Making Rock N’ Roll Dreams Come True

Since this coronavirus pandemic started, it hasn’t been unusual for me to see various Facebook posts, where people offered household goods/supplies to others or even offered to run out to get supplies. However, my wife shared an unusual Facebook post that I was more than happy to fulfill.

My wife told me that there was a mom looking for some classic rock CDs for her son. He received some for Christmas and she was looking to get more. To provide some background, I’m a huge music fan, particularly rock (in its various incarnations) and metal. In the Facebook post, the mother happened to say that he was good on Led Zeppelin (Amazon Affiliate link). As soon as my wife told me about the post, my gears started turning. Considering that I now have Amazon Prime Music (Amazon Affiliate link), I no longer have a need for the CDs.

Here was what I, initially, gathered up for him (Amazon Affiliate links included, although I might have missed a few:

Aerosmith-Aerosmith
Aerosmith-Toys In The Attic
Aerosmith-A Little South of Sanity
The Allman Brothers Band-The 20th Century Masters (Millenium Collection)
Bob Seger-Live Bullet
Guns N’ Roses-The Spaghetti Incident
Humble Pie-Rockin’ The Fillmore
Queen-Live At Wembley Stadium
The Rolling Stones-Through The Past Darkly (Big Hits vol. 2)

I was thinking of what other CDs that I could part with and remembered my The Stooges album The Stooges. The lady responded that they would take it and I thought to myself, “Man, this kid has some great taste in music.”

My wife was communicating with this lady some more and, during the course, we found out that this kid was a 9 year old drummer! We were sent a video of him doing a cover of The Stones’ “Paint It Black” (Amazon Affiliate link) and he was pretty good, especially considering his young age.

Pay It Forward

Some time ago, I thought about writing a piece about what music did for me while I was growing up, which I may still write. For me, one of the most touching things about this interaction was hearing that this young rock n’ roll drummer did the “happy dance,” when he found out about my CDs that he would receive. Even more incredible was finding out that the Led Zeppelin photobook that we recently gave away went to this same kid.

It’s strange to think about how the way that we listen music has changed, since my youth. With this being said, I remember the feeling that I had, when I bought a new CD. My memory is fuzzy, in terms of what was my first rock CD. I do remember that my first formative album that I bought was Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction (Amazon Affiliate link). As I gathered the CDs, I couldn’t help but wondering if, years from now, these CDs would have a similar impact on him, as they did on me.

As my wife was wrapping up talking with the rock n’ roll mom, I made one request. I remember how much joy that those CDs brought me. From what I understood, I brought this kid a lot of joy. I asked that, at some point in the future, for him to pay it forward. I have no way of knowing how this act will impact this young man, but I do hope that this music will do for him what it did for me.

What Can We Do?

Since I was teenager, music had a tremendous impact on my life. Recently, I jokingly told my son that this is how I value the important things in my life in decreasing importance: my wife, my son, our dog and music. With all of this going on, music has taken even more importance. In fact, I’m curating a public YouTube playlist of videos to share.

I feel that, during these times, where we’re having to look at people and how they act regarding material goods, we’ve been forced to look at what’s important, what isn’t and how much these things cost. What we shouldn’t forget is that one of the most inexpensive things that we still have access to is music. As much reassurance and consolation as we may need in the future, music is one of the best emotional remedies that we can receive and it costs next to nothing.

As loved ones and acquaintances reach out and ask for help, don’t think of just material (ex. food, toilet paper, etc.) goods. Think about what you have that someone else might be able to use. In my case, I had CDs to pass on to someone else. What do you have?

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