The Music Lover, Ch. 16; I have no recollection of events unfolding in manner in which you describe, Ch. 6

Candy-O, the Reprise (Part I)

Candy-O was the 1979 sophomore release from the Boston based so called "new wave" band "The Cars." Radio stations had been all over The Cars' self titled debut album.  However, with the exception of the first song off Candy-O, the so called "Let's Go,"  both critics and radio stations thought Candy-O was a lemon.

Disclaimer:  Until yesterday, I hadn't listened to this album in over 25 years.  And even back then, I didn't have any "albums."   I wonder if I still have the cassette?  Therein lies the explanation of the 25 year hiatus of Candy-O from my life.   I have been sans a cassette player for eons.

Disclaimer#2:  When I did listen to this in high school, I listened to the shit out of it.   I knew all the lyrics.   All the lyrics, that is, I could discern.  There was no Internet back then.  If you couldn't understand a lyric, you were S.O.L.   And there were plenty of funky lyrics.  But I still know them.

Disclaimer#3:  The fact that I was once so intimate with Candy-O has everything to do with the girth of the state of Wyoming.  See I attended Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming.  When Gillette was competing against other high schools in Debate, Tennis, Football, Wrestling or anything, there were great distances involved in the commute.   For example, when the Gillette Camels sparred against the Cheyenne Central Indians (I wonder if that still their mascot?) the commute was 244 miles which is almost as equidistant as Gillette is from high schools in Cody or Powell, Wyoming.   The trip to Rock Springs was a stunning 345 miles.   The school district of Gillette, rich with mineral royalties was endowed with several so called "super buses" which were nothing more that the equivalent of luxury Greyhound coaches.  So it was not an unusual weekend that we would leave Gillette on a Friday afternoon after school was out, travel the 5 or 6 hours, spend the night in a hotel, eat breakfast (by the way the school paid for all of this) and then compete later in the day.   Can you imagine a public high school in 2013 Illinois doing this for its students?   But I digress.  This was a different time, a different place, and a different education budget.  The point is, during these long rides on the "super bus" we listened to the shit out of Candy-O in my so called "boom box." (I wonder if they still call them that?).

Disclaimer#4:  Back then, I didn't know shit about music.  I still don't.  But my musical vocabulary then consistented of the indigenous music ubiquitous in Wyoming at the time (Journey, Reo Speed Wagon, Styx, Loverboy, whatever) and the new tidbits my friend Rich Rogers brought to the table.  Rich moved to Wyoming from San Francisco, and brought with him the Dead Kennedy's, The Germs, The Clash, The Ramones, Agent Orange, Patty Smith (you get the idea).   But that was it.   It was either a very superficial taste of Punk or bubblegum rock.   I never knew what attracted me to Candy-O.   Maybe with the passage of time I am beginning to understand why Candy-O resonated with me.   But we will save that to part 2:-).