THE EVERLASTING FIRST: Quick Takes For Q [music edition]

Continuing a look back at my first exposure to a number of rock 'n' roll acts and superheroes (or other denizens of print or periodical publication), some of which were passing fancies, and some of which I went on to kinda like. They say you never forget your first time; that may be true, but it's the subsequent visits--the second time, the fourth time, the twentieth time, the hundredth time--that define our relationships with the things we cherish. Ultimately, the first meeting is less important than what comes after that. But every love story still needs to begin with that first kiss.




QUEEN



Given my eventual indifference (and even borderline disdain), it's odd to look back and recall a time when I absolutely considered myself a Queen fan. In early 1975, when I was a sophomore in high school, Syracuse's WOLF-AM started playing this song called "Killer Queen," and I thought it was irresistible. About a year later, Queen returned to the WOLF airwaves with a strange concoction called "Bohemian Rhapsody," a track which certainly didn't sound like anything else on AM radio at the time. Did I like it? Did I hate it? Yes, both of those, though my needle quickly settled on like. Some of my friends thought the record was too weird; I said the weirdness was why I liked it. More hits followed that year--"You're My Best Friend" (which either Ken Barnes or Greg Shaw described as sounding uncannily like The Partridge Family) and "Somebody To Love" (hey, that title already belongs to Jefferson Airplane!)--and I thought they were pretty good, if not quite the equals of "Killer Queen" and "Bohemian Rhapsody." In late '77, I went nuts for the 45 of Queen's "We Are The Champions"/"We Will Rock You." I was a freshman in college by then, and nearing the end of my interest in Queen. I recall playing "Tie Your Mother Down" (from earlier in '77) on the jukebox at Pudgies Pizza, but otherwise punk and power pop just obliterated Queen in my eyes and ears. I thought "Bicycle Races" was dumb, didn't like "Fat Bottomed Girls" any better, and mentally (and vocally) declared that the only Queen I was into was "God Save The Queen" by The Sex Pistols.

(I confess I relented my stance a bit when Queen released the faux rockabilly single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." I knew the record was a poseur, but I dug the hell out of it anyway. My benevolence didn't extend to the neo-disco "Another One Rides The Bus," and I don't recall if I ever gave the Queen-David Bowie team-up "Under Pressure" a fair shake.)

For decades thereafter, I grew increasingly amazed that Queen's music lived on, those old records finding new generations of fans even after the passing of lead singer Freddie Mercury. I was initially annoyed by the resilience of "Bohemian Rhapsody," that quirky single I loved when I was 16, and rejected by the time I was in my twenties. But...damn, these were well-crafted records. Slick records, sure, far smoother and processed than my preferred pop regimen of The Ramones and The Jam, and easy for a power-poppin' punk to reject. Good records nonetheless. I came back around in time. Now, I even kinda like "Another One Rides The Bus." We are the champions. We will rock you. Just get on the damned bus already. It's a crazy little thing, isn't it?

THE QUICK



In 1976, my radio allegiance began to shift from AM Top 40 on WOLF to the wider format of nearby Utica's WOUR-FM. From '76 to '77, WOUR introduced me to the music of The Sex Pistols, The Rubinoos, Greg Kihn, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, and The Yardbirds, new music by The Kinks and Michael Nesmith, and a high-pitched cover of The Beatles' "It Won't Be Long," performed by The Quick. I don't think I was really aware of Sparks yet, so I had no idea of how much influence Sparks had on The Quick.

I also don't know if I liked it. I mean, in my book, The Beatles were unbeatable, and I loved "It Won't Be Long" as heard on my cousin Maryann's copy of Meet The Beatles. This prancing cover? I dunno. I guess it was okay. I didn't hate it, anyway. And I didn't really give any further thought to The Quick at the time. I'm sure I saw them (and Sparks) mentioned in the pages of Phonograph Record Magazine, but I had punkier pursuits to investigate.

I don't recall hearing The Quick's incredible non-LP track "Pretty Please Me" until many, many years later. In the interim, The Quick broke up, and singer Danny Wilde moved on to Great Buildings, a group which also included Phil Solem. I was initially dismissive of Great Buildings, but soon fell hard for their track "Hold On To Something," which is The Greatest Record Ever Made. Danny 'n' Phil later became The Rembrandts, and I will always retain oodles of affection for their effervescent track "I'll Be There For You," which was the # 1 hit on radio the week my daughter Meghan was born.

QUINCY



As I was distancing myself from acts like Queen in the late '70s and early '80s, I was actively seeking out new wave and power pop artists and clamoring for their inevitable stardom. I discovered the music of Quincy on Breaking The Rules, a 1980 Columbia Records 2-LP promo set hawking some of the label's presumably cutting-edge offerings. The two-fer included an incongruous mix of artists: Judas Priest, Nina Hagen Band, The Psychedelic Furs, Elvis Costello (with the great "Tiny Steps"), Shakin' Street, Rockpile, The Romeos, Blue Öyster Cult, The Boomtown Rats ("I Don't Like Mondays," which I already had on 45, and I preferred the Rats' earlier stuff anyway), Billy Burnette, Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons, The Beat (Paul Collins' group, whom I already adored), The Hitmen, Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club, Tommy Tutone, Rachel Sweet, The Heaters, The Sinceros, the hated Loverboy, Ray Gomez, and The Joe Perry Project. And it included two tracks by Quincy.

Since I already had The Beat, my main spins on Breaking The Rules were Costello's "Tiny Steps," Rachel Sweet's cover of The Velvet Underground's "New Age," occasionally The Joe Perry Project's "Let The Music Do The Talking," and especially those two Quincy tracks, "Turn The Other Way Around" and "Critics' Choice." God, I loved that pair o' pop prizes, each a magic mix of '60s Brit-slapped rockin' pop and then-contemporary new wave cool. "Turn The Other Way Around" was a particular Fave Rave, and that was sufficient grounds for me to do my part in fulfilling Breaking The Rules' implicit goal: a promo set's job is to sell records. I went back to Main Street Records and bought Quincy's eponymous debut LP.

I owe myself a fresh listen to Quincy one of these days, At the time, however, I was disappointed that nothing else on Quincy seemed to match the sheer buzz 'n' wonder of "Critics' Choice" and "Turn The Other Way Around." Gary Frenay, bassist for my pop idols The Flashcubes and Screen Test, later told me that "Roamin' Catholic" was his pick from that Quincy LP, but it never bowled me over like those other two tracks had done so effortlessly. Quincy eventually evolved into Smash Palace, and I've generally liked what I've heard from them. So much pop music, so little time. I'm overdue for a refresher course in all things Quincy and Smash Palace.

(And I still resent the fact that owning Breaking The Rules means that I have a Loverboy track in my collection. Yechh.)





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