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Post by takeinthestray on Sept 22, 2012 7:35:32 GMT -5
September 22, 2012
Happy Birthday Blind Melon (the album)!!!!
Hey Everyone,
Today is the day, the twentieth anniversary of one of the greatest albums ever.
No long spiels from me this time (and believe me I could go on and on), only that I heard this album on its release date, fell for it 3 months later, and I'm still in love...
Now I'm interested in hearing from all of you.
So think back twenty years or to whatever year you were lucky enough to hear Blind Melon for the first time, and if you're so inclined, share your thoughts, first impressions, etc.
If you're in a particularly chatty mood or you're bored or having a slow day at work, go on to talk about any significant life events into which the album played, it's personal impact on you, and how you feel about it today, all these later, or anything else that comes to mind.
Say as much or as little as you like, I just want to have something to read when I get home from hiking.
Depending on how this goes, maybe I'll weigh in later, but for now the floor is yours......
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Post by melonhead1784 on Sept 22, 2012 13:41:17 GMT -5
Fall of 2000. Unfortunately since I lived a sheltered life without MTV I did not catch the No Rain video until the Fall of 2000! It immediately stuck with me and I went hope and checked out the band. I was saddened to see that Shannon had passed away 5 years earlier. From there I started with Classic Masters and Change quickly grew to be my favorite song. After that I bought the albums in order of release. While Blind Melon seems to have the best songs, Soup is by far my favorite album. I think because it is so dark yet it is very motivating for me.
Years went by and I turned many people on to their music including an ex-girlfriend who attended 5 shows when they reunited with Travis T. Warren. I must say I was blown away with the reformation and For My Friends holds a special spot in my heart. I have seen them live 6 times including the unforgettable show at St. Andrew's Hall in 2008. I have met all of the surviving members and attended the vigil in 2008 and also drove the Galaxie owned by Mario (awesome experience)! Can't wait to get back to the Vigil next year.
I hope to see the band continue on and make new music. I miss Shannon and constantly think of what could have been. He had an amazing voice and certain stage presence that really sucked people in. The Woodstock performance is by far one of the most memorable.
Lol wow I am completely rambling on. Anyway, can't believe it has been 12 years since my intro to Blind Melon and 20 since the album release. Favorite songs from the album are Change, Soak the Sin, Sleepyhouse and Time.
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Brother Crowe
The Pusher
"My name is Otto... and I like to get blotto!"
Posts: 53
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Post by Brother Crowe on Sept 25, 2012 10:10:18 GMT -5
This was such an incredible time for me! In 1992, I was a sophomore at Harrisburg Area Community College located in central Pennsylvania. (I grew up listening to Kiss in grade school and was a total metal head in high school.) The Seattle Scene exploded the year before which CHANGED EVERYTHING! Plus, throw in all the Dead/Dylan/The Band exposure that comes along with being in college and my eyes had been opened and my mind exploded! What an incredible time for rock music! I was taking an illustration class and one of my classmates was an exuberant older lady named Alba. She was kind and fun-loving and we would chat as we sat beside each other drawing. As we got to know one another better she told me that her son Christopher's band was getting ready to release their debut album and she beamed with pride as she talked about him. I was very interested as I was familiar with Shannon Hoon because of his contributions to the GNR albums the year before, so I greatly anticipated the release of Blind Melon! I got the album the day it came out (at the record store... no iTunes existed!) and listened to it on my new CD component system as I had just upgraded from cassettes. I was instantly hooked... the guitars, the drums, the lyrics, the VOICE, the vibes. INCREDIBLE! I raved to Alba the next day and we had many conversations over the next few weeks about the band. She would give me updates (no internet yet!) on how Christopher was doing and what the band was up to. Then... she did the most incredible thing! Later that fall, she came into class one day and told me how excited she was to finally be able to see the band live as they were coming