wikkidpissah
Footballguy
i hose off in your touk
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
5-10-15-20 "Music of Our Lives" Draft - Round 14 (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Northern Voice
- Start date
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Cure wins 20! Somehow, that probably makes them sad....
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
Thought she was gonna be the biggest thing ever, a woman finally breaking thru with & keeping rock cred. Unfortunately, so did she and it knocked her for a quarter-century loop. She's recovered quite nicely, though - making some of the best music out there now.
Eephus
Footballguy
McKee released a solo album a couple of weeks ago, her first in fifteen years and since coming out as pansexual a few years ago. I only made it part way through the album. Her singing is pretty decent, she's dialed back a bit on the caterwauling. The songwriting is ambitious to say the least.
El Floppo
Footballguy
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
SOD 
zamboni
Footballguy
Northern Voice
Footballguy
Age 20 album is so hard for me. 2002-2005 is such an incredible time for music.
zamboni
Footballguy
I'm going to have a hard time with age 25 and onwards. Not that there isn't tons of good music to choose from, but hard to pinpoint what was actually my favorite song/album at these intervals. Much easier to remember distinct periods when in elementary school/high school/college.
Last edited by a moderator:
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
@Mister CIA would your best guide there. she's his muse, i believe
i thought she'd OD'ed or sumn after Lone Justice (where she reminded my of the singer who ruined my mgmt career) but he put me back on the beam on her
El Floppo
Footballguy
album for 20yo me is easy.
I was big fan when I first heard Japan in the early 80s during their new romantic phase. never understood why they never got to duran duran levels, but also liked that they didn't get to duran duran levels (in the US- they were big elsewhere). loved mick karn's fretless bass. loved the arrangements. mostly, loved david sylvian's voice. something about it worked for their poppy stuff while keeping it a bit more esoteric somehow.
I tended to like a little more atmospheric/dark stuff through HS and college. and when sylvian released his first solo album- even though my other music friends found the B side bordering on pretentious.. I loved it. Side A was mostly sticking to Japan style rhtyhms and melodies- red guitar was a great pop tune for me. but he started to explore a lot more on side B... lots of atmospherics and pre-ambient stylings, married with sad but uplifting melodies.
his followup nailed it all for me. songs that ride between sorrow and joy and love and despair all in the same measure.
I saw him about 10 years ago at a local starbucks- I'm the least fan-boy fan in general ever. I don't pay attention to who did what or where- I just listen to the music and love it. I don't feel compelled to talk to the musicians or get autographs or read up... it's just a personal thing.
when I saw him there in starbucks drinking his mochafrappalattewhatever... I had to approach him. with heart beating in my mouth and pitch rising to helium levels out of nervousness I did my utmost best to explain to him what his music had meant to me over the years: it had been like a close, close friend- one I could turn to whether at my peak of joy or depth of despair.. and still find support, solace and sometimes answers. At a certain point, with nervous sweat dripping into my eyes and near heart-attack... I took a breath, stopped, looked around the table and realized he was sitting there with his family. and the genuine appreciation and thoughtfulness on his face had turned into something like concern and where do I go if this guy starts to actually lose his mind. I have no idea how long I had been there stammering at him... but I knew it was time to go.
david sylvian- gone to earth.
wave
It seems that I remember
I dreamed a thousand dreams
We'd face the days together
No matter what they'd bring
A strength inside like I'd never known
Opened the door to life and let it go
This sun may shine forever
Upon the back of love
A kingdom raised from ashes
And held within your arms
And should the rain break through the trees
We'll find a shelter there and never leave
I'll run to you, nothing stands between us now
Nothing I can lose
This light inside can never die
Another world just made for two
I'll swim the seas inside with you
And like the waves, without a sound
I'll never let you down
Upon a wave of summer
A hilltop paved with gold
We shut our eyes and made
The promises we hold
A will to guide and see us through
I'd do it all again because of you
I'll run to you, nothing stands between us now
Nothing I can lose
This light inside can never die
Another world just made for two
I'll swim the seas inside with you
And like the waves, without a sound
I'll never let you down
I'd tear my very soul to make you mine
I was big fan when I first heard Japan in the early 80s during their new romantic phase. never understood why they never got to duran duran levels, but also liked that they didn't get to duran duran levels (in the US- they were big elsewhere). loved mick karn's fretless bass. loved the arrangements. mostly, loved david sylvian's voice. something about it worked for their poppy stuff while keeping it a bit more esoteric somehow.
I tended to like a little more atmospheric/dark stuff through HS and college. and when sylvian released his first solo album- even though my other music friends found the B side bordering on pretentious.. I loved it. Side A was mostly sticking to Japan style rhtyhms and melodies- red guitar was a great pop tune for me. but he started to explore a lot more on side B... lots of atmospherics and pre-ambient stylings, married with sad but uplifting melodies.
his followup nailed it all for me. songs that ride between sorrow and joy and love and despair all in the same measure.
I saw him about 10 years ago at a local starbucks- I'm the least fan-boy fan in general ever. I don't pay attention to who did what or where- I just listen to the music and love it. I don't feel compelled to talk to the musicians or get autographs or read up... it's just a personal thing.
when I saw him there in starbucks drinking his mochafrappalattewhatever... I had to approach him. with heart beating in my mouth and pitch rising to helium levels out of nervousness I did my utmost best to explain to him what his music had meant to me over the years: it had been like a close, close friend- one I could turn to whether at my peak of joy or depth of despair.. and still find support, solace and sometimes answers. At a certain point, with nervous sweat dripping into my eyes and near heart-attack... I took a breath, stopped, looked around the table and realized he was sitting there with his family. and the genuine appreciation and thoughtfulness on his face had turned into something like concern and where do I go if this guy starts to actually lose his mind. I have no idea how long I had been there stammering at him... but I knew it was time to go.
david sylvian- gone to earth.
wave
It seems that I remember
I dreamed a thousand dreams
We'd face the days together
No matter what they'd bring
A strength inside like I'd never known
Opened the door to life and let it go
This sun may shine forever
Upon the back of love
A kingdom raised from ashes
And held within your arms
And should the rain break through the trees
We'll find a shelter there and never leave
I'll run to you, nothing stands between us now
Nothing I can lose
This light inside can never die
Another world just made for two
I'll swim the seas inside with you
And like the waves, without a sound
I'll never let you down
Upon a wave of summer
A hilltop paved with gold
We shut our eyes and made
The promises we hold
A will to guide and see us through
I'd do it all again because of you
I'll run to you, nothing stands between us now
Nothing I can lose
This light inside can never die
Another world just made for two
I'll swim the seas inside with you
And like the waves, without a sound
I'll never let you down
I'd tear my very soul to make you mine
simey
Footballguy
When I was in college there was a gay club in town called The Paddock Club. On Friday nights they had drag queen contests, and both straight and gay people went to see the shows. That club played the best music. They paid Sandy (Bullock) to dance on stage prior to the contests sometimes, and she was not the best dancer, but she hammed it up, and that is what they wanted. The club was connected to the back of the Harley Davidson shop. The bikers looked out for the club owner. I'd only go on Friday nights occasionally, but I always had a good time when I went.
simey
Footballguy
Eephus
Footballguy
20.alb Piece De Resistance - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
I was huge fan of the Boss from ages 15 to 20 (Born to Run through The River) and it peaked during my early college years and Darkness tour. My friends in the co-op where I lived listened to Springsteen incessantly and it became a tribal thing to separate us from the people who played REO, Journey and Styx. Springsteen only had four albums available so we sought out elusive and expensive bootlegs to satisfy our jones.
A lot of them were amateur recordings with crappy pressing but Piece De Resistance was just stellar. It was bootlegged from a radio broadcast so the sound quality was excellent by bootleg standards. Springsteen was mostly playing arenas on this tour but this homecoming show at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ was a smaller venue. The Boss was inexhaustible in those days and the band was in top form. I made a lot of cassettes of this record to give to friends so they'd stop bugging me to listen to it again.
I still remember the time when I bought the album. I had been home in Milwaukee for one of my increasingly rare visits and my mom was driving me to the station to catch the Badger Bus back to Madison. There was a record store that sold a lot of bootlegs on the way so I asked mom if we could make a quick stop. She came in with me which wasn't the coolest thing at the time but I understand much better the craving for more time after raising my own kids through their college years. I bought the record and we got back in the car. My mom asked me why the record store was selling all those little pipes; I explained they were for smoking marijuana. She then asked me if I smoked and I answered in the affirmative. She said "oh, OK" and was quiet for a few block. Then we started talking about something else.
Springsteen did an official release of Piece De Resistance a few years ago, presumably to assert copyright. I downloaded a copy for old time's sake. It was remastered and cleaned up so I guess it sounded better technically but I'll stick with the forty year old bootleg and my memories.
I was huge fan of the Boss from ages 15 to 20 (Born to Run through The River) and it peaked during my early college years and Darkness tour. My friends in the co-op where I lived listened to Springsteen incessantly and it became a tribal thing to separate us from the people who played REO, Journey and Styx. Springsteen only had four albums available so we sought out elusive and expensive bootlegs to satisfy our jones.
A lot of them were amateur recordings with crappy pressing but Piece De Resistance was just stellar. It was bootlegged from a radio broadcast so the sound quality was excellent by bootleg standards. Springsteen was mostly playing arenas on this tour but this homecoming show at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ was a smaller venue. The Boss was inexhaustible in those days and the band was in top form. I made a lot of cassettes of this record to give to friends so they'd stop bugging me to listen to it again.
