This morning seems like a Violent Femmes kind of morning. Back when I was in high school, their self-titled album was still very popular, even though it was released when people my age were about 10 or 11 years old. I remember going on a field trip during my senior year of high school to dry and wet caves in Virginia and we were listening to Violent Femmes the whole way. Consequently, when I hear that band today, it reminds me of a simpler time...
Although my teen years were actually not that simple and not really anything I'd want to repeat... I remember being very angsty and scared for the future. I remember feeling worthless and talentless. The few things that did make me feel worthwhile seemed like they would be impractical to do beyond high school. At that time, I didn't know I had any musical talent. I knew I could carry a tune and had a good ear, but I had given up studying music years earlier.
Anyway, Violent Femmes reminds me of that time. Their music is fun, bouncy, irreverent, and catchy, even though the lead singer can't sing worth shit.
Here's "Blister in the Sun"...
And the ever popular "Add It Up"... which teens of my era used to love to sing in an attempt to seem cool...
I've always liked "Kiss Off", especially when I'm feeling surly...
And for some reason, I thought of this song when Mitt Romney lost the election... It even prompted me to write a review... It's not because I didn't want Mitt to lose... it was because I was in kind of a jubilant mood.
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy these songs, though I don't think they quite qualify as "crap from the past"...
Although my teen years were actually not that simple and not really anything I'd want to repeat... I remember being very angsty and scared for the future. I remember feeling worthless and talentless. The few things that did make me feel worthwhile seemed like they would be impractical to do beyond high school. At that time, I didn't know I had any musical talent. I knew I could carry a tune and had a good ear, but I had given up studying music years earlier.
Anyway, Violent Femmes reminds me of that time. Their music is fun, bouncy, irreverent, and catchy, even though the lead singer can't sing worth shit.
Here's "Blister in the Sun"...
And the ever popular "Add It Up"... which teens of my era used to love to sing in an attempt to seem cool...
I've always liked "Kiss Off", especially when I'm feeling surly...
And for some reason, I thought of this song when Mitt Romney lost the election... It even prompted me to write a review... It's not because I didn't want Mitt to lose... it was because I was in kind of a jubilant mood.
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy these songs, though I don't think they quite qualify as "crap from the past"...
Even though I'm not all that far removed from high school, I think these songs exemplify some of my feelings at the time. High school was such a weird, temproary, suspended time. I don't know if you remember the show "Growing Pains" with Alan Thicke and Kirk Cameron, but I caught it on reruns. I was Carol Seaver - the skinny version of her, anyway -- the nerdy, brainy girl who was an embarrassment to her cool class-clown older brother. It was made worse for me because my brother wasn't older but a twin, so we had no age separation. (The doctors were so quick at removing us that even though I was the first twin born, our birth times are listed as exactly the same.) Then I had the disaster at the beginning of my final year of high school that more or less took away my final year of high school.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it was also really weird being underage and in college. It was like I didn't belong, so as far as my classmates were concerned, I was invisible. Turning eighteen didn't magically make me look older, but I wasn't shy about making it known that I was eighteen, amd I was suddenly visible to my peers. It's as though I'm finally in the right place. I suppose it's going to be the same thing all over in less than two years when I go off to law or med school, but I feel more equipped to deal with it.
I really liked "Please Do Not Go." I haven't yet read your review. I'm going to read it know.
Oh yeah. I used to watch "Growing Pains" when it came on prime time! ;-) Funny how Kirk Cameron turned out. A lot of girls my age had crushes on him.
ReplyDeleteHad you heard of Violent Femmes before? Back in my day, they were kind of a gateway to alternative music. A lot of people thought they were cool and cutting edge, even though that album was out well before I was a teenager!
No, I hadn't heard of them before.
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