rocksandy.rocks

Did you ever fall in love with a name, just the name, just because? I did. At some point in the early 1980s I was watching MTV, back when it was music television, and on came an interview clip in which guitarist Adrian Vandenberg’s name popped up under his talking head. I’m thinking it was 1982-83, so it may have been for the band Vandenberg and not Whitesnake…I’m not sure and I haven’t been able to find the clip.

Either way, the name immediately caught my attention – I thought it was the coolest guy name I’d ever heard. I decided then and there, on the spot, that I was going to name any future son of mine Adrian.

Fast-forward to 1989 and my one and only child, a son, was born, and still being obsessed with the moniker, he was named Adrian. 

Adrian had a good friend in high school also named Adrian, a nice kid who emigrated from Bosnia as a toddler. I asked the other Adrian if there was any story behind his name, and was told that his mom named him after the Adriatic Sea…very cool. I told him to tell his mom that my Adrian was named after a musician in an ’80s band. Ha!

Fast-forward another 29 years and my kid, well-schooled in and raised on classic rock and metal, prefers to listen to a variety of music genres: EDM (both the mellow kind and throbbing-I-want-to-claw-my-eyes-out-kind…I have detected a difference in my minimal exposure), older rap, pop (all decades he says), disco (!), smooth jazz (wha?), and country (who’d have thunk). I’ll mention that I’m convinced his general conservatism is his rebellion. But he knows his classic rock artists well – he recently sent me a LOL text and photo showing Sammy Hagar’s I Can’t Drive 55 on the satellite radio screen and said his fiancée always thought that was Journey. We decided to give her points for getting the era right ;o).

Anyhow, Adrian’s dad worked with music magazines when he was a youngster, and we all started collecting autographs for him. And that’s the long story as to why most of the autographs below are made out to Adrian.

Alpha order: Adrian Vandenberg, Adrian Belew, Alice Cooper, Alice in Chains, Bang Tango, The Blonz, Carlos Santana, Doc Severinsen, Doro, Drivin’N’Cryin’, Enuff Z’Nuff, Every Mother’s Nightmare, Extreme, Firehouse, King’s X, Les Paul, Life Sex & Death, Lord Tracy, McQueen Street, Precious Metal, Pretty Boy Floyd, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sammy Hagar, Spread Eagle, Tesla, Tim Karr, Trixter, Vixen, Warrant, Wendy James of Transvision Vamp, and XYZ.

 

Vintage Thrust Magazine editions are archived and available on Issuu.