I still remember the time when I bought the album. I had been home in Milwaukee for one of my increasingly rare visits and my mom was driving me to the station to catch the Badger Bus back to Madison. There was a record store that sold a lot of bootlegs on the way so I asked mom if we could make a quick stop. She came in with me which wasn't the coolest thing at the time but I understand much better the craving for more time after raising my own kids through their college years. I bought the record and we got back in the car. My mom asked me why the record store was selling all those little pipes; I explained they were for smoking marijuana. She then asked me if I smoked and I answered in the affirmative. She said "oh, OK" and was quiet for a few block. Then we started talking about something else.
Springsteen did an official release of Piece De Resistance a few years ago, presumably to assert copyright. I downloaded a copy for old time's sake. It was remastered and cleaned up so I guess it sounded better technically but I'll stick with the forty year old bootleg and my memories.
JZilla
Footballguy
So much great Seattle stuff it cancels itself out. Here's a poppy rock album, from a band I didn't know at the time, that I love to this day. Saw them in London on this tour with Lemonheads too. As far as your 90s-alt-radio-rock for the growing up set, stuff like Counting Crows, Toad, Cranberries, Collective Soul etc etc, this right here was as good as it ever got for my money
20yo.album Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union
On the edgier side I could have easily gone
20yo.album Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union
On the edgier side I could have easily gone
Faith No More - Angel Dust or AIC - Dirt
Eephus
Footballguy
zamboni
Footballguy
Really enjoyed that album.
They get props for bringing home a lot of runaways with their "Runaway Train" video. Not as much props for the cringeworthy lyric "Sitting in the sun with a popsicle, anything is possible.” (from "Without A Trace")
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
my last collaborator called me "Syl" all the time to piss me off. i only had tapes of two mistake-filled me&Yamaha versions of my songs to play him when we reunited after almost 40 yrs and they reminded him of Sylvian. i thought i was a lot less tremulous & pretentious, but i could see the similarlity in the depth of our baritones & the spare quality of my tapes. after listening to the Damage live album a few times, tho, i was no longer insulted. there's just always a TMI, cringeworthy line somewhere in each of his songs....
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Age 20 Album: Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium
Yeah, it's mostly a "greatest hits of the '70s". Kiss my butt.
It also has 4 previously unreleased songs. The original record was a double album and the last song on each side was one of these new tunes. They are all marvelous.
"Front Line" is a rocker about a disabled Nam vet.
"Ribbon In The Sky" is one of his finest ballads.
"That Girl" is a slinky dance tune.
"Do I Do" is a tour de force combo of jazz/funk/big band
One of the best bang-for-your buck albums ever.
Yeah, it's mostly a "greatest hits of the '70s". Kiss my butt.
It also has 4 previously unreleased songs. The original record was a double album and the last song on each side was one of these new tunes. They are all marvelous.
"Front Line" is a rocker about a disabled Nam vet.
"Ribbon In The Sky" is one of his finest ballads.
"That Girl" is a slinky dance tune.
"Do I Do" is a tour de force combo of jazz/funk/big band
One of the best bang-for-your buck albums ever.
El Floppo
Footballguy
Dammit.
Just remembered the tune that did dominate 20yo my life in a much more substantive way than that replacements tune did.
Dyke & the Blazers- Wrong House.
Heard funky Broadway being played at a record store in the village and immediately went to the front to enquire, and ultimately buy it. Was getting really into blues and funk during these first years of college, and Dyke and this song in particular itched the scratch. Or scratched the itch. Was the perfect groove for lots of things going on in my student Life...studying, designing, spacing out, sex, drugs, drinking...that's pretty much sums up my life's work that year.
Just remembered the tune that did dominate 20yo my life in a much more substantive way than that replacements tune did.
Dyke & the Blazers- Wrong House.
Heard funky Broadway being played at a record store in the village and immediately went to the front to enquire, and ultimately buy it. Was getting really into blues and funk during these first years of college, and Dyke and this song in particular itched the scratch. Or scratched the itch. Was the perfect groove for lots of things going on in my student Life...studying, designing, spacing out, sex, drugs, drinking...that's pretty much sums up my life's work that year.
MAC_32
Footballguy
The way we accessed our music changed dramatically during the early 2000's. Gone were the days of mining through the local record store and trying to build mix tapes off the local radio station. All of the music in the world would be at our finger tips soon enough. As bad as music was in the late 90's that wasn't the case in the early 2000's, but in my world that music wasn't the only 'new' music I was exposed to. Sure, some of those late nights and early mornings wandering down rabbit holes were to find acoustic and live versions of songs I already knew and loved. But it was also a time to dig into music before my time, uncovering soundtracks from previous generations and determining if they fit with me.
Age 20 album - Jane's Addiction, Ritual de lo Habitual
I knew who Perry Farrell was. Same with Dave Navarro. I knew of Jane's Addiction. I got to experience their post Jane's Addiction work - Perry had a couple of gems with Porno for Pyros (notably Pets and Tahitian Moon) while Navarro seemed to be collaborating with everyone. I was well aware of Been Caught Stealing and Jane Says from MTV, but neither song by itself did anything for me. When I was young my brothers played this album. Often. As well as their other work. I remember hearing it through the walls. I remember liking what I was hearing. But for whatever reason when developing my own music catalog I never considered wandering down this well.
Then one of those rabbit hole sessions happened. It was in the middle of the night, during the week - I want to say late fall but if I'm being honest college was such a blur I can't pinpoint timeframes not involving summer. I was at my off campus townhome. It was probably no different than most weeknights - on the back end of bad for us but free food, a few beers, and hours of Dr. Mario. My foolish roommates had retreated to their rooms and the girlfriends home because they signed up for classes before 11 am (who signs up for classes before 11 am). And I started hunting and pecking away. I don't recall the series of clicks that led me to STOP! but I remember getting there, pausing, leaning back in my chair, thinking...#### it, let's give this a shot. So I plugged my headphones in, turned the volume up to 11, hit play, and began scrolling for what's next. While I always gave new music an honest listen there was always a period of time in which the sound would need to engage me before I moved on.
With this particular album there was no such scrolling.
Señores y señoras
Nosotros tenemos más influencia con sus hijos que tú tiene
Pero los queremos
Creado y regado de Los Ángeles, ¡Juana's adicción!
What the #### was tha...
And before I could even finish that thought, the opening guitar riff... and, HERE WE GO!
I was not prepared for the 50 minute ride I was about to embark on. This album grabs you by the balls and does not give you a moment to breathe throughout the hectic first 10 minutes. THIS is Jane's Addiction? Where the #### have I been! And just as I thought I was getting a grasp on this album sometime as the long intro into the sixth track Three Days came to a close I would realize throughout the next 7 minutes that this gosh darned epic had just begun. Every time I thought that song would transition into the close it'd re-spawn, only more powerful than the last time. And again. And again. I found myself as Perry went into one final unintelligible scream uncontrollably pumping my fists in the air, body convulsing, lip snycing like a damn mental defect to lyrics I found online - totally lost in the sonic blast that just massacred my ears. And as I came down as the song finally, actually came to a close. I was exhausted. It hit me that it was 3 something in the morning and I just lost my damn mind in my bedroom. AND THERE WERE STILL 4 SONGS TO GO!
So, after more than a decade not being a part of my catalog, never being played at any of our parties. From that day forward, things were different with Jane's Addiction. And I think that rabbit hole is the best way to describe this period of music. It was about discovery - new and old. And this one was always right underneath my nose. One that included the greatest 10 minutes and 48 second piece of music ever made.
Age 20 album - Jane's Addiction, Ritual de lo Habitual
I knew who Perry Farrell was. Same with Dave Navarro. I knew of Jane's Addiction. I got to experience their post Jane's Addiction work - Perry had a couple of gems with Porno for Pyros (notably Pets and Tahitian Moon) while Navarro seemed to be collaborating with everyone. I was well aware of Been Caught Stealing and Jane Says from MTV, but neither song by itself did anything for me. When I was young my brothers played this album. Often. As well as their other work. I remember hearing it through the walls. I remember liking what I was hearing. But for whatever reason when developing my own music catalog I never considered wandering down this well.
Then one of those rabbit hole sessions happened. It was in the middle of the night, during the week - I want to say late fall but if I'm being honest college was such a blur I can't pinpoint timeframes not involving summer. I was at my off campus townhome. It was probably no different than most weeknights - on the back end of bad for us but free food, a few beers, and hours of Dr. Mario. My foolish roommates had retreated to their rooms and the girlfriends home because they signed up for classes before 11 am (who signs up for classes before 11 am). And I started hunting and pecking away. I don't recall the series of clicks that led me to STOP! but I remember getting there, pausing, leaning back in my chair, thinking...#### it, let's give this a shot. So I plugged my headphones in, turned the volume up to 11, hit play, and began scrolling for what's next. While I always gave new music an honest listen there was always a period of time in which the sound would need to engage me before I moved on.
With this particular album there was no such scrolling.
Señores y señoras
Nosotros tenemos más influencia con sus hijos que tú tiene
Pero los queremos
Creado y regado de Los Ángeles, ¡Juana's adicción!
What the #### was tha...
And before I could even finish that thought, the opening guitar riff... and, HERE WE GO!
I was not prepared for the 50 minute ride I was about to embark on. This album grabs you by the balls and does not give you a moment to breathe throughout the hectic first 10 minutes. THIS is Jane's Addiction? Where the #### have I been! And just as I thought I was getting a grasp on this album sometime as the long intro into the sixth track Three Days came to a close I would realize throughout the next 7 minutes that this gosh darned epic had just begun. Every time I thought that song would transition into the close it'd re-spawn, only more powerful than the last time. And again. And again. I found myself as Perry went into one final unintelligible scream uncontrollably pumping my fists in the air, body convulsing, lip snycing like a damn mental defect to lyrics I found online - totally lost in the sonic blast that just massacred my ears. And as I came down as the song finally, actually came to a close. I was exhausted. It hit me that it was 3 something in the morning and I just lost my damn mind in my bedroom. AND THERE WERE STILL 4 SONGS TO GO!
