“I grew up on vinyl. My father, who was a musician and audiophile himself, was a major influence in my musical upbringing and the sounds of Elvis, early Beatles, Beach Boys, and Abba (yes, Abba) were the background vinyl soundtrack of my youth.”
“Ya’ know, when you’re younger and you’re forced to listen to your parents’ music, you think it’s cheesy and for old farts. And I of course was no different from any other kid and wanted to discover my own music. Which, I eventually did. But I must say, my father handed me down a gem, which opened Pandora’s box for me.
After a few spins of the hit single, “Brass In Pocket” he got tired of Chrissie Hynde and her boys and casually offered me The Pretenders’ first album.
I was intrigued. She looked tough, a little intimidating, and very different from the girls on my Dad’s Abba albums. I wanted to know more, but there was only the front and back shot, and she was wearing the same outfit in both. The album had limited artwork, and the inner sleeve had no lyrics. Well, I soon found out that the music and her red leather spoke for itself.
I laid the needle on to the first track and my world was truly blown and born at once. That beat, her snide and crackle. To be honest, I had no idea what she was singing about, but I knew I liked it…I liked it a lot.
And the way the mood just dramatically shifts on “Stop Your Sobbing” …beautiful. It’s something I always inspire to do when creating my own pieces of work. I feel that lately, in our current music climate, there is no time, space, or desire even for this kind of exploration on one album. It’s too bad too, because life is never really a one-style song. I mean, at least mine isn’t.
By the time I got to “Tattooed Love Boys,” I had my own private soundtrack for every jerk that crossed my path.
By the way, I am pretty sure my father never listened to any track beyond “Brass In Pocket.” Had he known his little girl was listening to lyrics like, “I shot my mouth off and you showed me what that hole was for…” Well, lets just say he had no idea what I was yet to become.”
—Starina
Starina’s going to Los Angeles to film a video for “This I Know,” a song from her debut full-length record The Snow Years, and you can assist in this endeavor via her Kickstarter.
