"Oh, the coach came running out of the dugout screaming: 'Stratton! What in the hell!' He was totally flipping out." Having been relegated to the adolescent wasteland of Little League right-field, a young Michael Stratton tossed away the boredom of the summer afternoon by dropping into his first love: break dancing. "There really wasn't much to do out there, and the grass was perfect for a little breaking. It was the most important thing to me for a while, break dancing" he says, without even a hint of tongue-in-cheek. "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo changed my life," Stratton explains referring to the 1984 teen/breakdance movie that these days one might find, um. Well OK, you really won't find this movie anywhere. "Oh, I worshipped Turbo, (Michael Chambers) he was the coolest." "I was in a break dancing gang in Fort Collins, Colorado," (writer's note: laughing, having, troubles, writing, refocus. OK continue) "but most of the guys thought I was a sell out when I entered a dance contest in town." Oh, if only break dancing hadn't gone the way of the Lambada. Lucky for us, Michael pulled himself out of the ashes of the demise of the electric boogaloo fad, and found rock and roll.
Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan November 19th, 1974, Michael spent most of his early years bouncing around the "right-hand" state, following a father Ron who was a sales manager with General Electric. After stints in Colorado, and New Mexico, the Stratton family finally settled into Las Vegas, Nev. when Michael was kicking into the high school years. "My dad enjoyed moving. We never lived in the same house long," Michael remembers. But far from being a hindrance to his development, Stratton feels that his exposure to different cultures, and outlooks has enriched his view of America, and added to his liberal perspective. A perspective that he carries with himself today, in his life as well as his music. Growing up, music was always a part of Michael's life. As a matter of fact, his first experience with recording came in 1979 at the age of 5, on a home tape with his grandmother on organ. "It was Sound of Music," he recalls, "the 'raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens' song. Oh, it's great. I still have the tape around here somewhere." First it was piano for Michael, a few years of school choir, then guitar to rebel against the world. "Eddie Van Halen, Live without a Net Tour and I was hooked for life." With three lessons under his belt, an understanding of damn-near half the chords, (more than enough for most rock songs) he began knocking out the pop/punk with his high school band Gadfly. Influenced by the raw alterna/rock of Bob Mould, Descendents, and INXS, Michael melts this together with what he claims with pride as his favorite album of all time, The Muppet Movie soundtrack. "Frank Oz, Jim Henson, all I can say is: Wow."
Tucked somewhere between his days as a break dancing right fielder and his time as a high school rocker, Stratton lived the life of a hard-at-play wild child. "I would imagine that by the time I was 15, I probably had 20 visits to the hospital for broken bones and stitches. I had a green Kawasaki 80 motorbike when I was living in New Mexico, and boy, there was a lot of desert to ride in." It's with good reason that from this "Huck Finn" youth, Michael caught his first TV crush on the Nancy Mckeon character Jo from "Facts of Life." He still sighs, "she was so cool." Yeah Michael, I think you speak for us all when you say that.
He's had his ups and down, twists and turns; a life sent happily spinning on the cardboard box of life. Rock stardom seems like the next logical step. By the way, in the break dancing contest, Michael took second place, winning a $20 gift certificate to Oshmans Sporting Goods. "I think I bought a new pair of parachute pants. I was rad."
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