So, after more than a decade not being a part of my catalog, never being played at any of our parties. From that day forward, things were different with Jane's Addiction. And I think that rabbit hole is the best way to describe this period of music. It was about discovery - new and old. And this one was always right underneath my nose. One that included the greatest 10 minutes and 48 second piece of music ever made.
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
20yo Album - Dixie Chicken, Little Feat
Yes, it's further participation - touring w the Feat was the closest i ever came to running away and joining the circus (behind only astronaut in the dreams of my gen) - but it's more than that. I will put the A-side of Dixie Chicken (the title track/Two Trains/Roll Um Easy/On Your Way Down/Skin It Back) against any album side for seamless quality.
When i got sued out of the music biz, i went home and one of the adults who helped get me back into high school gave me a few hundred bucks, a six month lease on a storefront and a course on grant-writing and told me to start a street program for kids like i'd been. Good work, i enjoyed it, but my social life was clogged w musician pals wanting me to hook em up w ops and peeps in the bigtime. By law, i was not supposed to do this formally, but two friends fronted a company for me and we set about turning some local garage bands into club bands with enough success that those two friends made a career of it.
First thing i did was tell any band we were interested that, if they signed w B# Mgmt, they were no longer musicians. They were in liquor sales. No tuning, rambling, birddogging or dillydallying from the stage. I didnt have em in coordinated outfits or doing steps or anything (altho i did script some patter for those who needed it) but if they could not project their art without considering their audience simultaneously, their art was gonna get culled along the way anyways. With bands, i wouldnt send them out on auditions with an ounce of "whaddya think?" for a club owner to respond to. It was "how 'bout that?!" or nothing.
Set lists were a big part of that. Set lists move drinks and i formulated em like standup routines. Attention grabber/identifier/dance number/followup/ballad-slowdance/diversion/showpiece/dance/dance, sumn likat. Make music, make money, get to make more music.
Lowell George & the Feat practiced a coupla weeks, toured 11-12 wks/recorded for 3 at the end. Lowell would work out songs the whole way (cuz he never slept) and figure em in as they went along. By the time he introduced a song to the live act - thanks in large part to a wonderfully talented band - you couldnt figure how the set had ever got along without it. Side A of Dixie Chicken is proof of that skill - attention getter/bring it in/ballad/wisdom/wonder. dongitnobettah -
Yes, it's further participation - touring w the Feat was the closest i ever came to running away and joining the circus (behind only astronaut in the dreams of my gen) - but it's more than that. I will put the A-side of Dixie Chicken (the title track/Two Trains/Roll Um Easy/On Your Way Down/Skin It Back) against any album side for seamless quality.
When i got sued out of the music biz, i went home and one of the adults who helped get me back into high school gave me a few hundred bucks, a six month lease on a storefront and a course on grant-writing and told me to start a street program for kids like i'd been. Good work, i enjoyed it, but my social life was clogged w musician pals wanting me to hook em up w ops and peeps in the bigtime. By law, i was not supposed to do this formally, but two friends fronted a company for me and we set about turning some local garage bands into club bands with enough success that those two friends made a career of it.
First thing i did was tell any band we were interested that, if they signed w B# Mgmt, they were no longer musicians. They were in liquor sales. No tuning, rambling, birddogging or dillydallying from the stage. I didnt have em in coordinated outfits or doing steps or anything (altho i did script some patter for those who needed it) but if they could not project their art without considering their audience simultaneously, their art was gonna get culled along the way anyways. With bands, i wouldnt send them out on auditions with an ounce of "whaddya think?" for a club owner to respond to. It was "how 'bout that?!" or nothing.
Set lists were a big part of that. Set lists move drinks and i formulated em like standup routines. Attention grabber/identifier/dance number/followup/ballad-slowdance/diversion/showpiece/dance/dance, sumn likat. Make music, make money, get to make more music.
Lowell George & the Feat practiced a coupla weeks, toured 11-12 wks/recorded for 3 at the end. Lowell would work out songs the whole way (cuz he never slept) and figure em in as they went along. By the time he introduced a song to the live act - thanks in large part to a wonderfully talented band - you couldnt figure how the set had ever got along without it. Side A of Dixie Chicken is proof of that skill - attention getter/bring it in/ballad/wisdom/wonder. dongitnobettah -
Last edited by a moderator:
Steve Tasker
Footballguy
20 Year Old - Song - Arcade Fire - "No Cars Go"
My late teens and early 20s were big for me in terns of musical exploration, as I'm sure they were for most people.
Through my high school years, my friends and I listened pretty much exclusively to rap, hip-hop, R&B music. But as I turned 16, 17, 18, a few of my other friends had started playing in bands. They were big into the emo/pop-punk scene, and when I really started going to shows around this time, it was all emo or occasionally ska (@AcerFC) music. You name the 2003-2005 emo band, I've probably seen them play some dive in Buffalo, whether it be Mohawk, Showplace Theatre (RIP) or others. Around this same time, though, some of these friends started falling into hard drugs, and I distanced myself from their scene.
We had a university-wide, unofficial but unpoliced, DC++ filesharing system at the time. Any music you could think of, you could find. It was like opening a pandora's box of everything...old stuff, new releases, etc., and it didn't really matter to me anymore whether I was listening to what "the group" was listening to. It's when I really started to fall in love with bands like Arcade Fire. I remember being so hyped for Neon Bible, which came out just a few weeks before my 20th birthday. Hard to believe this song/album is 13 years old.
My late teens and early 20s were big for me in terns of musical exploration, as I'm sure they were for most people.
Through my high school years, my friends and I listened pretty much exclusively to rap, hip-hop, R&B music. But as I turned 16, 17, 18, a few of my other friends had started playing in bands. They were big into the emo/pop-punk scene, and when I really started going to shows around this time, it was all emo or occasionally ska (@AcerFC) music. You name the 2003-2005 emo band, I've probably seen them play some dive in Buffalo, whether it be Mohawk, Showplace Theatre (RIP) or others. Around this same time, though, some of these friends started falling into hard drugs, and I distanced myself from their scene.
We had a university-wide, unofficial but unpoliced, DC++ filesharing system at the time. Any music you could think of, you could find. It was like opening a pandora's box of everything...old stuff, new releases, etc., and it didn't really matter to me anymore whether I was listening to what "the group" was listening to. It's when I really started to fall in love with bands like Arcade Fire. I remember being so hyped for Neon Bible, which came out just a few weeks before my 20th birthday. Hard to believe this song/album is 13 years old.
Hov34
Eephus's Great Great Great Love Child
20 year old album (1989):
Could go with The Cure here, but they have had enough love. Really wanted to go Crowded House but "Temple of Low Men came out in 1988. Really loved that album and thought Neil Finn was some sort of 2nd coming of McCartney/Lennon. Saw them at the Ryman about 10 years ago? Love them.
But since I couldn't take Licensed to Ill (1986), I'll go "Paul's Boutique"
Ask For Janice
Could go with The Cure here, but they have had enough love. Really wanted to go Crowded House but "Temple of Low Men came out in 1988. Really loved that album and thought Neil Finn was some sort of 2nd coming of McCartney/Lennon. Saw them at the Ryman about 10 years ago? Love them.
But since I couldn't take Licensed to Ill (1986), I'll go "Paul's Boutique"
Ask For Janice
Northern Voice
Footballguy
This isn't my favourite album from this time period anymore (though it's right up there) but it was at the time, so I'm going with it. There's another couple I could go with here but I won't make a hot fuss over it to much, that might take me out of this write up and next thing I know it will be 12:51...
Anyway, If "The Way We Get By" was the song that sent me down the music exploration path, this was the album.
As I was new to indie music at the time, once again, I was sucked in at first by the big single, the song that brought this band that was well known in nerd music circles but unknown to people like me who had yet to delve deeper. Pretty sure it was on The O.C. too but it was EVERYWHERE.
And what a single it was. It may not be the biggest indie song from that era but it's pretty close and I'd say its the one that has most remained a part of the zeitgeist even up until today. I still hear it everywhere and it's never gotten old.
This is also the first band I can remember discussing on internet message boards, another turning point - it may have been here or maybe FFToday the TheHuddle. And it also pushed me to look backwards into what I had missed over the preceding years - which for these guys was two albums that are still in my top 50 or so all time.
I bought this album the day it came out in April and it was so perfectly suited to that time of year and time in my life... living truly away from my family for the first time, away at college, coming into warm weather, playing this in my Mazda3, with the windows down, having truly forged my own identity for the first time.
I moved back home later that summer and spent all my Saturday nights at The Trasheteria, our local college bar that had Rock and Roll Saturday nights - basically playing all the huge indie hits at the time (the logo for the night was The Strokes logo refashioned to say The Trash) and the big song was a staple there as well.
Anyway, it's really great. And beyond "Float On", it has "The View", "The World at Large", "Ocean Breathes Salty", "Bukowski", "One Chance" and on and on and on
20 Year Old Album - Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News.
Anyway, If "The Way We Get By" was the song that sent me down the music exploration path, this was the album.
As I was new to indie music at the time, once again, I was sucked in at first by the big single, the song that brought this band that was well known in nerd music circles but unknown to people like me who had yet to delve deeper. Pretty sure it was on The O.C. too but it was EVERYWHERE.
And what a single it was. It may not be the biggest indie song from that era but it's pretty close and I'd say its the one that has most remained a part of the zeitgeist even up until today. I still hear it everywhere and it's never gotten old.
