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Fellow Townspeople, please join me in congratulating Townsman Rick Massimo on his marriage, two days ago, to a perfectly wonderful, kind, sweet, intelligent woman. He’s lounging in the sun on the West coast of Australia right now (that’s where his wife is from), so I have my doubts he’ll be checking in on goings-on in the Hall, but…

Well, here’s the deal: like children’s music, most contemporary music selected to be played as part of a wedding service really, really sucks. I mean, really — how many times can you hear “Love” by John Lennon without realizing it’s a teeth-shatteringly saccharine greeting card of a song? I say: once! So, fellow lovers of love, I challenge you: here’s your chance to insert a song of your choice into the wedding ceremony for Townsman Rick, right after the preacher’s cautionary, hopeful message and before the vows are taken. Make sure it doesn’t suck!

HVB

Townspeople,

This is your Rock Town Hall!

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Townman BigSteve‘s recent re-telling of the 1971 Stooges–MC5 show he attended before he had any idea of the significance of the event he was witnessing made me wonder if I ever saw a band live before being able to comprehend the majesty of a seminal band that I would not comprehend until a few years later.

And some of you have heard me tell this story before, but I actually saw the Stooges and the MC5 play on the same bill one night in 70 or 71, something like that. I might brag about it, especially to impress some young punk rocker, but I would never go so far as to claim I understood what I saw. The music I had grown up on did not prepare me for that night’s spectacle. – BigSteve

I believe the answer is No, I don’t think I ever had an experience like the one BigSteve describes. My band opened for some eventually successful bands that were early into their development, but 23 years later would anyone call Flaming Lips or Goo Goo Dolls seminal? OK, there’s a younger generation that may find the Lips seminal, but they would not arrive at their seminal sound until a few years later. It’s not the same as what BigSteve saw yet did not appreciate, and it’s different than seeing a big band and simply not liking them, right?

Like BigSteve, did you ever see a previously unknown (to you) band in its prime that, a few years later, made you wish you knew then what you know now?