Musical preference normally plays an integral part of any teenager’s life. This is hampered somewhat by the fact that it also must be universally acceptable to their “peers”. Take one wrong turn and you’ll soon find yourself being the laughing stock of your social group. Unless conducted in secret...
So, I used to be a "Power Rangers" fan. Yes, a closet hobby of mine that nobody (and I mean NOBODY) could know about. However, now it's been forever more etched into the "annals of blockchain history". Sorry younger self. Anyways, I remember chilling on the sofa, enjoying one of the many badly choreographed fight scenes packed within each episode, when something dawned on me. The soundtrack. That hard-hitting, rock anthem pumping out of the television set. It was... great! I turned the volume up and through the chorus of grunts and shrieks on-screen, I honed in to the background score. Oh, yes. It was high-level "bad-assery" alright and from that moment on, it was a done deal. I had to have it.
But the big question was how? I tried recording the sound off the television set via two black and red phono connectors conveniently located at its rear. No luck, as the sound effects took away from any aural pleasure I might have had. No, this needed a more permanent solution. I had to go out and buy the actual CD. Fast forward to later on that day and I end up at our local music outlet, Tower Records. I always loved the huge selection they had on offer and was therefore hoping they'd have a copy tucked away somewhere. Well, after a quick trip down to the TV and Movies section, there it was. A genuine copy of the soundtrack pertaining to one of the greatest martial arts shows on Earth. I picked it up and made my way over to the counter. Waiting until no other customers were about, I hurried over and placed it on the counter. I still recall that look the cashier gave me whilst scanning over the cover with her bar-code reader.
"Oh, it's for my younger brother." I blurted out, a little too fast for my own good. But she knew alright. She could sense my underlying excitement and knew it was, without a shadow of a doubt, for me to listen to later on that evening. But I couldn't care less really. I had found what I was looking for and was absolutely ecstatic.
Back home, I bounded up the stairs as usual and into my room. The cellophane wrapping was already blowing down the street somewhere after being ripped off it's plastic sleeve by yours truly. I turned my hi-fi on and looked out the window, making sure none of my friends were sauntering up the road, on their way to see me. Well, the coast was clear and the time was now. I was under no false pretences as to what I was doing. It was almost sacrilegious and I was well aware of it. If I got caught, I'd never be able to live the shame down and most probably have to get a new bunch of friends. But that didn't matter now. Placing the silver disc carefully upon the tray, complete with it's circular image of the five rangers in mid-pose, I closed it and pressed play. Preparing to rock out!
Though, after perusing through a few tracks, it didn't hit home like I thought it would. I mean, the sound was clean and crisp. In fact, those awesome tracks had never sounded better! I could hear every riff, guitar solo and slamming bass-line like it was being played right in front of me. I was super-pumped, but the euphoric effect of before was soon wearing off. I just couldn't re-create that same feeling. Was it the fact that the colourful visuals or action sound effects were missing? Or that the whole album had this added "sheen and clarity" that took away from the raw power that was the series itself? I just don't know, but something was most definitely missing. A key ingredient that was stopping me from merging as one with the music. In a nutshell, it started to piss me off. I took the disc out, placed it back in it's sleeve and shoved it into a drawer under my desk. I gave it one last glance before shutting it, wondering what the goddamn problem was.
"Great." I murmured to myself with a frustrated sneer. "There goes £16.99. What a load of shit."