This is also the first band I can remember discussing on internet message boards, another turning point - it may have been here or maybe FFToday the TheHuddle. And it also pushed me to look backwards into what I had missed over the preceding years - which for these guys was two albums that are still in my top 50 or so all time.
I bought this album the day it came out in April and it was so perfectly suited to that time of year and time in my life... living truly away from my family for the first time, away at college, coming into warm weather, playing this in my Mazda3, with the windows down, having truly forged my own identity for the first time.
I moved back home later that summer and spent all my Saturday nights at The Trasheteria, our local college bar that had Rock and Roll Saturday nights - basically playing all the huge indie hits at the time (the logo for the night was The Strokes logo refashioned to say The Trash) and the big song was a staple there as well.
Anyway, it's really great. And beyond "Float On", it has "The View", "The World at Large", "Ocean Breathes Salty", "Bukowski", "One Chance" and on and on and on
20 Year Old Album - Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News.
Last edited by a moderator:
Northern Voice
Footballguy
That Modest Mouse album really scratches my italics lyrics itch in places too. Though they can be bleak at times.
For every invention made how much time did we save?
We're not much farther than we were in the cave.
As life gets longer, awful feels softer,
And it feels pretty soft to me.
And if it takes #### to make bliss,
Well I feel pretty blissfully.
If life's not beautiful without the pain,
Well I'd just rather never ever even see beauty again.
For every invention made how much time did we save?
We're not much farther than we were in the cave.
As life gets longer, awful feels softer,
And it feels pretty soft to me.
And if it takes #### to make bliss,
Well I feel pretty blissfully.
If life's not beautiful without the pain,
Well I'd just rather never ever even see beauty again.
Northern Voice
Footballguy
Fed up with all that LSD
Need more sleep than coke or methamphetamines
Late nights with warm, warm whiskey
I guess the good times they were all just killing me
Got dirt, got air, got water and I know you can carry on
The good times are killing me
Enough hair of the dog to make myself an entire rug
The good times are killing me
Have one, have twenty more "one mores" and oh it does not relent
The good times are killing me
####-kicker city slickers who all wanted me dead
The good times are killing me
Need more sleep than coke or methamphetamines
Late nights with warm, warm whiskey
I guess the good times they were all just killing me
Got dirt, got air, got water and I know you can carry on
The good times are killing me
Enough hair of the dog to make myself an entire rug
The good times are killing me
Have one, have twenty more "one mores" and oh it does not relent
The good times are killing me
####-kicker city slickers who all wanted me dead
The good times are killing me
The Dreaded Marco
Footballguy
20 y/o album was also an easy choice for me. It was Spring term, sophomore year of college. I had been dating my future wife for a few months so we planned a Spring break road trip to meet each other's families. We attended a small school in Walla Walla, WA and first drove west to visit my parents in Seattle. Then traveled south to Reno to visit her mom, then further south to Desert Hot Springs, CA to visit her dad and step mom.
It was a great trip and The Joshua Tree had been released a few days before we left. That album was the soundtrack to much of our 2500 mile round-trip (including driving through Joshua Tree National Park). I was a huge U2 fan already and still love their first 6 formal albums. She became a fan after listening to it at least 15-20 times over those 2 weeks.
Still one of my favorite albums.
It was a great trip and The Joshua Tree had been released a few days before we left. That album was the soundtrack to much of our 2500 mile round-trip (including driving through Joshua Tree National Park). I was a huge U2 fan already and still love their first 6 formal albums. She became a fan after listening to it at least 15-20 times over those 2 weeks.
Still one of my favorite albums.
Binky The Doormat
Footballguy
Last edited by a moderator:
lakerstan
Footballguy
20 Year Old Album: Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 - George Michael (1990)
This album ended George Michael's run as a pop star, as he reinvented himself (much to the chagrin of Sony records) into an artist that wrote for himself and not for sales. While Praying For Time and Freedom 90 were somewhat successful on the charts, this was a more mature sound.
My favorite tracks are Cowboys and Angels - a 7 minute torch ballad in waltz time and Heal the Pain, which was later released as a duet with Paul McCartney.
This was his last record for several years due to a prolonged court battle over his contract, and unfortunately during that time I feel like he lost some of the power in his voice and I didn't care for his later work. This is still when he was vocally in his prime, but broke out of the pop mold - his best album in my opinion.
This album ended George Michael's run as a pop star, as he reinvented himself (much to the chagrin of Sony records) into an artist that wrote for himself and not for sales. While Praying For Time and Freedom 90 were somewhat successful on the charts, this was a more mature sound.
My favorite tracks are Cowboys and Angels - a 7 minute torch ballad in waltz time and Heal the Pain, which was later released as a duet with Paul McCartney.
This was his last record for several years due to a prolonged court battle over his contract, and unfortunately during that time I feel like he lost some of the power in his voice and I didn't care for his later work. This is still when he was vocally in his prime, but broke out of the pop mold - his best album in my opinion.
AhrnCityPahnder
Yinz-o-riffic
So, 3 or 4 years ago i was at my doctors office and i had to get some bloodwork done.
I finish up with my doc and he sends me over to the blood extraction dude...hes got his own room in this office. He's maybe 10 or 15 years older than me. He has a boombox / CD player in there and hes playing some R&B jam i dont recognize...it was nothing offensive and nothing amazing...just kinda there. Blood dude is making small talk with me and he says " do you like music?" I tell him i do, he asks me if i know whats playing. I tell him i dont know it. He says "this is Ray Parker Jr. Ever heard of him?" Me , being someone who grew up in America and is between the age of 37 and 55, I say what every other person in that demographic would say. "I know he did the Ghostbusters theme song...not a whole lot beyond that."
Things went from zero to ####in salty as hell in that room real quick. He gives me the stank sideeye and starts mumbling about "all any people know about Ray is Ghostbusters...this is some crap and it isnt right... HE HAS A GREAT CAREER OUTPUT OF MUSIC OUTSIDE OF THAT, YOU KNOW"
Me: "i no longer wish to get blood drawn today, i bid you a good afternoon"
Eephus
Footballguy
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Album was a little easier to pin down after taking a quick scan of albums from that time frame. Still going with the theme that I was still resisting the full embrace of alternative music, and don't remember fully loving albums that came out during this year until a few years later like Superunknown, Vitalogy, etc.. A lot of things that popped into my head were a blend of genres and remembered that is was the just about at my peak, albeit short, industrial phase. Had some Ministry before now and these guys (ok, singular person) were on my radar, but a lot of that stuff still seemed a little superficial. Then this album hit, and the anger, pain, sadness, just raw emotion of it hit me like no other album around that time. Wore out the album a couple times and needed to purchase it more than once for sure. I also saw a couple shows from this tour, and they still stand out as one of my favorite concert going experiences ever - just an amazing show. Oh, and anybody saying that Cash's version of the album closer is better is just wrong. 
Age 20 Album: NIN - The Downward Spiral
Ruiner
Reptile
Age 20 Album: NIN - The Downward Spiral
Ruiner
Reptile
AhrnCityPahnder
Yinz-o-riffic
This is a fun draft idea. Thanks for the tag earlier @Northern Voice.
Maybe at the end ill throw in a bunch of supplemental pix
Maybe at the end ill throw in a bunch of supplemental pix
otb_lifer
Footballguy
25 yrs old Song:
Wild Horses - The Sundays
first off, how gorgeous is this arrangement? it's such a haunting and atmospheric take, perfectly punctuated by the lovely Harriet Wheeler's siren-like voice. swoon.
my brother Pete passed the year prior (December '93), followed 10 days later by my cousin Frankie ... there was no Christmas.
Pete was a tough mutha - the most "Eye-Tahl-Yin" looking of all us 4 boys - tall and wiry, jet black hair, prominent schnozz - was quite the ladies man. he cut a swath through those neighborhood girls like none other - his crew were legendary in our 'hood - even as kids ya just knew that these were guys not to #### with, and when it came to be their turn as the "older" kids on the scene, they ran with it. the fights and rumbles and drugs and drinkin' and ladies and all that jazz - they were kings of that jungle, and let everyone know it.
Pete was always a cold and distant sort ... he was tight with his two best buddies, treated them more like family than his real brothers. i don't doubt for a second that he loved those guys - and barely "tolerated" his real siblings. such is life.
our dad passed in April '78, and my oldest brother Vinny left square for the service as soon as he could - he wanted out, and he got it. mom was stuck working 3 gigs at a time and was hardly home, so that left Pete "in charge", and he was a strict sum#####. if my younger brother or i failed to do a chore or have his lunch ready or not run to the store for him, it was big trouble. not a scolding, not telling mom - nah, Pete would beat the livin' #### outta us. and he was quick - his hands were lightning - would be 3 or 4 blows landed before you could even life your own hands in defense. so we learned to buck the #### up and fall in line. we never told mom, 'cuz being a rat would've resulted in something far worse than he'd ever "treated" us to prior ... of this i/we were certain.
we had ONE thing in common - the Yankees - my dad made sure of that. Joe D and Rizzuto and Lazzeri and Yogi and Pepitone - my dad was proud of those Italians, and would take us to the Stadium when we were kids at least twice a year.
but my dad wasn't yer typical cap wearing yobbo ... he just loved the team for what they meant to a marginalized group back when he was a kid and young adult ... Joe D showed the country that Italians could be more than "greasy guinea bastids" - plus, he snagged Marilyn - check freakin' mate.
dad was home one day a week - Sunday - and Joany girl, my Irish mom, would start the Sunday dinner prep 'round 9 a.m. - everything from scratch, as per my Italian granma's lessons (mom was a greenhorn, and needed to be taught how to cook for my dad "Petey").
