Jean LaBarre

Say it ain't so that my father said this

"You're just kids from my last marriage" are words no child wants to hear, least of them a teenage boy long-desiring affirmation from an emotionally absent father. As sad as this was to hear I admit looking back that I don't think I was so surprised especially considering this came from a man who deemed feelings for the weak which were to be exorcised by insults and beatings. But what it did do was set the course for this teenage boy to expand his musical outlets. Up until this point, being raised by my father came with listening to the music of his own teenage angst-filled years: Dio, Sabbath, Led Zep, Iron Maiden, and so on. And while nothing wrong with that playlist for anyone to air-fist it or punch a wall to, I remember it never did anything for me when it came letting my angst air out, no matter how many times I watched Kevin Bacon blare Quiet Riot's "Metal Health" from his yellow VW ("Footloose", y'all!).