38 Special's Don Barnes talks Hold on Loosely

the song was hold on loosely the year was 1981 i'm don barnes of 38 special and these are the sounds of the time [Music] [Applause] [Music] the members of 38 special got their start in the musically rich culture of Jacksonville Florida and they weren't alone basically hit a golf ball and hit everybody that came out of the that area most people think it's from the water or something but Jacksonville was a navy town at four naval bases everybody played sailors clubs Allman Brothers Greg and Duane Allman ronnie van zant inner guys everybody that came out Tom Petty was from Gainesville and so we kind of owe our careers I guess to the Navy because we were out there every night you know we go to schools play it enlistments clubs at night the group's name came about as the result of an incident involving their first rehearsal space it was an auto parts warehouse was condemned we boarded all the windows up and the front door we made it about a foot thick with rebar and two-by-fours and like a vault because we had to leave our equipment out there it was middle of nowhere in the woods somebody lost the key to the lock so we had to find an old ladder we would climb up an old window upstairs we climb in climbed down him Hurst said one night we have been there about three months sound pressure inside this place was huge you know so we stopped the song and we heard him banging on the doors they tried to make a raid on this place I guess the cops from the constables we're on that area they don't have a what's going on they thought was wild parties or something so we yelled through the door we didn't have a key to the lock and then we'd have to climb up the window to climb up and one of them said out the outside so they had a 38 special everybody shoot the lock off like the Old West days or something you know and we thought that was kind of funny at the time we didn't have a name for the band so we decided we call it 38 special just for then and we'd come up with a better name later her and we just never did over time the band left behind the southern rock it started out with in favor of a newer sound we always said had been done by the best we were copying we strip it all away and said we wanna play arenas like everybody else we want to do that and get on the radio said it's simple for approach its we call a melody and muscle their new sound delivered a breakthrough hit a tune Don Barnes wrote with the help of his friend Jim Peterik of the band survivor I had gone through a bad time and a marriage back then where she was one to kind of criticize me and kind of keep me under her thumb and I was trying to be somebody trying to rise up we all work we all trying to so that became a clash with with a couple and I said to Jim what is it about people that can't seem to celebrate their differences and and support each other you know and give each other space to breathe you know and be themselves and and I had a little notebook and I had a title written down but you think about this title hold on loosely and he said oh yeah but don't let go and that was the first thing he said and it was the perfect couplet and we were just off to the races [Music] it's very simple song the chorus is the same chords as the verse and it was just really linear you know that's an anthemic song it's been we we save it to the very end like the cherry on top and everybody goes wild the song got a boost by being the 13th video shown on the first day of a certain music TV station MTV was just starting out they came out to Denver Rainbow Music Hall this is a station that was going on cable TV with no content so they would have to bring their own camera men out and film live stuff because they had no videos so yeah first day it was was this hold on loosely helped set the course for 38 special holding them steady through succeeding decades of lineup changes and music industry upheavals we've got a great melody a good voiceover and a good story then we always said if it ain't broke don't fix it so that's been our our Creed the whole time is keep it simple and keep it honest and put truth into it you know [Music]

Channel: Decades TV Network

Views: 155,896

Keywords: Don Barnes, 38 Special, Sounds of the Time, music, decades, through the decades, 1981, rock music

Id: K7SXG-LFW4o

Length: 4min 35sec (275 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 16 2018