Begin The Begin!

Every blog has to have a first post, so here is mine. I suppose there are a few things I want say here...like maybe a little about myself, what this is all about, maybe a little about what I've done in the past and what I hope to accomplish in the future. And of course, what you can expect to find here moving forward.

So, first things first...a little bit about me. I in my mid-40's, and was lucky enough to have grown up in a time and place of one of the great music scenes, northeast Ohio in the late 70's, early 80's. the music that came out of that area is still some of my favorite, and I am still discovering great music from that era. I purposely followed my idols to the Kent State art school (I promptly dropped out too. That's another story for a different day!). In high school, I was into mostly new wave, punk and post punk. Most of my friends, well, they weren't. I hung out with metal heads who listened to people like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and then later the hair bands of the late 80's. Needless to say, you will NOT find much of that stuff here!

One of the great things about Kent State was the college radio, and all the bands they played there. What college radio was playing there was pretty much an extension of what I was listening to in high school anyway, so all the underground and left of the dial stuff became my mainstays. I still listen to that stuff to this day.

In 1986, I left Ohio, and went into the Navy, where I was exposed to an even wider range of music...blues, soul, lots of 60's stuff, and toward the end of the 80's, stuff from the Seattle area, that a few years later would become grunge. I was on an aircraft carrier, and one of out squadrons was from Washington state, an brought all this great local music with them.

In the 90's, it was all about the grunge, alternative, and post-grunge. I lived in Chicago, another great music scene. I listened to the Pumpkins and Veruca Salt and other local bands long before the rest of the country heard em. It was a great time and place for music.

Then about 2001 or so, I kind of stopped listening to the radio...my career was taking off, radio sucked (still does for the most part!), music was stale and dominated by kiddie bands and people like Brittney Spears. I just could not stand it, and stopped looking for music.

A few years back, I started a music blog, and ran it for awhile. It was mildly successful...at the height of it, I had 40,000 visitors a month. It was a lot of fun, but again, my career hit another gear, and I got so busy I had to give it up. But now, I'm back, and better than ever.

This blog, like my last, is all about great music. Music that the radios never, or rarely, play. Thus the name, Radio Free Radio. Lots of 80's underground, punk, post-punk, new wave, 90's alternative, some newer stuff from the past 10 years. If it's good, I'll post it.

I'll try to post 5 songs a day, along with the links to download them from. There's a player there, so you can listen to them to see if you like it...have a listen, you may just discover a band you love.

I'll write about what I know...life, my job, my travels, my past. And music. I'm not going to pretend I have great insights on bands. I won't tell you about the meaning of songs, or anything like that. Just music, and how it relates to my life. Believe me, my life is anything other than boring, so at the least, you'll be entertained along with your music!

So, stick around, leave a comment or two. If there is something you'd like to hear, let me know. Now, grab them headphones, and let go!

Swervedriver - Flawed
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey
Cocteau Twins - Fotzepolitic
Lush - For Love
Garbage - Not My Idea