Music From the Past, Man.

Five bands I really don't listen to anymore, even though they shaped my high school/college years and, on a larger scale, who I am today.

1. The Cure

Oh man. Okay, so this is a blog, and while I don't have to disclose everything to you (the size of my underpants, the cleanliness of the corners of my bathtub, whether or not I had leftover lo mein for breakfast), I believe that when I do write, I need to be honest. Deep breaths.

I wrote Cure lyrics all over my notebooks, my backpack (thank you White Out Pen), my art projects, the margins of the notes I wrote to my friends. I had dyed black hair, silver nail polish, I was sad a lot and I smoked a lot of cigarettes over coffee at Waffle House at 3am, talking about how sad I was. And you know what, I loved every moment of it, and I love every memory of it as well. But when you exhaust a band's discography like I did, eventually you just... you're done. I still love them, the album Disintegration will always reign supreme, the album Head On The Door will never get old, nor will the B-side "Harold and Joe". But aside from those few songs, I'm okay with my memories of listening to them.


2. Prodigy

Oh, the crush I had on Liam Howlett (dude on the left)! I loved Prodigy. My mother was mortified when I had a 5'x5' poster of them put on my wall, with the name of their single in big, graffiti-like letters: Smack My Bitch Up. I'm actually surprised she let me keep it up, now that I think back on it.

Anyways, techno was big in the 90s, and 1998 was my peak year of adoration for this band. "Poison" was and still is my favorite song by them, although "Firestarter" never fails to make me laugh with the memory of those times. I hope they're still making music too. But I really don't need them in my daily soundtrack, anymore.



3. 311

Oh, the Blue Album. Oh, Nick Hex. Oh Martinez! And P-Nut (beat that thing!). I drew the above picture on my saddle oxfords senior year of Catholic girls' school; I had several of their albums, I listened to them non-stop that year. Bumper stickers, JNCO jeans on the weekends, you name it. Clearly I went through several metamorphoses in high school, but that is the purpose of your formative years: figuring your shit out.

I recently heard a new track from them on the radio and I told Todd how happy I was, knowing they're still together and making music and he expressed a similar sentiment. I won't go out and get the album because, as the post title suggests, I'm not really in that place anymore, but I'm still delighted to know they're around.

As an aside, Nick Hexum recently had to deliver his second child at home because his wife went into labor so quickly, and because they had studied natural childbirth he was able to do so and mom and baby both were fine. So you know, since we studied Bradley, this makes me like Nick a little more than before.



4. Radiohead

I loved these guys so hard. I got to see them in concert in college. I listened to Pablo Honey and The Bends in high school, and then later on, OK Computer, Hail to the Thief and Kid A (but not as much as the others). I'll admit, part of the reason they're not played a lot in our house is because Todd thinks they're on the whiny side of rock and he's really not into that. He would pull Emo Face and Emo Guitar Strumming charades whenever I'd play it while we dated so as a compromise I kept them to myself. And eventually, I guess I just let them slip to the wayside in favor of new fan favorites and the oldies I'll never, ever let go of (Pixies, Mazzy Star, Nick Drake and Liz Phair, mainly).

But I really do like this band. I love whenever they come on the radio, which admittedly isn't much anymore. Hmm. Actually maybe I'll risk some Emo Face and go buy some on iTunes this week.



5. Bloodhound Gang

Since you all know I'm a mother, I think the reason that this music is no longer blasted in the house is pretty clear. There's just no way I can justify playing "You're Pretty When I'm Drunk" with an 18 month old daughter running around. And while I think the lyrics are hilarious, witty in a gross way and some of the most unique out there, I'm just sort of done. I don't want to come across as a prude, because like I said, these bands, this one included, have had some sort of input on my personality (this band largely affecting my sense of humor) but some stuff you do tend to grow out of. However, I will never not adore them. I mean, just look at that punim!