Oh yes, a sad day for all local musicians whose dreams of “rawk stahdom” seemed a little bit more attainable because of Daddy’s Junky Music.
After 39 years, the New Hampshire-based chain — with a dozen locations including five in Massachusetts — has unplugged for good. At one time, it was the one place where musicians could buy their gear without signing away their souls.
Another casualty of a down economy and Internet shoppers whose loyalty can be compromised for a dollar, Daddy’s rock and rolled with the times until it devolved into just another high-volume music retailer with amped-up prices.
Like the Friendly’s restaurant chain before it, Daddy’s lost its way. The word “junky” simply didn’t apply anymore.
In the early days, it seemed every weekend there was an excuse for all of us to pile into our guitar player’s girlfriend’s parent’s Camaro and head up I-93 to the wild frontier of sales-tax free New Hampshire.
Back then, Daddy’s was trove of treasures waiting to be unearthed beneath a hopelessly unorganized clutter of used guitars, keyboards, amps and random pieces of P.A. equipment. My prized catch was 21-inch Zildjian ride cymbal that seemed out of place leaning up against an amplifier. It was dirtier than an early Rolling Stones’ mix but it was cheap. Armed with a bottle of Groove Juice and a terricloth rag, I was able to polish it into a gem. I’d like to say I still have that cymbal today, but I think I sold it back to Daddy’s a long time ago.
Last week, I took my older son to Daddy’s in Burlington. He wanted to sell an extra guitar of his for credit toward some used P.A. speakers. They wouldn’t give us a dime for the guitar, which did make me wonder. I told my son if he did some extra chores in the house that I would buy the speakers for him this week. Looks like I have some splainin’ to do.
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