamamie tunes.
I’ll post a tune and tell-all every week-ish.
NEXT TIME: It’s my track “Little Stars.” Here’s a preview!