May, 2016CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL WELDON; GETTY IMAGES
M
any years ago, i went
from being a person who
watched people onstage to a
person who watched people
from the stage. Shortly after this tran-
sition, my life morphed radically. Some
things have changed, but thankfully
many have not.
I noticed that as the band I was in and
others around me were gaining popu-
larity, some of them no longer saw fi t to
go to shows or buy records. It was as if
all that was behind them and now that
they were in a band you came to see,
they couldn’t be a fan, all they could
do was have fans. I never
understood that. Going
to shows, the excitement
when the band hits the
stage, the day a new re-
cord that you have been
looking forward to is re-
leased, the ef ects of these
things have never become
dulled by time, repetition
or whatever mutant strain
of fame that has come my
way. Actually, since I became addicted to
music, records, record stores, rare press-
ings, posters and fl yers in the late 1970s,
it has only gotten worse!
I go to as many shows as I can. I lose
sleep if I lose a bid on e-Bay. I am a fan. If
I am into your band, I might have already
worn you out with questions. Sometimes
I go to a show and the band fi nds out I
a m t her e. T he y a sk t o me e t me. No pr ob -
lem. They ask me why I am at their show,
I ask them if they have any copies left ofthe limited edition orange vinyl version
of their third single that was hand num-
bered. I add that it’s been almost three
years of searching and I have only been
able to fi nd a low resolution jpeg of the
cover. It is probably the last thing any
guy in a band, who is less than half my
age, whose fat her went t o my show s, wa s
expecting to hear. There is no way some
of these people aren’t convinced I am a
total maniac, but there it is. I make no
apologies. The day I become too cool to
dig what someone else is doing, please
terminate my command with extreme
prejudice.
The reason I am tell-
ing you all this is because
currently I am in Eu-
rope, where some of the
last great record stores
are. Road manager Ward
(from Sydney!) and I are
usually out for most of the
top half of the day hitting
every record store we can
fi nd, city after city. If all
goes well, both of us will
be lugging full record bags out of here
next month.
I must drive the band Dinosaur Jr.
cra z y. They just d id seven sold out shows
in New York City to celebrate 30 years of
playing. Who went from the Antarctic
Peninsula to Buenos Aires to Houston
to Los Angeles to NYC to see all seven
shows? Who do ya think! Once, I fl ew
from LA to Seoul, South Korea. Why?
The Stooges were playing. I am a fan –
that’s short for fanatic!Our man in the
van considers what
it is to be a fan“The day I become
too cool to dig
what someone
else is doing,
please terminate
my command.”BY HENRY
ROLLINS
MY
LIST
The godfather of shock rock is tour-
ing with Hollywood Vampires and his
solo group throughout this year.Nirvana
“Smells Like Teen Spirit”
Had I been born later,
I could have written this. But when
you’re my age, you can’t write for
teens. When I fi rst heard it,
I was like, “Oh, yeah!”Aerosmith
“Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”
They wrote this about Vince Neil.
Mötley Crüe were a bunch of
good-looking girls then. They
aren’t so cute anymore.My Chemical Romance
“Teenagers”
I looked at this band as the next
Def Leppard. This song has a great
message: “Teenagers are dangerous!”Billy Talent
“Red Flag”
These guys were Canada’s Green
Day. This song reminds me of
“My Sharona”. It’s one of those
hooks you can’t explain.Twisted Sister
“We’re Not Gonna Take It”
This has the same melody as
“O Come All Ye Faithful”. It was a
bull’s-eye for the PMRC [Parents
Music Resource Center] thing that
was happening then.Alice
Cooper
FIVE SONGS
I WISH I’D WRITTEN27