The final episode of the Pepsi Power Hour aired at the end of the summer of 1991. The man with the sad honour of signing off was veteran Michael Williams. Off and on, Williams hosted the Power Hour since 1986 if not earlier. It was filmed at a welding shop in Calgary, Alberta. Because metal? (Bad, bad idea! Audio engineers, your thoughts on this setting?)
Williams played Metallica’s “One”, and “Hunger Strike” by Temple of the Dog. The shape of things to come.
The episode also features an interview with a new band called The Scream, featuring an up-and-comer named John Corabi. A couple years later, and Corabi would be the new singer in Motley Crue.
The very last band ever played on the Pepsi Power Hour was Van Halen. It was a big interview by Kim Clarke Champniss regarding the new album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The very last song ever played was “Runaround”.
The Power Hour was supplanted by the inferior Power 30. It was a significant change. I rarely missed a Power Hour. The Power 30 was rarely worth catching. However, look for the ad for a promising new Saturday show called Start Me Up – three hours of rock!
YouTube has forced me to butcher this video to get it up, so there are no music videos. The Van Halen interview is mutilated. There are some ads and all the talking. It’s history!
Speaking of history: 100 VHS Archives! And counting! I started posting these in 2019 and I still have plenty of files left to upload, and a few more tapes to play. I’ve been taking it easy lately because the software is user-unfriendly and my VCR is making odd noises. But we’re not done. Not by a long shot.
Jen dug up this Facebook note that I wrote on August 8, 2008. I thought it would be nice to include as part of Getting More Tale. Even back in 2008, I was excited about Sausagefest and bitching about the Record Store. The wedding was August 31, 2008 and I was obviously very excited.
GETTING MORE TALE (Retro) #853: “The wedding is coming and life is very sweet!”
I can’t believe I haven’t written a note in more than a month. If you had told me that getting married was this much work, I wouldn’t believe you. Actually, some of you DID tell me that getting married was this much work, and I didn’t believe you.
However it wouldn’t have changed anything. I still love my crazy Leafs girl and would have married her anyway.
So what’s new? Well, last I wrote, I was just about to head to Sausagefest. I did and it was awesome. The new format needs a little work* I think, there were a few kinks in the tape. Meat, Tom and Haslam hosted a great party and we had an awesome time. Even Tyler’s dog Zeppelin didn’t bug me this time. And Zach’s lamb was DELECTABLE. My compliments to the Chef Britton.
After that, I turned 36…wow…unbelievable! However I will still tell people that I am 26.
Work is great. Unbelievable amount of responsibility and it weighs heavy sometimes. However I have been there over a year now, and it looks to be like I will be there a long time to come. There will be news about that soon but I can’t talk about that yet.**
It’s interesting. I spent 11 1/2 years working in the record store, working my way up, until there was nowhere left to work up to. A lot of people wish they could have worked in a record store, and I’m glad to say that I did it. I always have the best work stories,*** and I’m glad to say that with the glow of nostalgia, all the stories are good ones.*^ However everyone grows up, everyone gets older, and I didn’t want to be that guy who’s on call 24/7 anymore. In my 30’s I wanted to do something else.
So, I spent the last 3 years working in accounting departments, working for manufacturers and refining my skill set and experiences. It’s slowly been paying off; it’s tough starting over but it was worth it. Now I never have to bring my work home with me, and when the phone rings on the weekends it’s usually a telemarketer, not work!
So here I am about to embark on the next stage of my life, this time as a married dude. In a lot of ways I’ve become the guy I never wanted to be when I was a younger: The guy who never buys a CD by a new band because he thinks all the new bands suck. The guy who thinks nothing since 1978 has ever sounded as good. But you know what? I don’t give a fuck. I stick to my guns, always have and always will, and I’ll never go for the trends. Sure when I worked in the store I bought a lot of stuff, but my heart and soul will always be with the heaviest of metals.
Meat can bug me about the Danko Jones (ha ha),**^ but who cares…in the end he knows that I like what I like not because YOU think I should like it, but because I liked it.
This is another busy weekend…tomorrow our new bed gets delivered, tomorrow we’re going to hopefully pick our rings, and Sunday we meet with the DJ to cross the t’s and dot the lower-case j’s.
But for tonight, I think I shall rock to The Scream featuring John Corabi, and play Lego Star Wars. Yes I shall.
* This could have been the infamous “Bag of Rock” format that nearly derailed Sausagefest.
** The news was that I had been offered a permanent position, but I couldn’t say anything until papers were signed.
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