Broken Record: I bet my dad had their albums.
Literal Broken Record: They were probably thrown away in a move.
I Love the ’80s, Bruce!
VH1 was a frequently watched channel in my high school days. Now, this isn’t the VH1 we know today. Yes, it was more reality shows than music videos (even back then), but there were a few gems mixed in. One of those gems was a series called I Love the (Insert Decade).
This was a fun recap of the decade and started with the ’80s. Even though I don’t remember much of the 1980’s – from my perspective – I absolutely love that decade. I enjoyed the movies, I enjoyed the fads, and I enjoy nearly all of the music.
During this show, I remember a section devoted to the song “Don’t Let Me Down” by Electric Light Orchestra. I couldn’t find any video documentation (granted, I didn’t look very hard), but I believe there were a few of my favorite comedians commenting on the fact that they yell “Bruce” after the main chorus. This stuck with me and I am sure triggered a Limewire search and download.
Cutting Grass on a Hill
After discovering ELO, they found at least one song on every new CD I made. “Turn to Stone”, “Mr. Blue Sky”, and “Telephone Line” were instant favorites. Although Electric Light Orchestra stayed pretty low-key in my memory bank, I do remember cranking up some of their tunes in the mid-00’s.
I received my first MP3 player. My mom gave it to me. As I recall, I think someone sent it to her in the mail (in some odd scheme) and she just gave it to me. It held 80 songs – or so. My first use was a very hot day where I needed to cut the grass.
My house was not large and there wasn’t a ton of grass, but most of the grass was on a hillside. The hillside just so happened to be on a 70 degree slant. I didn’t have a weed-eater at the time, so I took this self-propelled (very heavy) lawn mower to task. I remember cranking out “Four Little Diamonds” as I balanced myself and cut grass.
