Ancient History

Sudden moment of Nostalgia; please forgive.
I was just thinking about the turning point to make me really like music.
My father, amoungst other things, is a bit of a musician,and my Mother, typical of preacher's wives, knew church choirs like other mothers know soap operas. So, I had exposure, but wasn't truly interested in music until much later. I was never really fond of rock and roll, in the seventies. Oh, sure, I got into Kiss, but that was much more a fashion thing than anything else; I thought they looked cool, more than I liked the music. Actually, I still cannot think of a Kiss song I really like. I much preferred Parliament/Funkadelic, and the O'Jays and Curtis Mayfield. I got into David Bowie because of the Young Americans Album, moreso than Ziggy Stardust. Around 1978-1979 that started to change as I started to hear what I called then "New Wave" music. Oh, like most kids, I got it wrong, at first- figuring bands like Australia's Angels, and Chicago's Cheap Trick to be real New Wave. But, then, in 1979 I heard what would become my first favorite record, and the gateway drug to the musical addiction I have now: The Clash. No, I didn't get into The Ramones or the Sex Pistols, like everybody else. The Clash was the big one for me. Of course, I went back and forth- I was still just a kid. So, I'd be listening to The Gap band with one set of friends, then, listen to Blondie with another. In late 1980, I finally got really turned on to what I liked, but didn't know it, yet: Punk Rock. I got invited to a punk Rock show, and found my tribe. Oh sure, I was never really accepted, and remain a poseur, even now, 30 years later; but the shows at the Vex, and the Fleetwood, and Fender's ballroom and Safari Sam's- that was the real connection. I knew from that what I liked, and who I wanted to be. Records were just a maintenance- a way of keeping that connection to those shows. Eventually, I could get into records on their own, but the real hook for me- the thing that the Clash had, was that electrical connection of real people, right there, making music out of thin air, right in front of your eyes. That's why I never got into Rock and Roll prior to Punk Rock- it all sounded like some Television show, assembled by many hands into some kind of production. Going to a Punk Rock show you could see it, feel it, hear it, and connect with it. I still liked Dance/Disco/RnB- and still do, but it's a totally different thing- it's a soundtrack, a foundation for the action on the dance floor, or the gym. It's not like the connection I still feel from raw, direct rock- whether you call that rock "punk" or "new wave" or "Stoner" or "Alternative".
It's all ancient history, now. I'm a middle class guy, settling into middle age. I'm a father of a college kid, for crying out loud. But every once in awhile, I remember that raw spark of my teenage entry into being the beat fanatic that I still most obviously am.