Forty years ago today...

Music has always played an enormous part in my life. I played in bands from the time I was eight or nine years old, all the way through my teenage years. Playing music was my "after school" job, except I only worked on Friday and Saturday nights, and I worked in bars and nightclubs (you know, like most kids).

Playing music was my first paying job and I made pretty good money doing it. My parents were always behind me; they were always encouraging me and supportive of me even if I didn't always play the kind of music they appreciated.

With that thought, today marks a special anniversary.

On this day four decades ago, March 15, 1976, Kiss released their groundbreaking album, Destroyer. 

Why is this important?

Because Destroyer was the very first record I ever owned. You see, I was (and still am) a huge Kiss fan. When I was a kid, I used to sit at the kitchen table and draw pictures of the band all the time. I used to make Kiss concert stages out of Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs (remember those?). I'm fairly certain my parents thought I was slightly nuts. I was enthralled with the music of Kiss even though I had just a couple of very cheap "dubbed" tapes of the band's first two albums. The sound quality was awful, but I didn't care. It was Kiss. 

However, I never owned a real vinyl album of any kind.

Then one day, my mom surprised me. I don't remember what the occasion was (or perhaps there was no special occasion), but I remember Mom coming home from shopping one day and telling me she had a surprise for me. 

And I remember pulling that vinyl album out of the shopping bag and hyperventilating with excitement. 

In fact, I may have peed myself.

It wasn't just my very first record. It was a Kiss record!

How special was that moment? It meant the world to me because even though she thought Kiss was "a bunch of pukes," she knew I loved this band. And even though she could've spent what little money we had elsewhere, she bought me a LP. 

All these years later, I still have that very record which I've kept and cherished from my childhood: 

My original Destroyer album, an unexpected gift from my mom. My very first vinyl record of any kind. The album, inner sleeve and record is still in pretty good shape considering its years of use and abuse.

I remember staring at that album cover for hours, picking out all the little nuances in the artwork (Ken Kelly did the original painting). Then, of course, I had to make my own 1,739 drawings of it... call it variations on a theme.

Like many kids my age, I played this record until I nearly wore the grooves smooth. 

I never actually heard "Flaming Youth," in its entirety until years later. The first 30 seconds of the song would skip, but I wouldn't let Mom return it because this was MY record! 

One side of the inner sleeve advertised the Kiss Army, which was Kiss's fan club. It only cost $5.00 to join, but that's where Mom drew the line. She wasn't going to let me get mixed up with "a bunch of goddamned hippies and their cult." 

And I didn't argue. One did not argue with Phyllis. 

The second side of the inner sleeve featured the words to "Detroit, Rock City," which was the album opener and one of the best concert openers of all time:

The back of the album gave fans even more information about the band. I remember, since I played the drums, how important it was that I get a Pearl kit because that's what Peter Criss played. I ended up actually getting a Ludwig kit a few years later (which I still own today), but there's a good chance I will still own a Pearl drum set before I croak. 

Kiss created a rock and roll classic with this album. It is still one of my all time favorites. 

So there you have it. It was forty years ago today and it was a momentous event in my young life.