Music has always been important in my life. Each era has brought me new sounds that have accompanied great moments.
One of those eras, perhaps the most important, was the 70s. It was a time when I was experiencing the turmoil of adolescence, my temperament was changing rapidly, I was leaving behind a shy, docile, and conservative child, and I was becoming a rather irreverent young man.
These changes manifested themselves both externally and internally. One day I decided to let my hair grow, and within a few months I had a mane that reached my shoulders. My parents couldn't believe it. I imagine they wondered what was happening to me, and I'm quite sure they didn't like what I was becoming; it wasn't what they had in mind.
Around that time, I started listening to rock music. The power of that music fascinated me. I felt that it was completely in tune with my mood. Most of the boys in my neighborhood didn't like rock music. They preferred Caribbean music, mainly salsa, a type of dance music that also became very popular in the 1970s. The truth is that I had a hard time finding friends to listen to rock music with.
At that time, I also started studying at a new high school in the west of the city, in an area called 23 de Enero, a neighborhood made up of large apartment complexes in very tall buildings.
The atmosphere at the high school was different; there were quite a few boys and girls there who liked rock music. In addition, our teachers were very tolerant; they didn't mind if you went to school with long hair, and they also let you wear a denim jacket over your uniform shirt.
A few days after starting at the high school, I began to make friends, all boys like me, with long hair and a great passion for rock music. Some of them were walking encyclopedias, talking about songs and bands I had never heard of. I listened carefully and learned. It was thanks to them that I discovered bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin.
When I was with them, I often felt a little embarrassed about my ignorance on these subjects. The truth is that although I liked rock music, I actually knew very little about it. When I started high school, I had only heard a few Beatles ballads and the occasional Stones song.
With those high school friends, I also began to love radio. They were the ones who told me which stations in Caracas specialized in rock music. There weren't many, only two or three, I think, but all their programming was based on the kind of music I loved so much.
My friends always recommended the best programs on each radio station. Some were late at night, and I listened to them on a small transistor radio with headphones. Many nights my mother would scold me for listening to music until midnight. But the next day there was no problem, as I didn't have to get up so early because I studied in the afternoon.
Almost every weekend, my high school friends would throw a party, and a large group of boys and girls would get together to listen to rock music. There were songs that couldn't be left out; Led Zeppelin's “Whole Lotta Love” and “Immigrant Song” always played, and they were songs that got everyone moving.
Every time they played them, the boys seemed to go into a trance, completely disconnecting and surrendering to the music. A similar effect happened when they played “Child in Time” by Deep Purple and “I'm Going Home” by Ten Years After. Those songs produced a huge adrenaline rush, leaving everyone sweaty and thirsty after dancing to them.
After those bursts, it was time for slower, more melancholic music, among which the most popular were “Changes” by Black Sabbath and “Down by the River” by Neil Young. Couples would take to the dance floor and dance in each other's arms; it was a very nice change.
The seventies were a great time for me, and the soundtrack of those years has accompanied me throughout my life.
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