Musical Interests and Collective Soul
I owe my love and fascination with music to three bands, Collective Soul, Better Than Ezra and Train. But truly a concert back in the summer of 1999 was really what cemented my love of music.
If you have not heard of the band Collective Soul, where were you in the 90's? They had hits like 'Shine', 'Simple', 'The World I Know' and 'December' which surely everyone has heard once if not multiple times. All of these songs were on my "must listen to" list at the time (AKA my personal mix tape).
Fast forward to 1999 and their new album Dosage and the first single 'Heavy'. Another one of those songs that immediately went onto my 'lastest favorites' list and what had evolved to my mix CD.
In 1999 there was a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama simply known as The X. It was 107.7 WRAX or The X. A great radio station that had a history of great music. In the 90's this station and the Birmingham area introduced the masses to many bands that went big, those bands remember and thank The X and Birmingham for bringing them to the forefront of music.
A friend and I get tickets to a music 'festival' of sorts on the southern side of Birmingham at Oak Mountain Amphitheater called 'X Fest'. Many bands played there but the three that stood out the most was Marvelous 3, My Friend Steve, Train and obviously Collective Soul.
My friend and I arrive and listen to some of the bands like My Friend Steve comes on and plays the song I know most by them 'All In All' and Marvelous 3 with their hit at time 'Freak of the Week'.
Around this time Train was getting lots of airtime in Birmingham with their song 'Meet Virginia' which had been playing for months but was only just now catching on nationally. So they were the last band on before the headliner Collective Soul. They were playing all of their songs from the album and I remember being enthralled by their music and Pat Monahan's bongo solo.
They ended their set and the stage was reset for CS to come on. I don't remember the set list or order of songs, but I remember being awed so much by their performance and the finale of 'Heavy' that I decided to that, even if I never become a music star or anything like that, I still want to learn to play.
So you can really say that concert by Collective Soul back in 1999 was what set me on my path to learn and play music. To this day, Collective Soul and Better Than Ezra continue to inspire my interest in music.
Here are some links that might interest you:
Labels: 107.7 The X, Better Than Ezra, Collective Soul, Marvelous 3, Music, My Friend Steve, Train, WRAX
posted by Brian Wright at 11:43 AM
2 Comments:
It's so funny you say if you didn't hear them in the 90s "where were you." Funny thing, I heard them, but didn't really know it was them (so lousy too often at not connecting names with the artists.) I certainly missed out, and am now becoming acquainted, and they are pretty darn awesome! Love to meet new people, esp fans of Collective Soul, so if you are on Twitter, please drop by @JoLoPe and say hey, and/or visit me at worldofperspective.com -Elizabeth
I was there at that show. I had always been a fan of Collective Soul and had just seen them for the first time at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis a few weeks earlier. It was the first time I had seen or even heard of Train. I was blown away. They were fantastic. I still have their CD I bought at that show. I remember when Collective Soul played "Run" and it was just Ed Roland and the guitar and it built up to the rest of the band. Chill bumps! It was a hell of a show at a fantastic venue and I was proud to have been a part of it!
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