When I was a freshman in college at Sam Houston State, Steve Miller’s Greatest Hits was a CD that just about everybody had in their dorm room. This would be 1995/96, and though it was a still a grungy music world, Steve Miller kept popping up. I never put much thought into it, but as I was making a playlist, and put “Take the Money and Run” on it, this thought formed in my head. I wonder why that was, but as soon as I asked, I know that I will never find the answer.
What was classic rock to me, are oldies to kids today, as my music has passed into classic rock.
Another song that I put on the playlist “Just Got Paid” by ZZ Top. (I found a live version on YouTube that made me smile.) Having grown up in Texas, this is the kind of song that taps into a Texas spirit that I don’t think is around much anymore. The same way that Stevie Ray Vaughn and Willie Nelson capture a certain attitude of Texas. Not that conservative, wall building tough guy bullshit. It’s a slightly rough around the edges, individualistic, but respectful attitude.
That actually does bother me, that the perception of Texas to the rest of the country is that it is a deep red land of reactionary crazies, who love God, Guns, stopping abortions and building walls. Hell, they elected Ted Cruz. Growing up there, it was different. Old Texas let people be themselves, and it was nobody’s business what they did.
Somehow, I got from classic rock to here… Just connecting tangents of ideas today.
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