It was 1999 and we were traveling in our red Ford to the country of champagne, wine, cheese and all the good things in life. I remember it as if it was yesterday. I was about 7 years old, soon about to turn 8, and other than listening to Britney Spears and other nineties guilty pleasures, I hadn’t really been an extreme fan of anything. But then my dad put on an album of which one song simply triggered me: “Homeworld” by the progressive rock classic YES. The opening track of the 1999 full-length album “The Ladder”.
I can’t be sure why this song sounded like such a masterpiece, but as a child, I thought the uuuuuuhs and aaaaahs in the chorus were extremely pleasant and catchy to the ear. Soon, I started to sing along with them throughout the song. Given my young age, my parents, and siblings thought it was either hilarious or adorable – I opt for the former – and started singing along as well.
My dad saw an opportunity here, a chance to introduce me to all the rock acts that he loved. He started to show me the whole repertoire of YES, starting from the early years up until “The Ladder”. But he didn’t stop there… He introduced me to THE BEATLES, THE WHO, WISHBONE ASH, BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, LED ZEPPELIN and many many more. These bands became the foundation of my taste in music and made me into metalhead I am today.
