OKAY. i figured id talk about 43 now finally!!! IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT IM NOT TALKING ABOUT 43 THE SONG ... BUT 43 THE BAND !!
PICS ARE AT THE BOTTOM!! SO IF U JUST WANNA SEE THE PICS AND SKIP THE LORE JUST SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM1!
it is honestly one of my favourite little lore tidbits honestly...
OKAY. for some background context,
tommy shaffner, steve rauckhorst, jc koszewski, and rick thomas all went to north royalton highschool together.
also important little fun facts that rlly nail in the sentimentalness of all of this: a lot of past (and I guess present) mushroomhead members went to north royalton!... jeff (I think), skinny, gravy, shmotz... likely a few more but those are the ones I know for sure!
tommy was a grade below steve and jc.. I THINK. and rick was a grade or two above steve and jc !!
for more context; jc koszewski was never IN mushroomhead but he worked for them and has been affiliated with them for about the same amount as tommy as, if not longer, since his dad grew up next door to and friends with, dinner!
for even more context; steve grew up living next door to jeff, and jeff introduced steve to a lot of the music he came to know and love, but most especially, jeff was the one who introduced him to mushroomhead! however many decades and years later, jeff would hand-pick steve to be his replacement after leaving!
sometime in 1999, jc was class president, with steve as his campaign manager! this was also around the time of columbine, or like, just after it, which is important to note, because kids who were metalheads and who looked "alternative" started to get more heavy ostracised and scrutinised ... which was something that jc wanted to change, at least within north royalton!
so, sometime in may, jc got all the choir kids together n rushed them into a van halen cover band, and then also got him, tommy, steve, and a few of their friends together to do a mushroomhead cover band for a school pep rally!! which was something jc had really been wanting to do for a while! and so they called themselves 43!!! like the song!!!
eagle eyed mrh fans will now realise that the 43 patch on steve's vest probably has a lot more significance and sentimentality than just being "haha! 43 like the song!"
now, rick WOULD'VE also been in the band, but he wasn't allowed to leave class because he was stuck in detention! also fun little fact, rick was a vo-ed kid!! rick would've been the bronson of the group, so when the time came for them to perform they had to go bronson-less </3 HOWEVER, rick did still help out where he could, in the form of supplying them all with the white camo jumpsuits they needed!
they were also going to perform without keyboards, but then one of their friends said he'd do it like.. the day before, because he figured out he could get out of class for it! so at least they had their shmotz!
for those who want to know who was who, at least out of tommy, steve and jc, I shall now tell you!
steve was jeff
jc was jmann
and tommy was jj! he was originally meant to be dinner, but their friend who was meant to be jj (some guy called chris... which might've been chris simmons but I'm NOT SURE. so don't quote me on that.) was just... too pathetically skinny to be able to pull it off... so!! they swapped!
let me just say.... how like.. crazy full circle moment that is btw. for steve especially ... like... living next door to a guy who plays in a band, who then gets you into said band, and then that band becomes your favourite band to the point of obsession. then you do a fun little cover band of said band, and u are the guy u look up to, live next to, and owe your obsession to... and from there, starting to hang out with the band more often, becoming a roadie and a tech for them, all to then find urself getting hand picked like 2 decades later by that same guy, to replace him. like..... LIIIKEEE.... STEVE REALLY WAS JUST FATED TO BE THE NEXT JEFF BASICALLY.
ummm! and then that night, they all went and saw mushroomhead!!! . or like day after or something!
and that. is bascially the story of 43!! there's a bit more too it but its kind of just like. little tidbits and whatnot .. not the most important thing ever.. but yeah!! idk!! its one of my favourite little bits of mrh-adjacent lore... :-33
OKAY. 43 PICS TIME1!! i have only 3...!! there might honestly be more out there I think there is probably like. 1 or 2 that I just forgot to save but... eventually ill go hunting again!! also sorry for like. the very clear Instagram screenshot quality... TOO LAZY TO FIX IT !!
okay!! ^_^
also... funny story ab the confetti at the pep rally.... they had like.. many bags of confetti right... and jc decided to throw a bag of it... but somehow ended up like... throwing the bag itself further than the actual confetti... also apparently jc was asked to join the track team like.. right after the performance bcos of how much he was bouncing around!! VERY CUTE
OKAY1! THATS THE STORY OF 43!!!
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