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top 10 musical memories
Top Ten Musical Memories
~ meg ~
10. buying my first albums ever: Men At Work and the Flashdance soundtrack
9. driving to new york with my mom and putting in a tape of my favorite songs at the time, all britpop and oldies, and having my mom like it, but not just the british invasion stuff or the old soul stuff but all the new stuff too, really like it. we listened to it three times and sang along the whole way.
8. leaving a high school party with a friend and her older brother, on a run to get someone else or some food or something, with her oh-so-cute older brother at the wheel, driving through the rain, playing The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind"
7. trying to go see Nation of Ulysses play in Boston on a school night when I was 16 and actually having my mom say yes, it was okay for me to go and stay out past midnight for the show and I could not believe my good luck and coming into school the day of the show and having MikeB tell me Nation of Ulysses just broke up.
6. driving to Ohio in a non-airconditioned van on 90* summer days with Meg, Sacha, Jake, and the most annoying boy in the world, to the Dayton hardcore fest, and seeing people run naked through sprinklers and watching the drum circle and having our grocery cart stolen at the store and Jon mooning people and Jake convincing us to go pick up his girlfriend who was "just over the border" in Kentucky. it wasn't over the border dude. it was two and a half hours out of the way.
5. getting my first mix tape ever when I was twelve or so, from my mom's super-cool boyfriend at the time. he gave it to me on my birthday, as I was now "grown up," with instructions to listen to it all the way through before reading the track listing, which was maybe the coolest thing of all.
4. seeing the thermals for the first time, with the Shins even, at CMJ, which was musically an amazing show but was also the perfect end to my perfect day; a morning with a cute young man I really liked; an afternoon shopping with my friend and making exciting preparations for halloween, my favorite holiday; an evening going to a show I wanted to see alone, but ending up not alone at all but running into friend after friend after unexpected friend there, and hearing music I'd never heard before and loving every minute of it.
3. getting on the subway with the aforementioned young man, after we kissed for the first time, and having him reach into his bag and hand me a mix CD he'd made for himself and saying "here, I want you to have this" and me transferring trains and putting the CD in my walkman and hearing the exact perfect mix come through the headphones, with exactly the mix of songs I liked and songs I would like and new and old and it was exactly the kind of mix I would have made for myself and it was the best parting gift ever.
2. sitting in Meg's van with Kate and Mike and right next to Aaron who I was totally in love with, driving into Cambridge on a spring night to go to the 7-11, blasting Bad Brains' "The Youth Are Getting Restless" out the windows while we sang along to every word.
1. getting my first mix tape from a friend, MikeB, at school and holding it like precious cargo all the way to my dad's house in a different town and taking it up to my room and shutting my door and putting the tape in my cheap plastic all-in-one tape/CD/record player and listening to the first notes of the guitar line of the first Fugazi song I ever heard shoot out of the speakers as I read the track list and the note from Mike and I thought this is the greatest thing I have ever heard and I thought this is the greatest thing anyone has ever given me.
! psychokitty !
10. A cute boy in high school made me a copy of Green Day’s Kerplunk, which I totally loved and played to death.
9. Seeing Modest Mouse perform in a stinky, sweaty, fire-hazardous conditions at the Knitting factory. Although my view was obstructed by a pillar for most of the evening, their performance of Cowboy Dan was mesmerizing. The only thing I regret was my choice to stay outside in the cool summer night’s breeze, than brave the uncomfortable conditions inside to see the opening act, which was some group from DC, called The Dismemberment Plan. Little did I know then, that the Plan would prove to be a more thrilling live experience than the mice.
8. Discovering the then very cool radio station, 92.7 WDRE. This was pre-alternative or modern rock…I don’t think it even had a name back then. This station helped me out of my horrible heavy metal junior high school years, and made me a huge Smiths, Cure, Charlatans UK and Echo and the Bunnymen fan. Definitely very instrumental in elevating my music tastes towards something far more sophisticated.
7. It was like 1984 or 1985 and I asked my parents to video tape “Friday Night Videos” for me, which aired way past my bedtime. They were so cool to record it for me and I was so ecstatic. The show introduced me to Prince, who I thought was totally freaky (as you can tell I was very perceptive even as a young child) and made me confused about gender identities when I saw Billy Idol’s earring (weren’t they just for girls?).
6. Seeing my first and only Pavement show at the Brixton Academy. It was awesome not only because it was Pavement but also because I was in London. Hanging out with the uber friendly British indie kids and having a grand time.
5. Going to my first ska show (I think it was in ’94 or ’95), this was right before ska got super big. It was Mephiskapheles with Inspecter 7 as the opening act. It was at the Limelight, which I think is now Avalon, and there were like only 40-50 people in the audience…all skinheads. Who knew that in months to come, it would be impossible to get tickets to see Mephiskapheles, and in a few short years, it would become difficult for them to sell even three tickets!
4. Seeing the Ramones perform at the Academy! It was electric baby!
3. The first time I saw the "November Spawned a Monster" and was like "who is this freak with the band aid on his nipples?" Soon after, I became a huge Morrissey and Smiths fan and killed many a boring class time scribbling Morrissey or Smiths lyrics all over my notebooks and desks in various classrooms.
2. Seeing Elliott Smith perform at NYU Loeb's Student Center in 1998. Perhaps one of my favorite shows of all time. He captivated entire room...not one whisper was uttered among the audience because we all wanted to hear every breath and beautiful sound that came out of his mouth.
1. The very first time I discovered Boy George. I was seven years old and watching the video show "Hot Trax," which was on channel five. They played Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" video. I thought Boy George was the coolest girl singer to walk the earth...that is until I realized he was a man. But I still thought he was the coolest shit and may I add that loved his make up. And I had a total crush on the drummer, which i learned many, many, many years later on Behind the Music, was Boy George's lovah.