I Like Story Songs

I remember my parents listening to country when I was a little kid. That was the first time I heard Johnny Cash. I remember Charlie Daniels’ “Devil Went Down to Georgia” and thinking the “done told you once you son of a bitch” line was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. Same went for “I’m the son of a BEEP that named you Sue” in Cash’s “Boy Named Sue.” I also remember Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It,” and Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler.”

I think this music, at that formative time in my tastes had a huge influence on me. I’ve always loved a song that tells a good story and I think that’s where it came from.

Image courtesy of Morguefile.com


The first band I really got into and the first cassette I ever owned was Kiss “Double Platinum” which I wore out on my cheesy portable tape recorder. This was a birthday gift for what was probably my 6th or 7th birthday. I’ve since replaced the album on vinyl and CD.

The Village People’s “Macho Man” soon followed the Kiss record. I was 6 and disco was in.

To be honest the first album I ever bought with my own money was not AC/DC’s “Back in Black” like I always say, though that WAS technically the first LP record I bought. The first album I bought was a Kenny Rogers cassette. I had seen him on TV and heard him play “The Gambler” and ran out and bought the first tape of his I could find. “The Gambler” wasn’t on there but there were some other overproduced and over orchestrated songs that fit the same mold.

From there, I remember some other tapes like Queen’s “The Game” ONLY at the time for “Another One Bites the Dust.” My Dad was in the Army and we were living in Germany. A friend’s older sister made me some cassettes to listen too soon after, not sure why. Maybe she recognized a burgeoning interest in music she could corrupt. She made me tapes of Journey’s “Escape” and “Frontiers.” She made me a tape of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Fire of Unknown Origin,” which is still one of my favorite albums to this day.

She also is probably most responsible for getting me into hard rock and heavy metal at the tender age of about 10 by introducing me to a little band called AC/DC. She made me a cassette that contained bits and pieces of the “Dirty Deeds” and “For Those About to Rock” albums. I was blown away.

From there another friend’s older brother let us listen to his Iron Maiden and Scorpions albums.

About this time we moved back to the US, and I bought my first vinyl record, AC/DC’s “Back in Black.” I had an old beaten down stereo and turntable that had belonged to the girl who made me the original AC/DC cassettes. Voltage is different in Europe than in the US. To use electronic items of different voltage you need to get some kind of converter. I never did and played AC/DC at a much higher voltage, no pun intended. I don’t know if voltage is the proper explanation but “Back in Black” played about two times faster than it was supposed to and sounded two times as heavy and two times as evil to me! I listen to it now and though it’s one of the great rock albums of all time, at normal speed it sounds slow to me!
Then the 80’s arrived. I became aware of radio and a little channel called MTV. At the time, it was British new wave bands that were making videos. New wave became my next real obsession. The first new wave band I got into was Men At Work, then Duran Duran.

Around that time, we moved down to San Diego and I discovered a radio station called 91X that opened whole new musical doors for me. They played the new wave I liked but also hipper bands like Depeche Mode, The Smiths, The Cure, New Order, The Police, U2 and many more. Those were my mainstays through most of high school.

Heavy metal was also huge in the early 80’s and I got back into bands like Iron Maiden, and discovered other metal artists like Judas Priest, Dio and Metallica.

I listened to new wave and metal for a while.

I think the first punk band I heard was FEAR. A friend loaned me the “More Beer” record and I think I liked it because it was fast and funny.

Then I met Scott Halliday. He said “if you like that, listen to this” and loaned me two cassettes. The first was an Agnostic Front album; the second was the Dead Kennedy’s “In God We Trust Inc.” Up to that time that was the hardest, fastest, coolest 20 minutes of music I had heard. I got to a point where I would listen to it every night on my walkman before I went to sleep.

It was during this period when I became a music slob and elitist. If it wasn’t cool, I wouldn’t even give it a chance. Country wasn’t cool, and was music parents listened to.

I stuck with punk and alternative for years. I slowly grew up and acquired more varied musical tastes and a broader appreciation for music. I think the same thing happened to many of the punk artists I listened to.

Scott also introduced me to a Socal band called Social Distortion. Their first album “Mommy’s Little Monster” is a punk masterpiece and classic. From there, starting on their second album “Prison Bound” they took an interesting turn as a band. They were still heavy but leaned toward a rockabilly look and sound, blending country blues and rock variations. I don’t know what it was but I was hooked on the look and the sound.

I got into a number of bands that popped up as part of the same genre including the Reverend Horton Heat, Supersuckers, Cramps and even Stray Cats.

These guys appreciated their influences and the fine line between rock and roll and country. They paid homage to guys like Cash and Presley and Perkins and Cochran. Even guys like Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Haggard and Jennings got nods. This helped open my mind to the older influences that inspired the bands I was into. I noticed a similar edge and similar dark themes that in their time and context were just as punk rock as the punks of the 80’s.

I began to appreciate the very fine line between rockabilly and country, perhaps best illustrated by my Dad when we were talking about rockabilly soon after I got into it and he said “rockabilly is a term used by people who are too scared to say they like country.” I argued with him at the time, but now I can see his point.

I got into Presley, Perkins, Lewis, and Cash, discovered Hank Williams and Willie Nelson, George Jones, Johnny Horton and Marty Robbins. I’m still learning and discovering Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, and Patsy Cline. I’ve recently gotten into Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. I’m working on Hank Williams Jr.

I think I’ve developed an appreciation for the music, it’s influence and its unique American nature. I see all the things I loved about punk rock and alternative. Country is often very sad dark music.

I think what I like most of all is that the songs tell stories. I love story songs.

What story songs do you like?