[Verse 1]
Slibno had a drum set and foam stapled to the wall
Vinny brought a loud guitar and dreams twice as tall
Mom would holler, “Turn it down!” from somewhere down the hall
They’d crank it up another notch and never hear the call
The neighbors knew the schedule every Friday after school
The windows shook and heads would bang, common sense was not the rule
Teenage dreams of knowing they were headed for the charts
Making enough noise to wake the dead and tear their ears apart
[Chorus]
Mohammed Akeem and Vinny Skin
With a short set list played again and again
The world may not remember, but those boys will not forget
The loudest little rock band, the finest friends you’ve ever met
And if you ask them both today, they’ll probably still agree
Those may have been the best years either one would ever see
[Verse 2]
Now one night they got lucky, got a chance to take the stage
Opened for David and the Giants, heroes of the age
For fourteen glorious minutes they were rock stars in their minds
And they’ve been telling that old story since nineteen-eighty-nine
The crowd was not enormous, and the paycheck less than grand
Standing underneath those lights was heaven for their band
And for a moment all those dreams they’d carried through the years
Even with the missing pedal stomp, success seemed oh so near
[Chorus]
Mohammed Akeem and Vinny Skin
With a short set list played again and again
Without their fame and fortune, still laughing when they can
About the night they opened for that mediocre band
And if you ask them both today, they’ll probably still agree
That was worth a hundred million records sold commercially
[Bridge]
Life went rolling by, just going with the flow
Jobs and bills and families,
now grandkids steal the show
Sunday mornings found them leading worship from the stage
Trading rock-and-roll ambitions for a different kind of praise
But every now and then they’ll sit and talk about the past
About the songs, the girls, the gear, and memories made to last
And somewhere deep inside them lives a couple teenage boys
Still trying to make a little more noise
[Loud scorching guitar solo that ends with a massive drum fill]
[Final Chorus]
Oh, Vinny Skin and Slibno, forty-five years on
Reminiscing on the stories, still laughing at the songs
The records never happened, and the fame it never came
But after all these decades passed, music courses through their veins
When someone asks them what their greatest claim to fame might be
They’ll grin and say,
“The opening act for David and the Giants, don’t you see?”
Then they’ll laugh and add,
“Mostly we just played real loud in Slibno’s bedroom.”
