KISS presented Wilson Middle School with $100,000 in new musical instruments Wednesday while they taped an episode of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
How f****** awesome is that?
I don’t care if it’s marketing or PR, but I would’ve ripped off my left testicle to see Gene Simmons walk the halls of my school.
When I was in middle school we didn’t get KISS, but we did get a secret rock concert from a hair metal band. Not a head-banging band like Bon Jovi, Ratt or Debbie Gibson, my school treated us to Free Fare.
No one had heard of Free Fare. They rocked the stage in their permed 80s hair and ripped Cosby clothes. They sang current hits, which meant they weren’t capable of writing good music. Kind of like the Beyonce of today.
By the end of the concert, all the girls, and boys who hadn’t figured out why they liked men in spandex, believed Free Fare was the biggest band in the world. Once the concert ended, students could buy tickets to a real show where the band sold posters, cassettes and stupid bandanas that became a rage for one week.
However, being in touch with my 8th grade inner conspiracy theorist, I knew something was wrong. Why would the same school that banned everything allow a free concert? They did it for Jesus, which I figured out during their metal version of an Amy Grant medley. Free Fare was part of Young American Showcase, a Christian musical performance company.
The school duped us.
Yes, KISS is f****** awesome, but if Free Fare overdosed or choked on their own vomit like a real metal band, that would’ve been worth seeing.
.
(P.S. Free Fare tickets make a great holiday gift, so do these 30 Wrong Christmas Presents.
Popularity: 1% [?]
No related posts.
OMG! I thought Pauls Valley High was the only stop on the Free Fare tour. They were the biggest thing to hit PV, save the Von Eric family wrestlers (RIP) and Bart Connor Day.
Of course, IT, that begs the questions, “Are we really that old,” and “What does it say about us that we remember a garage band named Free Fair?” Worse, I remember their guitar player had a Gibson Flying V.
Oops, in the tradition, I should have added the (sic) to that last paragraph.
We are that old. I’m trying to imagine if I would have been excited if a group that hit the top 10 in 1959 showed up at my elementary school.
Nope. Not. It was wasted on the little turks.
Shout out to @MartzMimic for the Von Erich reference. Five brothers who all die young — one electrocution, one intestine infction, and three suicides.
MartzMimic: I knew someone out there would know who I was talking about!
OK, my OCD kicked in: Free Fare us the Spinal Tap version of the Washington Generals or Up with People. They were part of something called The Young American Showcase that put several bands together from 1972-1993.
So tell me which is the more dubious honor: being a part of Free Fare or beating out the Flaming Lips for the Gazzette’s best alternative band award?
Yeah, hard to believe Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are now Art Garfunkel and Neil Diamond!
It really sucks getting old…
Oh my….Free Fare. Yes, I not only saw them in Yukon, a girl I worked with bought my ticket to see them at her school in Tuttle. They must have really made the rounds and I must admit, I was an aspiring musician and contacted their people for an audition.
A few weeks later, the application for an audition arrived at the house. One of the top requirements was “spiritual and religious convictions” and went on to pretty much say, if you’re not relgious now, you will be…..
KISS kicks arse….
The Ada school system gave us Freedom Jam…in like…’83…awful awful stuff. And I remember buying the bandana.
OMG.. Free Fare… That one almost left my memory… I wish it had. The year was 1985.. The place was Waller Junior High in Enid.. These guys showed up. Being a young impressionable 7th grader, I was quite impressed with their version of “Turn up the Radio” and assumed that they must have been the band that put it out originally (made sense to me at the time).. I was later informed that I was mistaken, and I fear the embarrassment has never quite left me…