Wednesday, January 19, 2011

pOp, The Foundation Years...Part Two of Three

And if a ten-ton truck kills the both of us;

To die by your side...well the pleasure, the privilege is mine.

So, there I was - 15 and bad as hell. Mothers Milk opened doors to other bands that shaped my adolescent world and most intensely, my mood. I dove into that open sea and drank up this music. And, I let it be known. My tee-shirts proclaimed my status as loudly as the music streaming from my 1991 Firebird with T Tops. I recall a trip to our family doctor and I was wearing a RHCP tee shirt and he asked me if I was certain I wasn’t pregnant! I guess I realized there were sperm swimming towards the egg in the center...but the biology of baby making hadn’t really entered into my thoughts. Yet. But, that is another blog all unto itself.

In those years, I went insane as I listened to Boys Don’t Cry and of Pictures of You. I poured over those lyrics and attached them to the boy I loved. EVERY song was about him or us. It was years after college before I would be able to listen to The Cure. That is how deeply I was affected by these songs. As depressing as the words were, I was filled with a knowing that at least I ‘felt’ love. I was not numb to its power and I bled myself dry for this cause (metaphorically speaking - and stolen lyrics from Coldplay). Roaming the halls of JA in my Smiths tee and a striped tube skirt, I was as fucking cool as dog shit! Lisa Grigoraci (5 inches shorter and probably 50 pounds smaller) had the same skirt. I had the legs, I must say, to pull it off. I sailed into the Dead Milkmen and The Violent Femmes; the more curious and campy of those times. “Yeah, You’re for me Punk Rock Girl. That was the Anthem of the summer after 9th Grade.

Yet, I was a more mainstream as much of the bands I hounded had a video or two on MTV. In fact, 120 Minutes was the doorway to the new, the hip, the avante garde. I didn’t want to go deeper than this; The Melvins, Black Flag, Social Distortion, and Pantera were a little harder than my tastes in those days...but I still felt cutting edge. I rocked Gleaming the Cube and Pump up the Volume soundtracks (is it bigger than a baby’s arm?) but I never got a taste for anger. I just wanted to hear what I was felling. Again, these were the first blushes of my obsessions.

How could you turn me into this? After you just taught me how to kiss you.
I told you I'd never say goodbye. Now I'm slipping on the tears you made me cry.

The year was 1991 and along came Lollapalooza. My first real concert. The line-up was a dream and one never to be rivaled again in my opinion (Since Simon and Garfunkel can’t play with the Beatles in Central Park). Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Rollins Band, The Violent Femmes, and Fishbone. WOW. I had just heard Pretty Hate Machine at a party at Elizabeth Martin’s house and had a spiritual experience. Perry Farrell started the series and I am lucky to have attended the first 4 years of the touring show. But, that first year was intense and I felt the last drops of girl dry on my arm in the sun. After that, I ripped off my clothes and went swimming at night. I didn’t care what dangers lay ahead. I was turned on and tuning in (to boys, drugs, and general pissiness).

Grunge hit (and hard) and it would be understated to mention the impact it had on the early 90’s. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog and all the others that rocked the Seattle Sound. Kayde Cappellari and I sang Black so loudly in her little Subbie the doors shook. I loved it. There was also a good deal of REM, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Prince, and too many more to type out peppering the times. I was well-rounded in the school of 90’s rock. And, while my memories are vivid and certain, words will never be put to paper describing all that transpired during those short 3 years. My life - where I thought I would never escape high school. And, how vital these band were to allowing me an outlet for the usual unsettled mind caged in every 15-18 year old.

1 comment:

Deadpan Alley said...

I am thoroughly enjoying this series of posts! Rock on!!