2007 MARCH 20 #079
The Reaganomics Blues/Steel Mill Blues
MP3:
The Boys From California - The Reaganomics Blues (3:05)
Mike Pickering - Steel Mill Blues (2:17)
Mike Pickering - Steel Mill Blues
Yet another "blues" song stemming from the Reagan era.
The industrial backbone of the Mon & Ohio valleys has grown weak and brittle in recent years. As the furnaces cool and the whistles fall silent, more and more workers in the primes of their productive lives find themselves uneasily idle. To 18 year old Mike Pickering of Wellsville, Ohio, the final whistle at the Crucible Steel Division at Midland, Pennsylvania, in October, held a special message.
Mike's uncle, Bob Sullivan, had been a steelworker for 18 years until the Midland MIll shut down. Suddenly, the frustration, the anger and sense of hopelessness that has been haunting the families of steelworkers throughout the Tri-State area hit home hard and Mike's feelings came out in this moving song, "Steel Mill Blues." His uncle shared this song with me for a possible segment on KDKA-TV'S EVENING MAGAZINE. But when I heard it, I knew this was something very special.
- Contributed by: The Bomarr Monk
Images: Reaganomics Blues Front Cover, Steel Mill Blues Front Cover, Steel Mill Blues Back Cover
Media: 7" Singles
Label: DATOM Records/Air Craft Records
Date: 1982
