Reggie was like many kids of his era: a big fan of the major rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He could often be found wearing a rock T-shirt and a denim jacket covered with patches from his favourite bands.

Heavy metal, however, was his passion. He loved bands such as Black Sabbath, Metallica and Slayer, along with obscure metal bands that would have been unfamiliar to most people. He subscribed to British music magazines such as Kerrang! to keep up with what was happening in heavy metal and to discover bands and recordings that were difficult to find in Canada.

His Favourite Concert

In 1986, Reggie and I were talking about concerts and I asked him which one had been his favourite.

His answer surprised me: Neil Young.

That wasn’t what I expected from someone whose musical world revolved around heavy metal. At the time, when I thought of Neil Young, I thought mostly of songs such as Heart of Gold and Old Man. Reggie reminded me of Neil Young & Crazy Horse and the much heavier sound of Rust Never Sleeps.

What had impressed him most, though, was the concert itself. Reggie told me that Neil Young seemed completely in control of the crowd and its mood. He said he had never seen another performer quite like him.

I remembered that conversation.

The following year, in 1987, I returned from backpacking around Europe and spent a couple of weeks exploring the East Coast and visiting friends I had met while travelling. While camping on Cape Cod, I noticed that Neil Young & Crazy Horse were scheduled to play at Great Woods three days later.

Because of what Reggie had told me, I bought a ticket and extended my stay.

I went into the concert a little sceptical. It was a cold, rainy evening, and I wasn’t nearly the Neil Young fan that Reggie was.

By the end of the concert, I completely understood what he had meant.

It was an amazing performance. Neil Young really did seem able to control the energy and mood of the audience in a way I had rarely seen. Reggie’s assessment had been right.

That concert remains one of the ways Reggie influenced the music I came to appreciate myself.

An Enormous Record Collection

Over the years, Reggie assembled an enormous music collection. When he moved out of his Charlottetown home, many crates of records ended up in my parents’ basement. I would estimate that his vinyl collection alone eventually numbered around a thousand records.

As he had more disposable income, the collection expanded to include large numbers of cassettes and CDs, including rare and bootleg recordings. He read British music magazines such as Kerrang! and sought out recordings by bands that could be difficult to find in Canada. His interests ranged from mainstream rock to heavy metal, speed metal, black metal and increasingly obscure bands.

By 2019, vinyl records had become popular again, and we decided it was time to sell what remained of Reggie’s collection. One of his children had already taken many of the more popular records, but there was still considerable value in what was left.

A Charlottetown record store bought the remaining collection for approximately $5,000.

Every cent went to my parents, helping them pay bills and make some purchases they had been putting off. After everything that had happened, it was nice to see something Reggie had loved eventually provide a little help to Mum and Dad.

The image below shows a sample of some of the more valuable records that remained in his collection.

Learning to Play Guitar

Reggie’s interest in music eventually led him to try making some of his own. He set out to teach himself guitar and purchased a high-quality, left-handed Fender Stratocaster.

Left-handed guitars were less common and could be expensive. Rather than adapting a right-handed guitar, Reggie spent about $1,800 on the left-handed Stratocaster he wanted.

He never told Mum and Dad what it had cost.

Reggie soon discovered that wanting to play heavy metal and being able to play it were two very different things. He practised songs such as Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple and Paranoid by Black Sabbath over and over, but he also realized that he needed to practise simpler music to develop his skills.

That included country music.

For a hard-core heavy-metal fan, apparently this was something best kept private.

Fortunately, Reggie had a Rockman, a small headphone guitar amplifier that allowed him to practise electronically without subjecting the rest of the house to everything he was playing.

As the brother living in the room above him, I was particularly grateful for the Rockman. There are only so many times you can hear someone practise Smoke on the Water or Paranoid before it starts to wear on you.

Reggie put many hours into learning the guitar. I don’t know how accomplished he eventually became, but I do know that he loved that Stratocaster. He kept it for years.

In his later years, when money became scarce, he eventually sold it for spending money.

Knowing how much that guitar meant to him, I suspect it was a difficult thing to let go.