the Yankee game would be the centerpiece of the afternnon - 1 o'clock on Sunday afternoon if they were home, or playing in the eastern time zone. Channel 11, with the Scooter and Bill White and Frank Messer - folks can blag on about great announcing teams all they want - NO ONE ever did it in the booth like those three. period.
dad took us over to a hotel in Jersey where the team was staying once after the '76 pennant winning season, believe it was an awards dinner of some sorts - anyways, we got to meet a few players in the lobby - it was me and Pete and dad ... there was Thurman Munson! oh, and, look Roy White! we got autographs from both, and Pete and i were so freakin' giddy, and they became our favorite players - Pete loved Thurm, i was smitten with #6, Roy White. we were "friends" for about a week after this, actually getting along and talking baseball and music and all sorts of ####. it meant the world to me, i looked up to him so much.
then i goofed up in school by insulting his friend Chickie's sister ... Pete dealt with me severely and quickly - and that was it for awhile. see, that was the thing - ya couldn't #### with his crew in any way/shape/form ... so "insulting" a mate's sister (i told her that her glasses were too big for her face
) was grounds for punishment.
we later found out that another reason dad loved the Yankees so much was because he bet on any and everything under the sun ... we already knew about the horses, 'cuz we spent more time at Roosevelt Raceway and Aqueduct as we did in school (or so it seemed) ... mom allowed years after dad passed that he won a boatload on the '56 WS (the year they were married, and the house down payment and new car were procured by that wager). Pete started running dad's bet slips for him down to "the club" ... dad was taking action, and wagering himself. him and his brothers were running with a small time crew at that time - and now Pete was getting a taste of the "fun".
and when he was old enough him and his buddies did likewise. i would go through his "book" after he crawled in at (usually) 6 in the morning - hundreds of bets and lines and tags and dollars - him and his best friend Larry were running it outra the corner bar - which was a notorious bucket o' blood, which i was forbidden to even go near.
they were running coke, as well. i'd find the squares all over our apartment- like dude was so ####in' wired he had no idea. after i became a fiend myself i always found that odd, seeing as how i'd go looking for leftover residue and wind up snorting plaster, ferchrissakes.
when i started getting into the punk and alt music it created even more of a rift ... he refused to be seen anywhere near me after i got my mohawk, called me a "####in' ######", and was done with me. he had himself a spiffy Grand Prix at this time, was his pride and joy - he loved that car like i couldn't even begin to tell ya ... was his baby.
he'd sleep all day, and the car would be parked across the street most of the time ... now, this was a notorious neighborhood for car break-ins and thefts ... but his was never touched. not a scratch. hell, he even left the door unlocked at times - that told me no one wanted to #### with him, or that it was his crew doing all the break ins.
now, about that open door ... it was raining pretty hard one afternoon, and i was with my then gf Frannie - i couldn't take her upstairs 'cuz he was sleeping, and i was itching to get my hands on her. so i tried his driver's side door. it opened.
it was a torrential downpour, streets were deserted, and we fogged that mutha up toot sweet - damn, it was getting good - then the door was ripped open, and he dragged me out by what little bit of 'hawk hair i had - i was in a state of undress, to boot (as was the lovely Francesca) - and that was it - i fought him back this time, and more than held my own. yeah, he was just outra bed, and hungover/coming down, but, still - i got mine in. knocked him on his ###.
mom found out and laid into me like i had just ripped out her kidney ... she favored him a ton over me and my younger brother to begin with, now THIS. she made my life impossible for months. if i coulda jammed out i would've, but i had nowhere to go but the streets - they really made that year or so pure hell on me.
he continued with his ways, though ... mom turned a blind eye, especially when he began to take ill. first it was his kidneys, he'd eventually need dialysis twice a week. then his heart. he had his first episode while eating dinner one night, looked like he had been tasered - when mom returned from the hospital she told us he had a seizure and a heart attack.
he recovered via surgery, and was fit enough to continue the dialysis- mom was too busy working, so it was up to me to run him to and fro. he'd be hooked up for hours, and i'd sit in the waiting room, even though he always insisted i go out to eat or to a bar or something. i told him i didn't wanna leave him alone. he told me not to be a f ag. that was Pete.
'93 was a tough year, he had more surgery, and was getting worse by the day ... had to do home dialysis with an IV pole and Baxter solution bags - it freaked me the #### out. but ya know what? he still went out and carried on ... like nothing was wrong - incredible. he really didn't give a ####.
he needed a kidney. i was tested and approved. his doc said he was still too weak to undergo the surgery, so we had to wait ... which really friggin' pissed me off - he had a way out, but just couldn't help himself.
we took him out for dinner on his birthday that year ... me and my new preppie gf Teresa and mom. we parked the car and had to walk about 2 blocks to the restaurant ... he had to stop every 5 steps or so because he couldn't breathe. he was in rough shape - but still bummed an after dinner smoke from me " don't tell mom, ya hear!"
Teresa and i moved in together eventually, and had Pete and mom over for Thanksgiving. we were watching the Cowboys/Dolphins while the ladies were busy in the kitchen ... this was the Leon Lett game, and Pete had a huge bet on the Dolphins money line - AYFKM? thought he was gonna drop right there when the Dolphins recovered the Lett fumble and won - he high fived me and jumped up like a rocket - one of the few smiles i ever saw outra him, and also the last.
we went on the stoop for an after dinner smoke, as Terri wouldn't allow smoking in our place (ooooffffaaa!) - and he thanked me. thanked me for the dinner and the day - thanked me for being there. told me he was always envious of how i just did my own thing. and how proud he was to see where i took my life after all the bull#### i visited upon myself. he wound up by asking me to take care of mom, because he was not gonna be around much longer (our youngest brother was locked up constantly, and Vince was travelling the world in the Navy, still).
Pete was hospitalized for the last time in early December - was a miserably cold and icy day, and it was a Sunday morning. mom called and asked if i could go out to visit him because she said Pete asked her to take a break, and have a relaxing day for a change - and that i hadn't been out yet, so i was due. i was pissed, hungover like hell, and really had NO desire to make that ####### trek. she basically begged me. so, i woke Terri up, and we got ready. mom asked me to bring a Snapple and a ham and muhtz to him because he said the hospital food was "pure effin' white bread garbage" ... ok.
he was watching the Jets/Redskins game when i got there ... he kept telling me the UNDER was the surest bet of the year ... think it was 0-0 at the half, and wound up as a 3-0 final ... jeez. Cowboys/Vikings was coming up as the 4 oclock game, and he told me he put everyone on Dallas. so, there he was, on his last legs, still scheming - ya gotta love it.
we gave him his food, and he barely touched it - he didn't look right. he started to twitch a bit, said he had a headache - Terri went to get the nurse, as they weren't responding to his buzzing alerts.
he didn't die alone. i was there when it happened. held him until it was over.
an army descended on the room, literally throwing me out - "Code Blue" was announced for his room. i sat out there helpless, but i knew he was gone.
Terri called mom, and her pops picked her up to drive her down - i never saw my mom so frazzled. she was in shock.
about an hour later his doc sat with us in the solarium to explain things better ... said he offered Pete a last ditch surgery that week, one that might turn the tide - but Pete refused, saying he was tired of the operations and didn't wanna go under again. to quote the doc, Pete said "no ####in' way".
he also told us Pete's heart was barely existant at this time ... he made a fist and said that's like the normal muscle .. said Pete barely had a fingernail's worth left. said it was remarkable how long he made it, all things considered ... said he was a tough sonofagun, but that the fight left him.
his wake was surreal, especially when my younger brother showed up - he was still in jail at that time, but was given permission to attend the wake for 30 minutes. he came in shackled - my Aunt Lena went nuts, yelling at the guards to show a little compassion and to let my brother be mourned with some dignity ... they laughed. no ####. amazing they got outta there alive. right mutha ####ers. my younger brother was in for an armed taxi-cab jack, but this was a bit much ... the guards explained that any prisoner in these situations that was convicted of an armed offense mandated the shackles. ok, fair enough - but laughing?
everyone thanked me for being there at the hospital so that Pete didn't die alone. his friend Cheryl said she sensed that he waited for me to come, because he didn't wanna die in front of our mom. that stopped me cold in my tracks.
mom had the repast at her apartment, and all of his friends and crew and buddies were all so gracious and warm towards me, they were decent folks deep down - not the pr1cks everyone saw them as. i always knew that.
when all was over with, mom called me into Pete's room - she gave me his gold Yankees chain, and the Munson and White autographed cards - he kept them safe all those years, i never knew (they lived in a house that burned to the ground in '91, but he rescued them!) she hugged me and said how much she needed me to be strong for her ... and thanked me for all i had done in making it as easy as possible on her, as i had to make all the funeral arrangements, etc as she was incapable of such due to overwhelming grief. was about the only time she threw any real affection my way in my entire life.
his ex Carla called me a few days later ... they remained tight after their breakup (they were even engaged at one point). she told me so many stories of how Pete would talk so glowingly of me, and how much he loved me. WHAT?!? yeah, she said he did it often, but that he didn't know how to articulate it to me, personally. Pete was the hugest Stones fan, hit every concert of theirs within 500 miles, it seemed (was even downtown working with a crew during their "Waiting on a Friend" vid shoot). she told me the last time she got to talk to him that he told her of a song he heard in the car on the way home from his birthday dinner - said it was a cover of "Wild Horses" by some "Irish chick" - i remember him asking me about it after it was done playing that night, and i told him it was the Sundays, Harriet Wherler singing ... he went "hmmmmm", which, coming from him, was gushing praise - i knew my brother - just wish i "knew" him more.
"childhood living/is easy to do"
R.I.P.
Wild Horses - The Sundays
first off, how gorgeous is this arrangement? it's such a haunting and atmospheric take, perfectly punctuated by the lovely Harriet Wheeler's siren-like voice. swoon.
my brother Pete passed the year prior (December '93), followed 10 days later by my cousin Frankie ... there was no Christmas.
