MUSIC: 1997 was thirteen years ago

Hi-Lo!

I'm writing a new Travel Trip post and I have a song we can listen to together while I type ...








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third eye blind, semi charmed life.

Before I get to what I was getting at, I'd like to be an old fart and reminiscence about the dark ages of 1997. I remember hearing this song for the first time, not from 107.9 The Edge, but watching the music video on TV. It was the summer after I graduated 7th grade. The same year that I confessed to my best friend, Nicole, that I couldn't wait to be older and do drugs, have sex and listen to vinyl records in my own apartment. I remember writing it on a page ripped out from my spiral notebook, in 3rd period Drama, folding it just right so she knew only I could have written it and shoving it through the vents of her shiny blue locker, the bits of paper from the jagged edge of the page being shaved off from the tight squeeze.

Most of the new songs I heard in middle school were from endlessly watching music video channels. I remember Who Will Save Your Soul took place in a dark bathroom with hanging ivy, Foo Fighters' strange dream sequences for Everlong, Trent Reznor's devastatingly sexual glares in The Perfect Drug. And now when I magically hear these songs out in the world, because I don't have any music from middle school in my itunes save for a leftover Silverchair song, I can literally watch my hazy memory of the music video in my mind.

Rewatching Semi Charmed Life reminds me of how inappropriately sexual my thoughts were back in my early teens. Stephan Jenkins was an older man who could use me if he wanted to. I watched this video of my crush and imagined his hands on me ... hahaha, how embarassing. I wish I could say I were joking, but most likely everyone else at that age could say the same thing about the guy from Weezer or Blink 182 or one of the Spice Girls, and if not, then EEEP! I'M A NERD. But, maybe watching music videos in our horny, confusing pubescence is the best way to listen to music. It was uncomfortable, exciting, erotic sometimes and memorable. I know I can recite the first two verses of Semi Charmed Life, no problem. I've yet to do the same for Yo La Tengo and other indie bands that fill my computer. Maybe I should find my Smells Like Teen Spirit deodorant, shop for maxi pads and write a secret note to my crush before I attempt Shout Out Louds last album.

I just decided that this should be its own post. TTYS bout the other thang :)