It was long ago. I don’t remember when, exactly, but I remember it well. There was a man with big blonde hair and a horrid torn outfit, singing and dancing and jumping and crawling, and obviously, I was supposed to be watching him.
But it was the dark-haired boy with the yellow and black animal print coat who caught my eye, and the second he looked straight at me and smiled, I knew — I knew…
Okay, I didn’t know anything. I didn’t even know his name. But the dark hair, the yellow jacket, and the smile stayed with me for years.
It was a gradual realization. What with all the “Back In” and “I Love The 80s” type shows, I would see the video every once in awhile, and in time, I would learn that this was Van Halen. Despite not being the song from the video, I thought “Runnin’ With The Devil” was their only song. I never particularly cared for it though, and one day it was deleted along with “Pour Some Sugar On Me” — a song I thought might have something to do with sex, and never really felt comfortable listening to. “CSI Theme” was a bit more my style, until I found that little f-bomb near the end. After that little foray into those crazy decades we know as the 70s and 80s, I was content to stay in the 60s for several more years.