When I was… Brian Gorman of Tartufi
Brian Gorman from Tartufi clues us in on his record collection at age 11.
I was eleven years old in 1985, in Troy, New York; where all the kids were into Iron Maiden and Metallica. I learned about bands mostly from my older brother, Scott, but also from the constant buzz of radios and TVs on in our home. MTV was on constantly.
Van Halen – 1984 – This album was like a sex ed class before I knew what sex was. “Why are they easing the seats back and reaching between their legs?”
Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi – This was my first taste of what became sort of an embarrassing obsession. Two years later I went to the Bon Jovi / Cinderella show and screamed so loud I lost my voice. The next day in shop class I got in a fight because a kid called me a pussy for going to the show.
Quiet Riot – Metal Health – I listened to this album over and over and over while reading a book called, “The Electric Book”- a freaky story about a kid with a magic typewriter. To this day if I hear a QR song every detail of that story comes back to me.
Chuck Mangione – Feels So Good – When I was 11 this was, without a doubt the song of songs. I think it was the first song I had heard with a trumpet leading the band.
Fleetwood Mac — I never actually owned a FM album because Stevie Nicks scared the shit out of me, but anytime they were on the radio or TV I listened closely to hear what the witch would say.
Billy Joel – Stormfront – Billy Joel is NY; at least he was 20 years ago. Loved the tom hits on “Downeaster Alexa”. My brother Scott and I got tickets for this show in Syracuse (about three hours away) which we had to take a bus to. While we were at the show it started snowing and didn’t stop for two days. We were on our own at 11 and 13 years old, snowbound at a motel, eating vending machine food and watching cartoons all day. It was fucking awesome. Thanks Billy Joel.
Aerosmith – Greatest Hits (1980) I thought these guys were all dead and that this was music you would make in hell — which made them seem that much cooler to me.
Eddie Murphy – Comedian – Ok so it’s not music, though who wasn’t blown away by “Party All the Time” a few years later, but I listened to this album over an over again, at full volume while I played in my backyard and helped all the neighborhood kids learn how to swear correctly.
Def Leppard – Pyromania – This was the biggest album ever or so I thought after going to the state fair and seeing Def Leppard on every shirt, bandana, bag, patch, and pin.