nearby to Baltimore. She then totally floored me as she said that she asked Christopher to put me and a friend on the guest list!!!!! Soooo, my friend and I jumped in my Chevette and cruised down to Fells Point to a club called Max's on Broadway. We encountered problem number one when we got a flat tire an hour into the trip, but continuing down the interstate another 50 miles on a donut was not gonna stop us! Problem number two was bigger... they were not going to let us in the bar as were both 19 at the time. I couldn't believe it! This was the pre-cell phone era, so we dejectedly milled around the cobblestone streets for an hour or so until we finally saw Alba, Christopher, and Thorn clan approach. After introductions were made, we told Christopher about what happened and how bummed we were to not be able to see the band, etc. He listened intently and after a minute told us not to worry about it that he'd figure something out. As we waited outside a roadie names "Wookie" came out and told us to go in the alley behind the bar and he'd let us in. BINGO! WE WERE GONNA GET IN! So, we hurried around back and jumped inside when the backdoor opened. We were whisked upstairs and there they were... BLIND MELON. The band was just hanging out and you could sense the nervous calm they had while waiting to take the stage. Everyone was low-key and polite as Christopher introduced us to everyone except Shannon who was in a corner on a stool playing acoustic and quietly singing... you could tell he was getting in the zone and everyone just gave him a little space. Everyone in the band THANKED US for coming as we stood in the crowded room and chatted. I also particularly remember how engaging Brad was as we told him our flat tire story and the ensuing drama of originally being denied entry to the club. We thanked Christopher PROFUSELY for getting us in and he laughingly warned us to just not try to buy any beer when we went back downstairs. The bar was packed. A cool band from Texas called Flowerhead rocked out and got everyone pumped up beforehand. Now remember, this was before No Rain had broken the band big-time so Blind Melon was not nationally renowned yet. However, the bar was PACKED and the crowd was very pumped! The band came out and everyone went nuts! The stage was no more than a foot off the ground, so we were practically eye level with the band. There was also no barricade or distance between crowd and audience, so it was one of the most intimate concert experiences I've ever had. Shannon was... well Shannon and the band was tiiight! That place was ELECTRIC! I never wanted to leave afterwards and we hung around as long as possible. We knew what a special experience this had been and didn't want the euphoria to end. I will forever be thankful to Alba and Christopher... and will forever be a Blind Melon fan. Not just for this experience, but also because of the way their music has ALWAYS touched my soul. No one was more amped then I was when the band came together again! (I had the pleasure of seeing Christopher after a reunited Blind Melon show in Lancaster in 2007 and thanked him again!) 20 years? Feels like yesterday.
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Post by JJJENNNNN on Sept 25, 2012 23:11:24 GMT -5
@ Brother Crowe: ^ THAT is about the coolest story ever. And I know Max’s!!! I live up here in Canada, but go down to Baltimore every year to meet up with friends from across the US that I do a podcast with. We stay in Fell’s Point and do like a pub crawl, hitting a bunch of bars there, including Max’s — that place is great; huge beer list! I don’t have a cool story like that. I have no idea what I was doing on Sept. 22 /92 besides I guess I was at school (Grade 5) cause it would’ve been a Tuesday. Couldn’t tell you who I was into at the time either — might’ve still been Kris Kross, or maybe I was over them by then, ha! oh, and I remember being obsessed with the movie Robin Hood in Grade 5, so I guess I was rocking Bryan Adams’s (Everything I Do) I Do It for You (as a good Canadian should)! Anyway, the 1 st I heard Blind Melon was the No Rain video about 8 months later. I was glued to MuchMusic back then and loved singing along, but wasn’t yet inspired to buy the Cd (didn’t begin my 1 st round of Columbia House until somewhere towards the end of Grade 6). Soup’s release was when I thoroughly fell in love. I loved Galaxie — My favourites alternate all the time, but always come back to Galaxie, the one that got me hooked. Happy Birthday, Blind Melon!!!! I was celebrating in style with many other melonheads at the Vigil. I can’t imagine a world without these songs.
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