I'm not entirely sure when my love affair with the band Tesla began, or why. I do know that I started listening to them about 1989, the year I met my husband. There might be a meaningful correlation there, but I'm not certain. I do know that a common interest and affection for each other and the band's music fueled a joint passion over the years. We've since passed our love of the band onto many around us, including our now 15-year-old son, who has since the age of about 7 proclaimed the band to be his favorite. To know our son, is to know that he does not "just say that," as he is a multi-genre music enthusiast. Though it is likely his initial interest in the band was because of us, he has since deepened his devotion to Tesla on his own.
Of course the relationship of a band and its fans is mostly about the music, but there are some additional things about this band that are really cool. For example, the reason they chose their name. As those familiar with the inventor may have suspected, Tesla the band named itself after Croatian born Nikola Tesla. Tesla is now believed to be the inventor of the technology that led to the radio, previously credited to and commonly believed to be the work of Marconi. He also discovered alternating current and was responsible for the technology that Edison used to make the lightbulb. Tesla was a true inventor not concerned with fortune or fame but with science, so many of his ideas were not patented or were stolen and patented by other people. He was thought an eccentric and a fool, and others took advantage of him. It wasn't until more modern times that Nikola Tesla was recognized and appreciated for his genius.
Nikola Tesla for more: www.teslasociety.com
Tesla the band pays homage to their namesake in a totally rockin' song called "Edison's Medicine," found on their album Psychotic Supper. They also named their first two albums
Mechanical Resonance
The Great Radio Controversy
with clear references to Nikola. On their website Teslatheband.com, they used to also include the biography and influence of the inventor. It's no longer there, unfortunately.
They also reached some commercial success with an all acoustic CD that came out well before the MTV unplugged era. Five Man Acoustical Jam was a live album on which they sang a lot of covers, including the at-one-time overplayed "Signs" originally recorded by The Five Man Acoustical Band, thus the name of the album. They also played the Beatles, Rolling Stones, CCR, and of course original music. But it was clear their music was grounded in roots, not a teased hair and make-up freak show. They were often grouped in with hair bands because of their timing on the hard rock scene. However, though they've sported long locks (then and now), they've never been cheesed out like a true hair band. A couple of early videos evidence the influence of the era- the hair is a little bigger and I spy some eyeliner, but it would be a downright sin to group these guys with bands like Poison and Motley Crüe. These guys are the real deal. Heavy guitars, sound music. More torn jeans and rock and roll t-shirts, less spandex and Aqua Net. Just downhome guys from Sacramento, California banging out some heavy metal music. Jeff Keith, lead singer, was a truck driver who practiced singing to himself on the road while trying to get the band signed.
The band toured with Def Leppard on the Hysteria tour, really putting them out there. Many of the articles report, and interviews and videos further support, that the band members became quite good friends. Tesla would record "Song and Emotion" in 1991, a tribute to the guitarist Steve Clark of Def Leppard, who died that year from drug and alcohol addiciton. Though there is great guitar, as there always is in Tesla songs, this song was more about the lyrics and their sadness following Clark's death. It is one of their most widely recognized songs and is a fan favorite at live shows (I've been to at least 5 shows over the years).
Which brings me to my favorite thing about Tesla. If you've followed my blog at all, you know I'm a logophile (a word nerd). And I love Tesla lyrics. Jeff Keith has a raspy melodic voice, perfect for taking in the words. Not all, but a large number of the band's songs are positive. They're about living and loving, not about death or how much the world sucks. Don't get me wrong, they're not sugary, candy coated songs about how perfect the world is. They tackle issues like losing loved ones, the horror of 911, tough relationships, questioning God. But somehow, overall the outlook always seems like, take the world by storm and live and love with all you've got. Naturally, their lyrics inspired found poetry that has been long in the making. Enjoy, and please check out the band on iTunes. (Skip Twisted Wires-the only album I regretted purchasing).
Teslove
How am I to show you
What I'm feeling deep down
In my soul
I need your loving
I feel it deep inside
I've got you right here in my heart
This love is real
One look at you
And I can see the light of day
You came and colored up my life
I'll never make it in black and white
I want to hold you in my arms, around my legs
As though our hearts were sacred knots
One look at you and I can see the light of day
One way or another we're going to make it
Everybody needs a special kind of love
Anytime you call night or day
Never matters just as long as we're together
The pain just slowly fades away.
Tesliving
I wanna live before I die
Always searching for a way
To do the things that can't be done
The time is right
Into the now
Time goes on and on like a driving rain
Don't want the world to pass me by
Happening day after day
We can change or stay the same
Today is yesterday's tomorrow
I close my eyes and everything will be alright
I'm caught up in a dream
I'm gonna wish for it all
I try so hard to believe
That anything is possible
You don't even know me
Where I've been or where I'm coming from
The way I see it, it's the way it's got to be
I think I know myself better than anyone else
Before I please somebody else
I've got to please myself
You ask me where I'm going
I don't even know myself
Me and my shadow, nobody else around
I ought to know what I want, what I need
What's inside of me
It's getting better everyday
Keep your mind at ease and heart close at hand
For everything in life there is a reason
You're extraordinary
Forever more
The boys in the band- this is Tesla
Note:
All lyrics are copyrighted to Tesla the band and were reorganized to create poetry out of fondness for the band and their music. All Album art, photo of the band, and music came from Teslatheband.com.
