I've been through this fame thing before, when the band was big in '80, '81.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I followed most of the 80's bands into the 90's as most of those folks who hadn't moved away were all still active. However, there was a point when I lost track of the new bands coming up.
I'm a huge fan of Eighties music.
I'm not an '80s fan. I'm more '70s New York pre-punk kind of thing, and I guess I grew up with '90s grunge, post-punk pop music.
I was in one bar band from 1965 to '69, then I was in another one from 1970 to '79 - a 9-year bar band!
I used to hear all these guys on 78s at my mother's when I was a teenager... I used to daydream that I was onstage playing the solos; I'm playing with B.B. King, and I'm playing with Lowell Fulsom, Jimmy McCracklin. And I literally ended up being in a band that backed them up at different clubs.
Fame came quickly. I was only 19 when I secured my initial recording contract and my first two hit records - 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' and 'Cars' - were number ones.
In the '80s the band was 24/7. You were only as good as what you were producing at any given moment. Now my family is more important. I also think having the shock of your mum and dad dying humbles you slightly.
The heyday of video music was the mid 80's.
Another thing that was unique about working on this stuff was that I was engineering it. I used many of the things I had learned while I was away from the band. It sort of vindicated my decision to leave in '87.
What we aspired to in 1998, we have wildly surpassed. And I know we all feel incredibly grateful and lucky this band has been able to have the life that it's had.
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