“I’ve been buying records since I was about eight. For those of you keeping score, that was a while ago.”
“Bands like XTC, The Clash, and The Pretenders were my early favorites and the Beatles and Stones, of course. I would always fish through my dad’s change box he kept on top of the dresser and hopefully there would be enough to buy a 45 (7”). My friends would spend their loot on video games and pinball. Then in 1980 when Pink Floyd’s The Wall came out, I was all over that. It was early days of owning whole albums. “How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?” Permanently etched.
Then there were the KISS albums I used to have to hide under my bed. My dad being raised VERY catholic thought the whole rock ‘n’ roll thing was devil’s music. KISS was believed to stand for Knight’s in Satan’s Service. Hilarious, right? My mom didn’t approve so much either but didn’t have the same hate-on for rock music because she liked Rod Stewart a bit…anyway…
Then came Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and the Ozzy solo albums. That really set me on a path of heavy metal and the mild obsession buying records. Motley Crue, led to Ratt, led to Dokken and Twisted Sister. But on the other side I loved Venom, Slayer, Razor, Metallica, Anthrax, Celtic Frost, and all the heavier bands. I also bought a lot of shitty metal records which I would try to convince myself were good ones but let’s face it, Agent Steel, Omen, and Grim Reaper were not good bands.
I’ve gone through so many different phases of music and aside from buying CDs between 1991-96 and the odd cassette, I have been and still am a vinyl guy through and through. I don’t spend hours in the record shops like I once did, but they are places where I am comfortable. I have a little something from—I won’t say every genre of music—but I do have a lot.
My obsession has not drifted into unhealthy territory. Bills get paid on time, dogs get fed, plants get watered, and I go to parties whenever I’m invited. Some of those parties I’m the DJ.”
—Brendan Canning
Brendan Canning’s solo album, Home Wrecking Years arrives in stores Friday, August 12th via Arts and Crafts.
