Hello to you. Enough of the welcome sh*t. Ok, are you ready? Really?
27 years ago, my mum pooped me out. Not my fault, my dad wanted some jiggy jiggy time with mum, and voila, there I was. When I grew up, you had MTV, but no other music channels. And obviously the radio. But the radio wasn't that important to me at that moment. It was my parents who made me listen to some artists/bands. I grew up with the sound of Queen, Abba, Barry White, etc. A lot of Motown music aswell. My dad used to listen to lame rock music, I'm not going to mention it here, it's embarrassing.
My mum is a big Queen fan. She went to their concert in Rotterdam, I think? Or somewhere else. She still has all the LPs. And she knows all the songs. Back in those days, LPs were the only thing for us. There are alot of picture's of me listening to an LP with a MASSIVE headphone on. It was cool, back in the 80s. We were a new generation, coming up. The music style changed, more rough and tougher. The music industry had realised that we wanted more, and harder.
My dad was a Techno fan. He bought "Turn up the Bass" cd's. Before you ask me, he was fan of a band called "the Sweet". Okay, enough embarrasment. Turn up the Bass. It was all new to me, I was still a tiny boy. And I was so proud of my first stereo they bought me. It had a radio, and cassette player. Wow! I was cool, all of a sudden. But jealous of all those people who had a CD player. I didn't have one. Not even a CD player (the one you carry around). I knew one friend of the family, who always bought CD's. His name is Dave. He was more into the harder stuff. I was still processing the 80s.
So one day I went to him, with a cassette, and asked him, if he could put some nice tunes on it. He just bought a new "House Party" CD, which he thought would be good for me. I was alright with that. I walked around with my cassette player and massive headphones, OMG I was cool. No one could disturb me, I was in my own world. I was hip! Supadupacool. Nice House tunes everyday. And every month (I think) they released a new compilation. So I went to Dave, and he did it several times. But one day he said "I've got House Party 8, and I don't know if I would put it on your cassette!" I was wondering, why wouldn't he? I has been good so far, have they changed it? And yes they did. It was a Hardcore CD. Hardcore? What's that? "Okay mate, put it on, if I don't like it, I will come back next week for other music."
I was on the bus, and I put the cassette in. Volume nearly to the max. And then.......... BOOM BOOM BOOM FUCK FUCK BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!!! I thought I broke my cassette player, this ain't music? What's this? The F- word? OMG. This is weird!!!! I tried turning the cassette around, see if the other side was the same. And it was, maybe even harder. Bugger. If this is Hardcore, it's shit! Or isn't it? Let's just listen to it. The bass is wicked........ Meh. Just give it a shot.
And I got addicted to it! I can still remember I was at school, and me and two other classmates had a presentation about Rave music, because back in the days, it was Hardcore or Rave. I couldn't define it like I can right now. We made the classroom listen to it. I don't know and don't think we got graded for it. Imagine that everybody was into Pop music, and not other styles. Maybe House, but that was the hardest they would go. And there were two plonkers, who listened to a Bass related style. Amazing.
More people got addicted to it, you could hear it back on the radio, or on television. It was booming business in NL. Everybody wanted a piece of it. You have to remind yourself, that there were people who wanted to listen to a certain style which didn't made them an individual. But back in the days, if you listened to it, you were. But the scene grew fast, and you became a gabber (pal). A gabber was a person who listened to Rave music. But not with the distinctive looks. They came later.
Mum forbid the music. It was devilish music, no good and descent person would listen to it! If she would find something related to it, she would destroy it! So, when the first cassettes came out (Thunderdome) I had to hide them in my closet. Because I knew that my mum wasn't talking bollocks! She would destroy them. More and more I got into it. But I was still listening to cassettes, not CDs. But that would change.
My first single was "James Brown is Dead" by L.A. Style. And my first compilation was "Yabba Dabba Dance volume 1". And one day, mum and dad bought me a CD player! Not a carriable one, one for my stereo set! OMG I was happy. I borrowed all my dads "Turn up the Bass" CDs and danced in my bedroom. To be honoust, I never gave them back, I still have them! Sorry dad.
Back in those days, my family was a member of a certain book store chain. You could buy books and CDs cheaper, but you needed to buy every month. So once a month we went to that store, and every month they sold shit. But then my eyes were pleasured: "Mysteryland 1994". I saw it, and wanted it. But I never forgot what my mum said to me about Thunderdome cassettes/CDs. But this was a compilation, the first disc was Thunderdome, second The House of Love, and the third The Eclipse. I hoped my mum wouldn't notice. AND SHE DIDN'T! Wooohooo! Yes. My first Hardcore CD! I gave my mum my pocket money, and there we went.............with a "forbidden" CD!!!!! I tricked her!
