Live Aid happened 30 years ago today, July 13th 1985. This is my original t-shirt from the event which I did not go to but donated money (or rather I begged my dad to let me use his credit card to call to donate) so I could get the shirt. It was a hot summer day and our neighbors down the road were having a wedding reception so I kept running home to watch Live Aid on TV (no VHS recorder and DVR’ing didn’t exist of course). I sobbed during U2′s performance when Bono pulled a girl onstage during “Bad;” squealed with delight when Duran Duran performed “The Reflex” and sobbed again during “Save a Prayer” (then, sadly, cringed at THAT NOTE in “View To A Kill” but I forgave Simon because Duran Duran were the biggest thing in my 14-year-old life that summer).

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Shriekback  “Oil and Gold” 1985. Confession: this album is technically still “on loan” from a friend back in the summer of ‘86. Oops.

That summer was a pivotal one in so many ways and this album was one of many that provided its soundtrack. A small group of us, ages 14-17, spent June-August of ’85 at a dear friend’s house, hanging out, being teenagers and doing stupid teenager stuff that probably should have gotten us in trouble. But there were moments of just being happy (or possibly miserable), reveling in the music of the day.  The album sleeve still holds one of those moments: at the top left corner there is a orange-ish streak of crud, which is a lasting pizza stain from when two friends and I were sitting behind the couch (??), eating our frozen pizza, playing with a guy’s pet rat and reading the lyrics.

Besides the (sort of) hit single “Nemesis,” there are other wonderful songs (“The Big Hush” “Faded Flowers”) on this record that still hold a timeless quality and an ambience of late, hot summer nights when life is dark, haunting and amazing.

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