Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Confessions of Guilt from Dan Graves - Instalment #17

I wanted to be the lead guitarist for New Kids On The Block.  Yeah...I could just stop right there - who needs to elaborate on that anyway?

I do.

Firstly, my whole life I've been a terrible judge of longevity and sustainability.  I thought these guys were going to be around forever....for EVER.  I wasn't a closet NKOTB rocker...I actually listened to some pretty cool music (I don't know anyone else my age who bought Licensed to Ill when it first came out).  However, I did have the tapes and knew them pretty well.  When I started playing, I didn't have much to go on since I was fond of the rapping, so I turned to the only music I had on hand then that had guitars.  After I mastered Angel Eyes by Jeff Healey, I set my sights on what little guitar there was on the New Kids album.  Cover Girl was the big one...had a one fingered solo that I quickly mastered and would play on repeat to really nail it.  I could be that guy I said...I'd figured it out...which one of them plays guitar?  I could totally replace him!

No one did...dreams shattered, heart broken, tape went into storage.  Sadness ensues.

Sad and bored, I started flipping through my guitar magazines and asking around for tapes that were mentioned in the magazines.  My world exploded.  Like a flurry of spandex clad super heroes coming to my rescue, real life spandex clad guitar gods showed me the path to ultimate enlightenment.  Climbing my way through hair spray and leather tassels, I heard what incredible really sounded like.  So thank you New Kids...thank you.

Coincidentally, my high school band, The Boss Hogs, played a rendition of "Hanging Tough" at the school assembly in December of '93 if I'm not mistaken.  For a span of about 15 minutes, we were revered as rock and roll legends.  Ironically enough though, for my brief stint as rock and roll infamy, I was not the lead guitarist...I played bass.

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