How I Discovered Rock and Roll At The Least Likely Location

This entry began as another "Out of The Vaults with a Twist" where I randomly take one of my wife's CDs and write about it. The disc picked was Genesis's 1983 self titled album, an album I actually had a copy of a long time ago. When I sat down to write about the Genesis album I remembered where I had gotten my copy from. It was probably the last place you would ever guess.

MTV and the local WHFS Radio station taught me about new wave and alternative music. Dubbed tapes friends stole from their older brothers taught us about punk rock and metal. Before all that would happen, somplace  schooled me on Rock and Roll: The Library. Of all the places I could have learned about the music which would soon be blasting through speakers and headphones, it was the one place in the world where you are supposed to be the most quiet. Even at a young age I was amused by the irony.

For some reason the Howard County Library had a very thorough selection of Rock and Roll records. There was a whole wall full of them. All fitted nicely in new car smelling plastic cases. From around age ten to about fifteen years old I took hundreds of records home with me. It was here where I first listened to Squeeze's East Side Story, NRBQ's At Yankee Stadium, Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy, Cheap Trick's Dream Police, every single album by KISS and of course the previous mentioned Genesis album were just a few of them. 

There was a three album limit when it came to checking out records. To be able to take home the most music possible  I tried to mix in a double album like The Who's Tommy, Bruce Springsteen's The River or Electric Light Orchestra's Out Of The Blue. I was particularly proud of myself when one visit I was able to work The Clash's triple album Sandinista into the three the Library allowed me to check out.

Every time we returned home the records would be placed right on my father's stereo system to be listened to and possibly recorded. It still amazes me over all those years only one or two had a scratch.

But of course they were not all winners. I remember Roger Daltrey's solo Under A Raging Moon almost made me pass on ever hearing The Who. On Supertramp's Breakfast In America I only lasted  four songs in before picking up the needle

In a few cases I would accidentally record on the tape Side 2 before Side 1. Some of those albums I would not even realize the error until many years later when the CD was purchased. The Replacements album Tim to this day sounds awkward to me when listened to in  it's correct order.

My father was a teacher. He was off work for the summers so to avoid cabin fever but still be able to stay in the air conditioning we went to the library at least three times a week. It was during these summers when I first listened to  The Kinks's Low-Budget, Nick Lowe's Labor of Lust, Talking Heads Fear of Music and so many more.Sometimes for change of scenery we would take a trip to the neighboring town Laurel's library. This always meant a whole new set of records to check out. Here is where I would discovered Blondie's Paraell Lines, David Bowie's Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Cars's Candy-O. I have this distinct memory of sitting there trying to decide between taking out Phill Collins's solo debut Face Value or it's follow up Hello, I Must Be Going.

Don't get me wrong. I did check out books too. Do you think my father would keep taking me there if all lhe saw was records in my arms?

As I grew older I now had enough money to buy records. Plus my tastes in music was becoming a little too edgy for the Library's collection. Soon the number of albums I checked out became smaller and smaller as my personal collection gew larger and larger.

A few years ago I went to the Howard County library to check out a book and found the record section had been taken out long ago. The wall now taken up by DVDs. Still when a song like Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" or Phill Collins's "In The Air Tonight" or Blondie's "One Way or Another" comes on the radio I remember perfectly those Summer days spent discovering rock and roll. Sometimes I can almost  smell the plastic.