KROQ – Jed The Fish – July 2, 1981 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
L.A. in the 80s. Not as laid back as it was in the 70s. L.A. in the 80s means business – it’s all happening and it’s all happening at once. Madame Wong’s now has Madame Wong’s West on Wilshire. The Starwood is happening. The Troubadour is happening. The Whiskey is happening. All up and down the Strip, it’s nothing but music and bands – and people coming over from England, and sometimes there’s a line to get into Tower Records. You love Van Halen. You spend every day hanging out at Studio Instrument Rentals because somebody at school said they saw Eddie Van Halen practicing in one of the rooms. You’ve got this band – you’ve been practicing every day for a year. The band’s pretty good – it doesn’t have a name yet, but when you finally think of one, it’s gonna be great. You’re leaning towards Chrome Addiction, but the drummer thinks it sounds like a street racing club. Your lead singer spends hours in front of his bedroom mirror, doing David Lee Roth moves – he’s got it down, but he can’t really sing – not the high notes anyway, but he’s got the garage tricked out so you can play your asses off and nobody hears you. Your bass player thinks the band should wear makeup. His girlfriend is a first semester cosmetology student at Santa Monica College and she wants to dye all your hair for a class project.
You’ve got plans. There’s the talent show at your school and you told everybody you’re going to be in it. You have to write some tunes – you’ve gotta play original stuff; not gonna do any Foghat covers. Your Bass player’s working out some riffs and you’ve been thinking of some words. You just haven’t figured out the chords yet. You’ve actually never written anything before, but it should be easy. You’ve also actually never played in front of people before. You’re gonna be great. Maybe.
And to go along with that is an hour’s worth of Jed The Fish from KROQ on July 2, 1981. Everything, and University Stereo too.
Jed was one of the longest lasting DJ’s to endure the many changes at KROQ. Thanx for this posting!