Pete was a tough mutha - the most "Eye-Tahl-Yin" looking of all us 4 boys - tall and wiry, jet black hair, prominent schnozz - was quite the ladies man. he cut a swath through those neighborhood girls like none other - his crew were legendary in our 'hood - even as kids ya just knew that these were guys not to #### with, and when it came to be their turn as the "older" kids on the scene, they ran with it. the fights and rumbles and drugs and drinkin' and ladies and all that jazz - they were kings of that jungle, and let everyone know it.
Pete was always a cold and distant sort ... he was tight with his two best buddies, treated them more like family than his real brothers. i don't doubt for a second that he loved those guys - and barely "tolerated" his real siblings. such is life.
our dad passed in April '78, and my oldest brother Vinny left square for the service as soon as he could - he wanted out, and he got it. mom was stuck working 3 gigs at a time and was hardly home, so that left Pete "in charge", and he was a strict sum#####. if my younger brother or i failed to do a chore or have his lunch ready or not run to the store for him, it was big trouble. not a scolding, not telling mom - nah, Pete would beat the livin' #### outta us. and he was quick - his hands were lightning - would be 3 or 4 blows landed before you could even life your own hands in defense. so we learned to buck the #### up and fall in line. we never told mom, 'cuz being a rat would've resulted in something far worse than he'd ever "treated" us to prior ... of this i/we were certain.
we had ONE thing in common - the Yankees - my dad made sure of that. Joe D and Rizzuto and Lazzeri and Yogi and Pepitone - my dad was proud of those Italians, and would take us to the Stadium when we were kids at least twice a year.
but my dad wasn't yer typical cap wearing yobbo ... he just loved the team for what they meant to a marginalized group back when he was a kid and young adult ... Joe D showed the country that Italians could be more than "greasy guinea bastids" - plus, he snagged Marilyn - check freakin' mate.
dad was home one day a week - Sunday - and Joany girl, my Irish mom, would start the Sunday dinner prep 'round 9 a.m. - everything from scratch, as per my Italian granma's lessons (mom was a greenhorn, and needed to be taught how to cook for my dad "Petey").
the Yankee game would be the centerpiece of the afternnon - 1 o'clock on Sunday afternoon if they were home, or playing in the eastern time zone. Channel 11, with the Scooter and Bill White and Frank Messer - folks can blag on about great announcing teams all they want - NO ONE ever did it in the booth like those three. period.
dad took us over to a hotel in Jersey where the team was staying once after the '76 pennant winning season, believe it was an awards dinner of some sorts - anyways, we got to meet a few players in the lobby - it was me and Pete and dad ... there was Thurman Munson! oh, and, look Roy White! we got autographs from both, and Pete and i were so freakin' giddy, and they became our favorite players - Pete loved Thurm, i was smitten with #6, Roy White. we were "friends" for about a week after this, actually getting along and talking baseball and music and all sorts of ####. it meant the world to me, i looked up to him so much.
then i goofed up in school by insulting his friend Chickie's sister ... Pete dealt with me severely and quickly - and that was it for awhile. see, that was the thing - ya couldn't #### with his crew in any way/shape/form ... so "insulting" a mate's sister (i told her that her glasses were too big for her face
) was grounds for punishment.we later found out that another reason dad loved the Yankees so much was because he bet on any and everything under the sun ... we already knew about the horses, 'cuz we spent more time at Roosevelt Raceway and Aqueduct as we did in school (or so it seemed) ... mom allowed years after dad passed that he won a boatload on the '56 WS (the year they were married, and the house down payment and new car were procured by that wager). Pete started running dad's bet slips for him down to "the club" ... dad was taking action, and wagering himself. him and his brothers were running with a small time crew at that time - and now Pete was getting a taste of the "fun".
and when he was old enough him and his buddies did likewise. i would go through his "book" after he crawled in at (usually) 6 in the morning - hundreds of bets and lines and tags and dollars - him and his best friend Larry were running it outra the corner bar - which was a notorious bucket o' blood, which i was forbidden to even go near.
they were running coke, as well. i'd find the squares all over our apartment- like dude was so ####in' wired he had no idea. after i became a fiend myself i always found that odd, seeing as how i'd go looking for leftover residue and wind up snorting plaster, ferchrissakes.
when i started getting into the punk and alt music it created even more of a rift ... he refused to be seen anywhere near me after i got my mohawk, called me a "####in' ######", and was done with me. he had himself a spiffy Grand Prix at this time, was his pride and joy - he loved that car like i couldn't even begin to tell ya ... was his baby.
he'd sleep all day, and the car would be parked across the street most of the time ... now, this was a notorious neighborhood for car break-ins and thefts ... but his was never touched. not a scratch. hell, he even left the door unlocked at times - that told me no one wanted to #### with him, or that it was his crew doing all the break ins.
now, about that open door ... it was raining pretty hard one afternoon, and i was with my then gf Frannie - i couldn't take her upstairs 'cuz he was sleeping, and i was itching to get my hands on her. so i tried his driver's side door. it opened.
it was a torrential downpour, streets were deserted, and we fogged that mutha up toot sweet - damn, it was getting good - then the door was ripped open, and he dragged me out by what little bit of 'hawk hair i had - i was in a state of undress, to boot (as was the lovely Francesca) - and that was it - i fought him back this time, and more than held my own. yeah, he was just outra bed, and hungover/coming down, but, still - i got mine in. knocked him on his ###.
mom found out and laid into me like i had just ripped out her kidney ... she favored him a ton over me and my younger brother to begin with, now THIS. she made my life impossible for months. if i coulda jammed out i would've, but i had nowhere to go but the streets - they really made that year or so pure hell on me.
he continued with his ways, though ... mom turned a blind eye, especially when he began to take ill. first it was his kidneys, he'd eventually need dialysis twice a week. then his heart. he had his first episode while eating dinner one night, looked like he had been tasered - when mom returned from the hospital she told us he had a seizure and a heart attack.
he recovered via surgery, and was fit enough to continue the dialysis- mom was too busy working, so it was up to me to run him to and fro. he'd be hooked up for hours, and i'd sit in the waiting room, even though he always insisted i go out to eat or to a bar or something. i told him i didn't wanna leave him alone. he told me not to be a f ag. that was Pete.
'93 was a tough year, he had more surgery, and was getting worse by the day ... had to do home dialysis with an IV pole and Baxter solution bags - it freaked me the #### out. but ya know what? he still went out and carried on ... like nothing was wrong - incredible. he really didn't give a ####.
he needed a kidney. i was tested and approved. his doc said he was still too weak to undergo the surgery, so we had to wait ... which really friggin' pissed me off - he had a way out, but just couldn't help himself.
we took him out for dinner on his birthday that year ... me and my new preppie gf Teresa and mom. we parked the car and had to walk about 2 blocks to the restaurant ... he had to stop every 5 steps or so because he couldn't breathe. he was in rough shape - but still bummed an after dinner smoke from me " don't tell mom, ya hear!"
Teresa and i moved in together eventually, and had Pete and mom over for Thanksgiving. we were watching the Cowboys/Dolphins while the ladies were busy in the kitchen ... this was the Leon Lett game, and Pete had a huge bet on the Dolphins money line - AYFKM? thought he was gonna drop right there when the Dolphins recovered the Lett fumble and won - he high fived me and jumped up like a rocket - one of the few smiles i ever saw outra him, and also the last.
we went on the stoop for an after dinner smoke, as Terri wouldn't allow smoking in our place (ooooffffaaa!) - and he thanked me. thanked me for the dinner and the day - thanked me for being there. told me he was always envious of how i just did my own thing. and how proud he was to see where i took my life after all the bull#### i visited upon myself. he wound up by asking me to take care of mom, because he was not gonna be around much longer (our youngest brother was locked up constantly, and Vince was travelling the world in the Navy, still).
Pete was hospitalized for the last time in early December - was a miserably cold and icy day, and it was a Sunday morning. mom called and asked if i could go out to visit him because she said Pete asked her to take a break, and have a relaxing day for a change - and that i hadn't been out yet, so i was due. i was pissed, hungover like hell, and really had NO desire to make that ####### trek. she basically begged me. so, i woke Terri up, and we got ready. mom asked me to bring a Snapple and a ham and muhtz to him because he said the hospital food was "pure effin' white bread garbage" ... ok.
he was watching the Jets/Redskins game when i got there ... he kept telling me the UNDER was the surest bet of the year ... think it was 0-0 at the half, and wound up as a 3-0 final ... jeez. Cowboys/Vikings was coming up as the 4 oclock game, and he told me he put everyone on Dallas. so, there he was, on his last legs, still scheming - ya gotta love it.
we gave him his food, and he barely touched it - he didn't look right. he started to twitch a bit, said he had a headache - Terri went to get the nurse, as they weren't responding to his buzzing alerts.
he didn't die alone. i was there when it happened. held him until it was over.
an army descended on the room, literally throwing me out - "Code Blue" was announced for his room. i sat out there helpless, but i knew he was gone.