Back at home, always the headphones on! She wasn't allowed to hear it! I hoped she wouldn't find out! Because that would have ment: CD in the bin! So I listened to it always with the headphones on. I knew my parents weren't bullshitting. Because, whenever I would put the music on too loud, my mum would warn me once, and then dad would walk upstairs with a scissor, and cut the cables of the speakers in two. So they would mean it!
After all these years, I still have the CD. It doesn't play like back in the days, because there are more scratches on it, more then expected. But I had it, and was proud. My CD collection grew every month. More Dance music. I got hooked on it. The biggest label was Arcade, and I always bought CDs from their label, because I thought it was the best label with the best music. If I think back, I know I bought a lot of shit, wasted money.
But one day, when my cassette player was broken, I asked my parents to record "Mysteryland" onto a cassette. And they did. But their player had a malfunction. You could only record it, with the volume maxed out. I went upstairs, forgot about the max volume. I was in my bedroom, when I heared "BOOM BOOM DJ FUCK BOOM BOOM". I knew I would get killed. Stabbed? Maybe. Something would happen, because the whole street was enjoying the beats. The whole street? I think they could hear it in Germany, it was so loud. I walked down, with wet underpants, and I saw my mum and dad looking at me. And I knew, that this was it. The end. But then my dad did something which astonished me................................
He started RAVING! Not that he knew how to. But he tried. And mum said "this is the only CD that you are allowed to have". Pfew. I got away, I was lucky. Jesus, thank you. But that would change tho. A few month later, she found my secret stash, my Hardcore cassettes. And she made me destroy them one by one! How cruel is that? I cried my eyes out. I didn't want to destroy them. "Please mum, this ain't Hardcore, this is Happy!" The longest day in my life! Pain! Yes.
But parents can be persuaded. And they did. The music scene changed, Hardcore got more accepted. And she said to me one day, that she could forbid it for the rest of my life, but it wouldn't make any sense, because I am stubborn (I already replaced the emptyness in my wardrobe). So she would accept it, as long as she wouldn't hear it. You can imagine that my speaker cables got cut several times.
When they were cut, I always looked at my dad with my sad face, and he welded them together again. I never learned! Lol. I still play it out loud. F**k the world! Hahahahaha.
In the year 1998, I got more addicted to it, but still was underaged to go to a rave. I went to a school disco (yeah, wow, exciting..... NOT). I wanted to become a raver, a gabber. No Nikes tho, I wasn't allowed. But 1998 would change my life. My classmates all said they would go to Mysteryland, the actual party! I tried to persuade my mum, I needed to go! I think I still owe them a month, washing up. Lol. It took me days to make my mum say yes, and the day she did it, I went immediately to the record store in Heerlen, called Satisfaction. I bought a ticket, and I was again the happiest boy in the world. But when I got home, I read the back of the ticket, and it said "minimum age of 18". Ow shit, I am 16. I can be refushed entry. And then what? I had to wait outside? Bollocks, I don't want that. Sod that.
I was brave, but pooped myself in the bus. Not actually. Imagine that. I was afraid. This girl who was sitting next to me, I can still remember her. Big tits, yes, she had them. And she asked me if I wanted some smart drugs! My reply? "Nah, thanks, I just had a pill". Pfew, got out of it easily! Now I just needed to get into the rave. Just me, no one else. NONE OF MY CLASSMATES WENT. I waited at the busstop for them, but they were full of shit. I was the only one! That made the whole situation 100 times worst. I got at the entrance of Mysteryland, and hoped my mums eyeliner would help me (you know, the pencil which you use to colour the eyelashes). I drew a moustache, just to make me look older. My cap was hanging over my eyes, to hide my age. And then..................... I GOT IN!
There were 25000 ravers, plus me! Exciting! Woohoo. I had the time of my life. More raves would follow, but this was the most memorable one. The first one, no virgin anymore!
You can imagine I was really upset and angry at my classmates. F**king fake wannabee's. I went, you didn't. Loser. So ner!
I'm going to finish now, because my fingers are hurt. Next blog will be the era after 1998. Thank you for reading it. Hope it made sense!
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