"Please allow me to introduce myself..." (The Rolling Stones)

Welcome family, friends, and, perhaps, unknown readers.


Some of you who know me as a technophobe will be shocked that this is even happening, so I hope you're sitting down while reading this!  However, I thought that my upcoming trip on the Monsters of Rock Cruise (the inaugural cruise, no less) was such an unique experience that I wanted to write about it and even share it, so my trusty tech support has helped me get all this set up and started (thanks, eh).  Here goes nothing...


I also felt an introduction of sorts was warranted, so I'd like to share a bit of background info with you.  I'll try to keep to the basic facts, but I'll warn you now this may get a little wordy/long.


This all started when I was in college and discovered a new band at the time:  Bon Jovi.  It was the late 80s, and the metal music of the day was becoming mainstream.  Now, some of you may take issue with the likes of Bon Jovi being considered "metal", and really, I call this sort of music "hard rock" -- I think it's more suitable.  Anyway, this opened my ears and eyes to other bands of the genre, such as Def Leppard, Whitesnake, The Scorpions, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Guns'n'Roses, etc., etc.  I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture.  This, in turn, led to a friendship with S., as we shared this common taste in music.  We went to lots of concerts together, the first being, I believe, Def Leppard in June of 1988 at the CNE Grandstand in support of their "Hysteria" album. (Awesome album, by the way.  Do you remember when you could buy an album and discover that you liked all of the songs on it?  That the whole album was good?  And, in my opinion, the CNE Grandstand remains the best place to see a concert.  A warm summer night, with the sights and sounds of the CNE drifting up to you in the stands mixing with the anticipation of the rockin' time about to start.  Mmmmmm!  The best!)  Anyway, we ended up going to about 25 concerts, in all.


The popularity of the hard rock music and its long-haired players in the late 80s spawned just a whole whack of local "garage bands" (cover bands for the most part), and the bars and clubs jumped on the bandwagon, so the local hard rock music scene was quite happening.  S. and I also frequented the bars and clubs to watch the local hair, uh, I mean talent.  From about the spring of '88 to the end of '93, we saw over 67 different bands, oftentimes more than once.  And we would even venture out beyond the local clubs to Niagara or Toronto.  Some of our regular haunts were (in no particular order):  Dallas, Dorsey's, Citylimits, Bannisters, and, of course, Rock'n'Roll Heaven in T.O. (a moment of silence, please, for the demise of Heaven...)  Naturally, we also had our favourite local bands.   Some of my fav's were (also in no particular order):  White Knuckle Flyer, Cheater, Renaissance, Kalamity Jane, T.O. Joker, 7th Veil, Lost Johnny, Scorcher, Ragadee Anne, Nasty Klass.  But topping my list were Emerald City (a Niagara area band, I believe, though we never did find out much about them -- not even their names), Harem Scarem, who went on to moderate success, and Tora Tora from Toronto.  (Steve "Tora", if you're out there, I hope life has been good to you, my friend.)


S. and I even made a pilgrimage out to L.A. in '94 to visit the clubs and see the bands of the infamous Sunset Strip.  That was a great holiday.


Like everything, music is cyclical, and no sound remains popular forever.  The mid-90s brought in the Grunge sound, and the "hair bands" with their fun, upbeat, good-time, easy to sing-along-to and dance-to music fell out of favour.  I was sad to see it all go, I loved the sounds (and sights!) of that music.  Now, some of the better bands did survive and managed to carve a long-term career out of music (Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, to name but two), but most faded into oblivion.  And, like everything, nostalgia is a powerful tool that can resurrect the strangest things (leg warmers, for example -- I mean, really?).  Hence the recent (and somewhat bizarre, I admit) phenomenon of rock cruises.  I guess us children of the 80s are now middle aged (gulp!), and are a prime target for this sort of thing.  And it looks like we are, judging by the fact that between October of 2011 and March of 2012, there have been 4 rock-themed cruises out of Florida alone.  The two from last fall have already announced cruises for this fall, and I hear that the Monsters of Rock cruise is making plans for next year's too.


As for the nostalgia thing, I have recently re-discovered all that music that I enjoyed, and find that I do still love it.  (Although my tolerance for Axl Rose's caterwauling has decreased significantly...)  So, when I saw the Monsters of Rock cruise with the likes of Cinderella, Stryper, Helix, Kix, Keel, Black'n'Blue, and many others, I thought, "That's cool.  That sounds like a cruise right up my alley!"  Surprisingly, it didn't take much to convince my husband to join me, (although I suspect he thinks I need a chaperone for such an event...), but I will admit I threw in some scuba diving to get him "onboard" (pun intended).


And now we're just 12 days away from a vacation (exciting), my first trip to Florida (also exciting), our first cruise (exciting!), and a rock'n'roll concert event like I have never experienced (very exciting!!).  Needless to say, I am super-excited about this one!  


On that note, I guess I've blathered on long enough, so I'll wrap things up.  But I want to invite you to share your memories with me of the heyday of the "hair bands" of the '80s:  what was your first hard rock/heavy metal concert?  (Def Leppard, June 1988)  What was your most recent?  (Whitesnake, August 2011)  What one was your favourite/most memorable?  (Motley Crue at a club! in Oklahoma City, August 1994)


I promise that the next few posts will be considerably shorter, but I'm not making any guarantees for the posts I write during the cruise!