Terri called mom, and her pops picked her up to drive her down - i never saw my mom so frazzled. she was in shock.
about an hour later his doc sat with us in the solarium to explain things better ... said he offered Pete a last ditch surgery that week, one that might turn the tide - but Pete refused, saying he was tired of the operations and didn't wanna go under again. to quote the doc, Pete said "no ####in' way".
he also told us Pete's heart was barely existant at this time ... he made a fist and said that's like the normal muscle .. said Pete barely had a fingernail's worth left. said it was remarkable how long he made it, all things considered ... said he was a tough sonofagun, but that the fight left him.
his wake was surreal, especially when my younger brother showed up - he was still in jail at that time, but was given permission to attend the wake for 30 minutes. he came in shackled - my Aunt Lena went nuts, yelling at the guards to show a little compassion and to let my brother be mourned with some dignity ... they laughed. no ####. amazing they got outta there alive. right mutha ####ers. my younger brother was in for an armed taxi-cab jack, but this was a bit much ... the guards explained that any prisoner in these situations that was convicted of an armed offense mandated the shackles. ok, fair enough - but laughing?
everyone thanked me for being there at the hospital so that Pete didn't die alone. his friend Cheryl said she sensed that he waited for me to come, because he didn't wanna die in front of our mom. that stopped me cold in my tracks.
mom had the repast at her apartment, and all of his friends and crew and buddies were all so gracious and warm towards me, they were decent folks deep down - not the pr1cks everyone saw them as. i always knew that.
when all was over with, mom called me into Pete's room - she gave me his gold Yankees chain, and the Munson and White autographed cards - he kept them safe all those years, i never knew (they lived in a house that burned to the ground in '91, but he rescued them!) she hugged me and said how much she needed me to be strong for her ... and thanked me for all i had done in making it as easy as possible on her, as i had to make all the funeral arrangements, etc as she was incapable of such due to overwhelming grief. was about the only time she threw any real affection my way in my entire life.
his ex Carla called me a few days later ... they remained tight after their breakup (they were even engaged at one point). she told me so many stories of how Pete would talk so glowingly of me, and how much he loved me. WHAT?!? yeah, she said he did it often, but that he didn't know how to articulate it to me, personally. Pete was the hugest Stones fan, hit every concert of theirs within 500 miles, it seemed (was even downtown working with a crew during their "Waiting on a Friend" vid shoot). she told me the last time she got to talk to him that he told her of a song he heard in the car on the way home from his birthday dinner - said it was a cover of "Wild Horses" by some "Irish chick" - i remember him asking me about it after it was done playing that night, and i told him it was the Sundays, Harriet Wherler singing ... he went "hmmmmm", which, coming from him, was gushing praise - i knew my brother - just wish i "knew" him more.
"childhood living/is easy to do"
R.I.P.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Excited to be able to legally drink now
Age 25 song: Love in this Club by Usher
At this point, I have a very serious girlfriend (current wife), am working full time as a teacher and entered into the wedding stage of life. It seemed like 25-27 was a constant barrage of weddings (mine included). One thing you could guarantee at these events was later into the night when most of the oldies tapped out and the drinks had piled up, Usher would come on and all the young people would flood the dance floor.
Age 25 song: Love in this Club by Usher
At this point, I have a very serious girlfriend (current wife), am working full time as a teacher and entered into the wedding stage of life. It seemed like 25-27 was a constant barrage of weddings (mine included). One thing you could guarantee at these events was later into the night when most of the oldies tapped out and the drinks had piled up, Usher would come on and all the young people would flood the dance floor.
AcerFC
Footballguy
Age 25 Song
AFI- Girls Not Gray
It was really weird seeing this punk rock band that you saw in someones garage in NJ have songs on the radio and be an MTV band. But that is what happened to AFI. Their music changed as the years went on. Their latest stuff sounds like it could have been featured in Timmys New Wave list (although Tim declared New Wave dead after 85 bc it wasnt New anymore)
AFI- Girls Not Gray
It was really weird seeing this punk rock band that you saw in someones garage in NJ have songs on the radio and be an MTV band. But that is what happened to AFI. Their music changed as the years went on. Their latest stuff sounds like it could have been featured in Timmys New Wave list (although Tim declared New Wave dead after 85 bc it wasnt New anymore)
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
Age 25 song - I Am Not Willing - Wilco
Between ages 24-26, I was living at 666 Jersey Avenue in Jersey City with my college friend Jason who was the lead singer of a band , Sleeping on the Sun, I was managing (just calling around to NYC clubs trying to get them booked, running the mailing list, etc.). He came home from a music industry trade show with some compilation sampler CDs and this song by Wilco (who I had never heard of) was on it and I became obsessed with it. I did not realize until later it was a cover song originally performed by Moby Grape. I was still into classic rock and more mainstream (MTV) music so I was not aware of the No Depression/Alt-Country scene so I had no idea about Uncle Tupelo. That all changed as Wilco was now ingrained in my mind and I remember ordering Being There a year or so later without having heard anything on it. This was a turning point for me. Alt-Country/Americana was now my music of choice. Up until about 8-10 years ago I still referred to Wilco as "my favorite new band" until I realized that they had been around about 20 years and were just now one of my favorite bands PERIOD. Since I was around 25 years old they have probably been the band I've listened to more than any other. The Stones would still hold the life-long crown since they had a major head start and since I still listen to them often enough that Wilco can probably never catch up. To this day my musical taste generally gravitates to alt-country, americana and (non-radio) country even though Wilco has drifted away from that genre over the years.
Being There is one of my favorite albums of all-time but since it came out sometime between 25 and 30 years of age for me I won't include it in this draft even though its a big part of the "Music of My Life".
Between ages 24-26, I was living at 666 Jersey Avenue in Jersey City with my college friend Jason who was the lead singer of a band , Sleeping on the Sun, I was managing (just calling around to NYC clubs trying to get them booked, running the mailing list, etc.). He came home from a music industry trade show with some compilation sampler CDs and this song by Wilco (who I had never heard of) was on it and I became obsessed with it. I did not realize until later it was a cover song originally performed by Moby Grape. I was still into classic rock and more mainstream (MTV) music so I was not aware of the No Depression/Alt-Country scene so I had no idea about Uncle Tupelo. That all changed as Wilco was now ingrained in my mind and I remember ordering Being There a year or so later without having heard anything on it. This was a turning point for me. Alt-Country/Americana was now my music of choice. Up until about 8-10 years ago I still referred to Wilco as "my favorite new band" until I realized that they had been around about 20 years and were just now one of my favorite bands PERIOD. Since I was around 25 years old they have probably been the band I've listened to more than any other. The Stones would still hold the life-long crown since they had a major head start and since I still listen to them often enough that Wilco can probably never catch up. To this day my musical taste generally gravitates to alt-country, americana and (non-radio) country even though Wilco has drifted away from that genre over the years.
Being There is one of my favorite albums of all-time but since it came out sometime between 25 and 30 years of age for me I won't include it in this draft even though its a big part of the "Music of My Life".
Last edited by a moderator:
El Floppo
Footballguy
I was between college and grad school and living with good friends in the inner sunset/outer Haight in SF (4th and Hugo). Great pad, great friends and great hood. Paid peanuts for it..can't imagine these days.
This was the early 90s recession and there was 75% unemployment for architects in SF. The architect friends of my parents I had intended to lean on for a job after college were either out of work themselves, or had reduced their offices to skeleton teams... No work for floppo. These were the days when jobs were listed in the Sunday classifieds...and there'd be maybe one listing a month. At one point one of my parents friends and I applied to the same job.
With paid work in my intended profession an impossibility (I did a couple unpaid stints at a hip firm that did competitions), I bounced around to whatever construction jobs I could find and any other thing I knew hot to do- reffing HS soccer, playing semipro soccer...but hours were limited. Spent a lot of time smoking weed in the pad and roaming my neighborhood. Somehow, as long as I could muster my meager rent which wasn't a problem, none of that mattered- I was happy and hopeful and enjoying my down time.
Found a CD store (the world had shifted to CDs since last pick) nearby that I'd frequent...small and not good selection at all (guy working there wasn't even into music), but had a discount bin that I'd thumb through hopefully with work being sparce. Found a compliation "NME singles of the week" CD there for a couple bucks with some good stuff on it by "bigger" bands like Sonic youth and the Fall, but also some bands I'd never hear or see again like Fat Freddy's Cat and Sofahead.
The latter's single grabbed me hard. Just hard/feedbacky and soft/melodically enough to appeal to a lot of what I was and still listen to. Still a tune that puts me in a good spot.
25yo song
EverY time- sofahead
With all the weed, I was also (long standing affair from my 10yo kraftwerk intro) really into electronics and ambient, which was starting to get interesting. Aphex twin, orbital, chem Bros, and in particular The Orb were in regular rotation. A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From the Centre of the Ultraworld, was a close second to that sofahead tune. And now I'm pissed I didn't take it in that 6 word song title draft.
This was the early 90s recession and there was 75% unemployment for architects in SF. The architect friends of my parents I had intended to lean on for a job after college were either out of work themselves, or had reduced their offices to skeleton teams... No work for floppo. These were the days when jobs were listed in the Sunday classifieds...and there'd be maybe one listing a month. At one point one of my parents friends and I applied to the same job.
With paid work in my intended profession an impossibility (I did a couple unpaid stints at a hip firm that did competitions), I bounced around to whatever construction jobs I could find and any other thing I knew hot to do- reffing HS soccer, playing semipro soccer...but hours were limited. Spent a lot of time smoking weed in the pad and roaming my neighborhood. Somehow, as long as I could muster my meager rent which wasn't a problem, none of that mattered- I was happy and hopeful and enjoying my down time.
Found a CD store (the world had shifted to CDs since last pick) nearby that I'd frequent...small and not good selection at all (guy working there wasn't even into music), but had a discount bin that I'd thumb through hopefully with work being sparce. Found a compliation "NME singles of the week" CD there for a couple bucks with some good stuff on it by "bigger" bands like Sonic youth and the Fall, but also some bands I'd never hear or see again like Fat Freddy's Cat and Sofahead.
The latter's single grabbed me hard. Just hard/feedbacky and soft/melodically enough to appeal to a lot of what I was and still listen to. Still a tune that puts me in a good spot.
