Dead Bodies Everywhere. in The Thread

I have this interesting memory of being a teen. I was probably 14. I was really into Korn during this time. My dad, being a musician, had a great stereo set up in the garage. I was out there during the Summer wanting to listen to Korn’s Follow the Leader album.

At some point, I must have had success in getting the album going, because I was up and going with the volume. The track “Dead Bodies Everywhere” was playing. I knew the backstory for the song and it’s crude, but has meaning to it. My dad and a friend were doing some sort of work in the garage or on the house. My dad got annoyed with the volume and subject matter of the song and told me to turn it off. I got pretty pissy with him about it. I don’t remember what I said in response, but my reaction was not a positive one. My dad must not have done much in response other than repeat himself in some general way. I stormed off like a Pissy Patty.

Later on, my dad approached me about it and very much had something to say. His friend had a son that I was somewhat friends with. My dad’s friend was cut from a different cloth than my dad. Involved in several trades, was very handy, was a redneck type, very outgoing. He also had pretty strict standards for his son, who was a bit of an arrogant know-it-all, but still managed to get good grades and was associated with the ‘cool kids’. My dad’s friend told my dad that he wouldn’t have let his son speak to him that way. I can assume he probably laid out how he would have handled it, which, at this point in my upbringing wouldn’t have worked. I was already pretty damaged by the shit my parents had brought me through and was very much in the teenage rebellion mode.

It’s interesting to think about that, because I’m not necessarily proud with my reaction to it. I’m sure I was trying to impose my music on everyone as a matter of an angsty disposition. Being much older, 3 years in to trying to sort through my past, and having kids of my own, my perspective is (expectedly) different.

There isn’t much to glean from this memory other than just having it, but I’m trying to be better about finding an old thread and pulling on it. Something will unravel eventually.