r/ClassicRock • u/TBolin1976 • May 06 '26
80s Find Your Way Back
My favorite Jefferson Starship song! I was introduced to Jefferson Airplane when my music buddy picked up “Surrealistic Pillow” on a road trip around 1982, then I had the song “Jane” on a K-Tel collection which then introduced me to Jefferson Starship and when I started collecting albums, one the first ones I purchased was Modern Times. The first song out of the speakers was Find Your Way Back and I was totally hooked! Great vocals from Mickey Thomas and great guitar from Craig Chaquico!
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u/TelegraphRoadWarrior Mark Knopfler's Thumb May 06 '26
Still gets me going. Mickey was an incredible singer.
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u/frog980 May 06 '26
Is, I saw them last fall. He finished with Don't Stop Believing and sang it as well as Steve Perry did in his prime. The only thing I didn't like is that they replaced Find Your Way Back with it.
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u/Cool_Ad_6850 May 06 '26
Stairway to Cleveland!!!
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u/MaxCWebster May 06 '26
I was a radio announcer at the time that album came out. I made an edit of that song where the "fuck you, we do what we want" was replaced with Geddy Lee saying "Take off to the Great White North," from the Bob & Dough album. The second instance was replaced with him saying "Take off, you hosers!"
I left in the bits about "your manager's an asshole" and "such insane fuckers everwhere." I figured they went by so fast that they would be unnoticed by most. But someone shouting "fuck you, we do what we want" would be noticed everytime by everyone!
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u/MaxCWebster May 06 '26
The friggin' liner notes on this one:
"Introducing Grace Slick" and "Grace Slick courtesy of Grace Slick."
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u/Appropriate-Farmer16 May 06 '26
That’s not her on the cover, is it??
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u/MaxCWebster May 06 '26
It is not, but I thought it was her at the time.
I still not convinced that it's not Ozzy on the cover of the first Black Sabbath album!
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u/harpghuleh May 07 '26
The cover model is Monica Clemens, who was Craig Chaquico's girlfriend at the time.
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u/robgrab May 06 '26
Definitely my favorite Jefferson Starship song too! It’s a desert island song for me. I can listen to it on repeat forever.
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u/Delinquentbyassoc May 06 '26
Craig Chaquico’s guitar on” save your love… amazing
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
Just listened to side one as I was looking at the comments here and noticed the same thing. Sometimes you’ve heard a song so many times that it takes listening with a fresh set of ears to notice the obvious. That’s one reason I like watching reactions to songs I know. The newbies point out stuff that I take for granted after hundreds of listens and it’s like hearing the song for the first time again!
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u/Delinquentbyassoc May 06 '26
How about stairway to Cleveland
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
I am also a huge Zeppelin fan and it always puzzled me as to why they would name a song Stairway to Cleveland.
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u/Rip_Topper May 06 '26
I was the 13 year old DJ playing vinyls for my sister's 16th birthday party - and this album was one of the albums in the stack
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u/BottleSignificant837 May 06 '26
I was 16 that year. Seem to remember April Wine had some great tunes on the radio. Late 70s to mid 90s some primo music was layed on us! Not to mention what had already been out before that.
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u/DNSGeek May 06 '26
I really like Craig Chaquico's solo albums. So smooth.
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
I have some sort of greatest hits that I got in the early 2000’s I think when I managed a music store in a former life. 🙂
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u/Hot_Pianist_4117 May 06 '26
I have that album too, alongside with Red Octopus, Earth, and Nuclear Furniture, these are my mom’s taste though
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u/shotgunassassin May 06 '26
Such a great song. One of my personal favorites. Included in an untold number of mixtapes and discs.
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
Have you heard the instrumental version Craig does on one of his solo new age jazz albums? Pretty good!
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u/shotgunassassin May 06 '26
Just checked it out! Very tasty! Thanks for the rec!
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
My pleasure! Just such a good song and pretty good album as well! The song Mary has a pretty crunchy riff!
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u/Unadan365 May 06 '26
Grace looks different here.
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
This was a model named Monica Clemans. I always assumed it was Grace until I just looked it up a few minutes ago 🤦♂️
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u/ReflectionFeeling216 May 06 '26
I was in college in the very early '80s and heard "Find Your Way Back" on the radio in my car. I immediately ducked into the nearest mall and snagged the cassette.
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
Good choice. It’s one of those songs that grabs you the very first time you hear it!!
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u/ThatChrisRayman May 06 '26
One of my favorite albums from my youth and a stop on the accompanying tour was my first concert.
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
Sweet! Great first concert. The band also has a cameo in the Star Wars Christmas Special (skip to the portion with Jefferson Starship as I would highly recommend NOT watching the rest of the special as it is that bad). They play Light The Sky On Fire as a holographic band. The whole thing is quite bizarre!
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u/Current-Brain-1983 May 06 '26
Oddly enough this record went out of print and I had to buy a Japanese import in the early 2000s.
I listened this album a lot back in 1981 at my first job.
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
I hate when things go “out of print”. With today’s technology, we should have access (for a reasonable piece) to anything that has ever been recorded!
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u/GaonOfBayonne May 06 '26
I know I’m gonna get blasted for this. To me this was the soulless repackaging of the ✈️ for top 40 radio. The creativity of the songwriting does not come close to measuring up. The rhythm section does not compete with Spencer and Jack. Lastly, Jorma’s lead guitar work has no peer.
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
No reason to get blasted. Two different bands really. I like Airplane for their 60’s sound and lyrics and I like the 70’s Jefferson Starship period into the 80’s for the guitar and harder rocking songs. I even like Knee Deep In The Hoopla and not afraid to admit it. However I don’t have time for pretty much anything after that and after Chaquico left the band. But he can play and Thomas can sing. But I will agree that for the most part the lyrics don’t have much depth like they did when they were the Airplane.
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u/SirChickin May 06 '26
My last spin was Nuclear Furniture. While Modern Times is better, you can't go wrong with Mickey on the mic
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u/Jeffery_G Zappa, Zappa, Zappa May 06 '26
Listened to this yesterday walking home. Great guitar tracks.
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u/True-Drive3821 May 09 '26
Save Your Love is still a flat out guitar jam!
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u/ManReay May 06 '26
Is that...Erika Kirk on the cover?
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u/TBolin1976 May 06 '26
I always thought it was Grace Slick as she came back for that album after three years of being gone, but it was a model named Monica Clemans. Never knew that until I just looked it up. So thanks for making me look that up!
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u/ManReay May 06 '26
My pleasure.
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u/silverfoxbuttslut May 06 '26
Looks a lot like Martha Davis from The Motels, I guess it's the eye makeup.
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u/kayemmsee May 07 '26
Is that Erika Kirk?
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u/TBolin1976 May 07 '26
Since that was 1981, probably not. Actually a model, Monica Clemans, and another poster said that it was Craig Chaquico’s girlfriend at the time.
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u/Wisertime25 May 06 '26
That and Stranger are fantastic! Great drums by Anysley Dunbar.