“Damn Good”
by David Lee Roth
from the album Skyscraper
1988
Buy the album on Amazon
Growing up, I was all about country and easy listening music because those were the only two radio stations I could reliably pick up with my clock radio (R.I.P. WSIX 98.6 and Easy 93). When I heard friends talking about Huey Lewis and the News, I thought he was an anchor on channel 13. Men At Work became “Minute Work” which I interpreted as some kind of scholastic study method (I was a weird kid). Eventually though, we got MTV. Although I missed out on a lot pop music as it was happening, I quickly caught up.
One of the first pop cassettes I bought for myself was David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper and I’m not ashamed to say that I absolutely adore it. I must have listened to that whole album a thousand times, although It took me a while to make the entire loop, I’d get hooked on a song, play it through and then quickly rewind and listen again. I became an expert in knowing just how long to keep the button down so that the track was queued perfectly. I can feel the vibration of my Panasonic boom box (with Ambience™) rewinding right now. “Just Like Paradise” and “Stand Up” were perfect singles. “Hina” was just a bizarrely amazing and beautiful song (it’s also a perfect night song). But the song that encapsulates a summer song for me is “Damn Good.”