music: pop stars

When I was a kid, I heard my parents talking about Madonna as a bad influence, coz kids would want to be like her if they saw her or listen to her music. Everytime she appeared on the telly or sang on the radio I ran away, afraid to someday start to wear ladies underpants and act like a woman.

I was born the same year Elvis died. When I was about seven or eight I read on the front of a magazine "The Day Elvis Died" and only then did I realize he was dead!

I was watching Ed Sullivan one night, waiting for an appearance from Elvis Presley. For whatever reason, he was unable to make it and they substituted Roy Orbison. At my young unassuming age I believed that it was Elvis and that he was blind.

I used to believe that, when a name appeared on a record, that person was responsible for every sound on it (of course, that would be true for Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Prince, not to mention sometimes Danielle Dax, but I digress...). Unlike Hasil Adkins, however, I did not try and play guitar and drums simultaneously as a result. I think I figured out there had to be some kind of trickery involved (though I still used to wonder how Joni Mitchell managed to sing two lines that overlapped in 'Big Yellow Taxi' - VOCAL overdubs never dawned on me...).

My babysitter told me that my Mom was once a famous singer named "Crystal". He also said her career was really taking off until I came along and ruined her voice by being born.

I lived with that guilt for years. The same guy convinced me that I was Jewish. This went on for years.

My uncle (my dad's twin brother) played the piano and had slightly graying hair... once I asked my dad who his friend was, and for a brief while I believed my uncle was Paul McCartney.

When I was about 8 (9 years ago), i used to think on 'stars in their eyes' that the impersonator went through the smoke and then, straight away, the real star would come out and sing.

It didn't even click when 'Elvis' performed.

And, until I was 14, I thought Led Zeppelin was just one person, like Van Morrison.

When the film 'Platoon' came out, I bought the soundtrack. I thought Smokey Robinson must be a woman because his/her voice was so high.

When Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of twon came on the radio I used to freak out because he talked about lying in bed next to Kate. I was only about 9 or 10. I used to get up real close to the speaker because I thought that the air being forced out with every beat was actually Bruce's breath.

I used to think that the term 'Prima Donna' was actually 'Pre-Madonna',
i.e. a singer who makes pop music in the style usual before Madonna
(cf. 'Pre-Raphaelite'.)

I use to think Joe Cocker was black.

I thought Marc Almond was a girl dressed as a man. From this point onwards I used to hide in the darkest room of the house to listen to the Top 40 every Sunday because I thought my mum would shout at me if she caught me listening to Soft Cell. It made the whole experience incredibly exhilarating and happily I still retain some of that excitement even today when I hear their stuff. He changed my life for ever at the age of 9! Cheers Marc!

I used to believe that at Grateful Dead shows the band would throw acid on the crowd. I had a student teacher in first grade that had told the class she just went to a Dead show and I asked her if she got splashed with acid. Of course, I was thinking about acid of the sulfuric kind, not the LSD kind.

I used to believe that the movie "KISS Meets The Phantom was real, and Gene Simmons & Co. had superPowers like super hearing and fire breath.

I used to think Neneh Cherry would fall in love with me and we would have great sex all the time !

I used to believe…

geddy lee is a woman