25yo song
EverY time- sofahead
With all the weed, I was also (long standing affair from my 10yo kraftwerk intro) really into electronics and ambient, which was starting to get interesting. Aphex twin, orbital, chem Bros, and in particular The Orb were in regular rotation. A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From the Centre of the Ultraworld, was a close second to that sofahead tune. And now I'm pissed I didn't take it in that 6 word song title draft.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
Age 25 Song: "Don't Dream It's Over" - Crowded House
One of my Top 10 all-time, so an easy choice for me for 1987
One of my Top 10 all-time, so an easy choice for me for 1987
Northern Voice
Footballguy
You can still jump in mid stream if you want. I'm a few rounds behind on the google sheet anyway, hoping to get caught up today, can add you in at the same time.AhrnCityPahnder said:
Northern Voice
Footballguy
I used song lyrics from this song in my MSN messenger screen name/status for a while. As you did at the time.AcerFC said:
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
got a li'l contact buzz off thatEl Floppo said:
Steve Tasker
Footballguy
Pop-punk staple tailor-made for the Warped Tour set right around the time I started getting into the emo stuff. Love this pick.AcerFC said:
MAC_32
Footballguy
Age 25 represented my peak whore period. Growing up in a small college town I was exposed to that lifestyle at a rather young age, so the adjustment to the college experience wasn't really jarring. I had already experienced many aspects of it, so connecting with my peers was a bit challenging at times. I had my core group of friends and while what we specifically did Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sun always varied it was generally with the same group of people. Sometimes I was single, sometimes I wasn't, sometimes I was in shape, sometimes I wasn't, sometimes I was sloppy...okay, I was frequently sloppy. The only day I really embraced college was Saturday. Lots of great memories, but I'm losing focus - what does this have to do with age 25?
Well, I moved to a new city, unsuccessfully tried the long distance thing for a brief period of time, got fat, made some dumb decisions, and realized once about 6 months on my own that I needed to get my #### together. In other words, what many went through when they went to college. So in some bass ackwards way the next 18 months of my life would be my college equivalent. I got in shape, actually stayed that way, made some new friends, and actually lived a college-like lifestyle of unpredictability - only with some meat in the bank account. I was a lush, but not in the day-after-day manner at which I coasted through college. We picked our spots, prioritizing staying in shape between conquests, mixing in all day activities like sand volleyball to see if another box could be checked without the alure of alcohol.
This was my life for a brief period on my mid-20's. And as a result, I had no ####### clue what happened in the music world. There was some great music created during this period of time, but I wasn't listening to Pyschosocial, Re-Education Through Labor, Pork & Beans, and Chicken Fried. Instead the songs I remember from this period of time are I Kissed A Girl, Womanizer, Poker Face, and Sex On Fire. Trash. Straight trash. But perhaps that was an apt description of my frame of mind during this window in time. Or is there a way to blend the two together?
Age 25 song, Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To
Amidst all the slutting a few good bands managed to slip in between my ears. I think this one best represents who I am (rock music) and who I was at this time (pop/dance/mainstream), particularly this song. It really fits well in any setting. It's how a band that really doesn't exhibit any mainstream qualities briefly had a place in that culture. They navigated a narrow path and nailed it with a few select songs that connected with those in many different generations and the same has held true over the years. So maybe this is not the most appropriate song for me to remember my mid-20s, but it's how I wish to remember them.
Well, I moved to a new city, unsuccessfully tried the long distance thing for a brief period of time, got fat, made some dumb decisions, and realized once about 6 months on my own that I needed to get my #### together. In other words, what many went through when they went to college. So in some bass ackwards way the next 18 months of my life would be my college equivalent. I got in shape, actually stayed that way, made some new friends, and actually lived a college-like lifestyle of unpredictability - only with some meat in the bank account. I was a lush, but not in the day-after-day manner at which I coasted through college. We picked our spots, prioritizing staying in shape between conquests, mixing in all day activities like sand volleyball to see if another box could be checked without the alure of alcohol.
This was my life for a brief period on my mid-20's. And as a result, I had no ####### clue what happened in the music world. There was some great music created during this period of time, but I wasn't listening to Pyschosocial, Re-Education Through Labor, Pork & Beans, and Chicken Fried. Instead the songs I remember from this period of time are I Kissed A Girl, Womanizer, Poker Face, and Sex On Fire. Trash. Straight trash. But perhaps that was an apt description of my frame of mind during this window in time. Or is there a way to blend the two together?
Age 25 song, Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To
Amidst all the slutting a few good bands managed to slip in between my ears. I think this one best represents who I am (rock music) and who I was at this time (pop/dance/mainstream), particularly this song. It really fits well in any setting. It's how a band that really doesn't exhibit any mainstream qualities briefly had a place in that culture. They navigated a narrow path and nailed it with a few select songs that connected with those in many different generations and the same has held true over the years. So maybe this is not the most appropriate song for me to remember my mid-20s, but it's how I wish to remember them.
Charlie Steiner
Footballguy
Age 25 song:
I took a meandering route through college, taking just 3 or occasionally 4 classes per semester, I changed majors from undecided to Philosophy to Speech to Spanish because I was accepted into a study abroad program while fulfilling my required 12 credits of a foreign language.
The program I had been accepted to for the Fall of '89 semester was in Toledo, Spain, and it was there where I made the most bittersweet blunder; I fell in love and began a relationship with a girl from Puerto Rico. There were many international students there along with other Americans (most were from the U. of Minnesota and Notre Dame), so I was rubbing elbows with students from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, the aforementioned Puerto Rico, and there was even a small contingent from Japan. The whole story is too long to tell here, so suffice to mention the already named long-distance relationship. We tried to make it work beyond that semester, with me visiting P.R. during the semester and Spring Breaks of '90 and '91, and it was during this last visit that I proposed. She graduated that semester and came up to make a go of it with me (FWIW, I still had another year of study ahead of me at that point).
The thing about long-distance relationships is that you don't really get a good idea of what being together all the time is going to be like. After she'd been there about a month or so and not getting anywhere in her job search, she decided to move back home (there were also some things I did that factored into her decision, but now's not the place to get into that) and we called off not just the engagement but the relationship as well. Things had started deteriorating almost as soon as she arrived, so my angst was at a level I had never experienced before, and it took me 2 years of wallowing around in it to finally recover. As fate would have it, there is one apropos song that became a hit during that brief stretch when she was around, and due to the magnitude of this break-up, it does cover pretty much the whole year: Cry for Help - Rick Astley. I've always been sad at how he became a meme, but this is a place for letting our freak flags fly, so I will declare myself a fan and not be ashamed.
I took a meandering route through college, taking just 3 or occasionally 4 classes per semester, I changed majors from undecided to Philosophy to Speech to Spanish because I was accepted into a study abroad program while fulfilling my required 12 credits of a foreign language.
The program I had been accepted to for the Fall of '89 semester was in Toledo, Spain, and it was there where I made the most bittersweet blunder; I fell in love and began a relationship with a girl from Puerto Rico. There were many international students there along with other Americans (most were from the U. of Minnesota and Notre Dame), so I was rubbing elbows with students from Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, the aforementioned Puerto Rico, and there was even a small contingent from Japan. The whole story is too long to tell here, so suffice to mention the already named long-distance relationship. We tried to make it work beyond that semester, with me visiting P.R. during the semester and Spring Breaks of '90 and '91, and it was during this last visit that I proposed. She graduated that semester and came up to make a go of it with me (FWIW, I still had another year of study ahead of me at that point).
The thing about long-distance relationships is that you don't really get a good idea of what being together all the time is going to be like. After she'd been there about a month or so and not getting anywhere in her job search, she decided to move back home (there were also some things I did that factored into her decision, but now's not the place to get into that) and we called off not just the engagement but the relationship as well. Things had started deteriorating almost as soon as she arrived, so my angst was at a level I had never experienced before, and it took me 2 years of wallowing around in it to finally recover. As fate would have it, there is one apropos song that became a hit during that brief stretch when she was around, and due to the magnitude of this break-up, it does cover pretty much the whole year: Cry for Help - Rick Astley. I've always been sad at how he became a meme, but this is a place for letting our freak flags fly, so I will declare myself a fan and not be ashamed.
wikkidpissah
Footballguy
25yo Song - Take Me To The River, Talking Heads
Time to settle some biz left over from mr timmy's perfectly-awful New Wave countdown. My own Top 5 were Frankie Relax, this, Cars, It's My Life, and Tattooed Love Boys, NOT ONE of which made it into the HUNDRED, - not to mention Town Called Malice, 1999, More Than This, One Thing Leads to Another and dozens more songs better than what made it into tim's pufffy costume drama of fey mediocrity. i quit!
Back to the song, which i consider the beginning of the New Wave. I've already written the experiential part of it, (from last June 22, the "Talking Heads Favorite Song" thread):
Time to settle some biz left over from mr timmy's perfectly-awful New Wave countdown. My own Top 5 were Frankie Relax, this, Cars, It's My Life, and Tattooed Love Boys, NOT ONE of which made it into the HUNDRED, - not to mention Town Called Malice, 1999, More Than This, One Thing Leads to Another and dozens more songs better than what made it into tim's pufffy costume drama of fey mediocrity. i quit!
Back to the song, which i consider the beginning of the New Wave. I've already written the experiential part of it, (from last June 22, the "Talking Heads Favorite Song" thread):
Now, Heads were punks last i left em, but what was this?! Granted they were established early as better players than most of the CBGBers and some of the Londoners, but they were taking this sensibility and fusing it with the kind of music one would think they'd be least likely to know, nm elevate. For my money, it was the first song i ever heard that had umami and, oh mommy, i couldnt wait for the next & next op for it to googly up my insides. it's like riding a New Wave!!
