This question comes from fellow radio DJ and old Uni mate from Victoria – Lifon:

First album you bought and first concert you went to?

Well lets examine these sequentially, as my first concert was actually before my first album.  And neither story is going to make me look particularly cool – prepare to have your illusions about what Young DJ Trev was like shattered!  I’m sure Lifon, who is the exact same age as me (to the very day!) is going to be shaking his head at what his contemporary was up to.   But cut me some slack – it was the 90’s!

First concert

Considering my favourite genres are Alternative Rock, Speed Metal and J-Pop, you might expect something like a mixture of Rammstien and Baby Metal.  But nope.  I’ve seen lots of great Aussie performers live over the years, including Jon Butler Trio, Silverchair, Powderfinger, Josh Pyke and so on, and a few really good international acts as well, including the king of satirical songs – Weird Al Yankovic.

But my first concert?  We are talking back in 1992 at the tender age of 14, and that was Girlfriend.

Remember Girlfriend?  No?  That’s ok, nobody else does either.

It was an Aussie girlband with 5 members, with soft-hitting pop songs aimed at a young teen audience.

Not really my music even back then, but I lived in Bendigo in country Victoria and not a lot of big bands visited the town back then, let alone bands that held gigs for under 18’s.

So off with my mate Matt we went, dropped off at the Bendigo Basketball Stadium by our mothers.  Even at the age of 14 we were probably amongst the older ones there, and probably some of the few males.

But hey, it was a live music show that wasn’t country and our parent’s weren’t attending with us – we were so totally there dude!

It was… an ok time.  At 14 I was too shy still to try and pick up any girls.  In fact the only girls I talked to that night kept accusing me of pushing against them when we were all at the front of stage watching the band.  Didn’t matter how many times I explained I wasn’t pushing them, it was the 50 other people pushing me in that direction, I got hate stares all evening.

Come to think of it, one of those girls years later turned out to be the best friend of my first girlfriend.  She didn’t like me any better then either.

But what was super exciting, besides for a young teen boy in a country town getting to see hot leggy girls from the city dance on stage, was that Girlfriend was shooting crowd shots for their upcoming video ‘Bad Attitude’.

And yes, in the music video you can see the arms of a gangly teen – with one of those big thick ugly watches on his wrist, one where the all the rubber loops were busted so the all the spare band stuck out at a 90 degree angle – clapping along with the music.

So no it wasn’t a particularly cool band, I didn’t pick up any girls, and I was both dropped off and picked up by my mother  – but that was my very first concert.

First Album I bought

I suppose my actual first several albums were all compilation albums from the early/mid ninties, but they don’t really count as my first proper album purchased because of a specific artist or band.  And the tale of that may be as embarrassing as Girlfriend being my first concert.  Not so much the album iteself but the circumstances.

Ya gotta remember, in High School in Bendigo I worked at a fruit shop for less than minimum wage (like $4 an hour).  At Uni in Melbourne, besides the odd job doing Extra work in movies and on TV shows, I didn’t have a job at all as I was studying full time.  Thus I never had much money to buy music.  What money for frivolities I did have in High School used to go on comedy CD’s & video games, and when at Uni going to nightclubs, as well as hitting pubs where I would often watch mate’s bands perform. Having buddies in bands was the best!  Why spend $30 on a CD when for a couple of beers your mate’s whole band would come round your party and play!  Outside of live music I mainly listened to Triple J and sometimes Fox.fm, and use my Boom Box to record songs off the radio onto audio cassettes to listen to later.

Can this get any more 90’s?  It sure can!

So the first album I bought because of a specific artist?  We are talking 1996 here and it was Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.

Why in the name of all that is musically holy did I choose that one as my first album to buy?  Especially given I was aware of so much other great music around?  Well let me tell you.

Remember I mentioned a girlfriend before, my first ever one whose best friend didn’t like me?  Well, I had driven 200km back from Melbourne to Bendigo to see her for her birthday and attend her birthday party.  It was at that party, in front of all her friends, that she not only dumped me but announced she had been cheating on me for weeks and had only kept dating me so she could get birthday presents off both my mother and I before we split up.  Thus was the lack of shame inherent in a 19yo Bendagonian girl. Strangely after all that and decades of no contact she friend requested me on Social Media a while back (which I politely ignored) – people on the net are weird eh!

I was beyond heartbroken and drove back to Melbourne and promptly locked myself in my room to sob.  However I did venture out on occasion to buy food and also buy Jagged Little Pill.

Why that album?  Because half the songs on that album were from the perspective of the recently dumped and they, like me, were bitter as hell – Alanis knew my pain she did!

My poor housemate.  He must have heard that Canadian songstress belting out ‘You oughta know’ through his wall for 14 hours a day for a week straight.  But I was there to (somehow psychically) remind my ex of the mess she left when she went away.  It was not fair to deny me the cross I bared when she went away – she, she, she oughta know!

To be fair to Ms Morissette, the album did the trick.  I engaged in a full week of heartbreak and bitterness and loss and lamentations of ‘I’ll never love anyone else ever again!’  Then after that week I went out, let my friend Maddy shave my head, got an earring, started growing a goatee and within a fortnight was shagging someone else.  No months of self-pitying torment – indulge the pain hard and fast and then move on – that’s the ticket!

Isn’t it funny how fickle 18yo’s are, a girl can be the love of your life, but as soon as she dumps you and another girl offers to **** your **** and ****** on your **** and **** whipped cream ****** **** French maids outfit **** *** ******** trapeze **** ***** trained gerbil ******* *** then you say ‘Well that’s those sheets ruined, might as well bin them’, then that previous ‘eternal love’ seems to have evaporated – isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think?

I’ve got draws and draws full of awesome albums now I bought over the decades before everything went digital, but yes – Alanis was my first.  Now if you’ll excuse me I got places to be, cause I’ve got one hand in my pocket and the other’s hailing a taxi cab.

Thank you for your questions Lifon.

Don’t forget, if you want to hear how Big DJ Trev’s music tastes have improved over the decades, tune into The Big DJ Trev Show on Krr.fm 6 to 9pm Thursdays AEST, and tune into Lifon’s Show The Wave on Main.fm 6.30 to 8pm Saturdays.

I’ve shared my first album and concert with all of you, how about you share your first album and concert in the comments section below!