Old School

I recently discovered a blog created by a guy named Nate (www.truepunkmetal.blogspot.com). On his blog he posts some amazing downloads of extremely difficult, and almost impossible, to find '80s era punk and metal. He is a wealth of information and grew up in and around the same type of environment I did - an environment of metalheads, punkers and jocks.

Back then there was a small group of us from Loveland, Colo., who were not into

what everyone else was into at the time, musically or socially - especially the jocks (before Metallica was cool to them) and preppie types. We chose to be outcasts, listening to and looking like the people we related to - the other outcasts and pissed off teenagers in America. We grew our hair long, we wore leather and denim jackets with drawings of our favorite bands on them, bands like Slayer, Cryptic Slaughter, Dark Angel, Circle Jerks and D.R.I. We went to shows, many times for free, to see bands who played with conviction. Although sometimes the music wasn't the most technical or talented, it was pure - unlike much of the nonsense played on popular radio and television shows.

- Attitude Adjustment ... mid-'80s -

I see a new generation of kids who look like we did back then, sporting Slayer patches and looking "hesher," and I kind of feel for them. Not because I have that "back in mmyyyyy day" mentality, but because it was more fresh then. Seeing Slayer at sixteen years old, shortly after the band released "Reign In Blood," was like a badge of honor. It was both frightening and life changing. Watching bands like Slayer perform now is different; not any worse per se, just different. It doesn't feel as "fresh." And how can it be when Tom Araya has gone gray and Kerry King has long lost his hair and gained extra weight. But hey, as long as there are still kids out there on the fringes, listening to and creating the next generation of "underground" music, things still seem to be ok. Now where did I put those Depends?