It's That Little Souvenir
Believe it or not, I wasn't into the Britpop when I went to college back in the halcyon days on the early 90's. The grunge revolution was at hand and I was all about Seattle and the Beastie Boys. Yes, Kurt Cobain turned me on to Teenage Fanclub, but other than the odd Ned's Atomic Dustbin CD, that was about as close to Britpop as I ventured.
My freshman year at ECU, my next door neighbor in Belk dorm was a guy named John Smith. Everyone called him Jellybean (long story). He was from Charlotte, aka "the big city." He listened to Ride, The Smiths and a whole bunch of bands with weird accents that I had never heard of before. He more or less turned me on to Morrissey. But the first CD of his that I couldn't stop listening to was Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays. This CD changed my whole musical landscape. Pretty soon I got a CMJ sampler with a song called "Live Forever" on it and away I went. If it wasn't for Jellybean, this blog might be all about Mudhoney and Skinny Puppy. I also had a huge, huge crush on Harriet Wheeler, so that didn't hurt.
Also, quick story. The second night we were at college, Jellybean got hammered while we were out party hopping and went back to the dorm by himself. He forgot his keys so he did what any trashed college kid would do, try to climb up into his second story room and enter via the open window. Unfortunately the AC unit he started climbing on to make it up there belonged to the RA of the dorm, who was female. Oh, and did I mention that Jellybean took off his jeans, which were too tight, to make his climb easier? The RA thought someone was trying to break into her room and sexually assault her, so she called campus police. And when they showed up, Jellybean soon realized he didn't have his ID on him. The cops would ask him his name and he would said "John Brown." They didn't believe him. "No, seriously, what is your name?" etc. This line of questioning went on for quite some time.
It eventually got worked out and he didn't get in (much) trouble, but from that point on, I knew living beside him was going to be an adventure. And it was. Ah, college.
I was sort of in the same boat as you, being brainwashed/overwhelmed with all the grunge music of the day. My freshman year in college began in the fall of '93. I was in the local record store in Athens, OH and came across the new release bin. I found this strange cd cover of a cave with a light coming out of it. The clerk saw me looking at it and said "pick it up, it's really f*cking good".
That record was "A Storm in Heaven" by the Verve. The rest is history. The Verve, their influences, and their comptemporaries all became entrenched in my catalog of music. It all went back to them.
I still listen to that album and its as fresh and amazing to this day, almost 14 years later. Jesus, has it been that long?
I got into The Sundays early on, saw them in the summer of '90. Really good show at a smallish venue. Ms. Wheeler was something else. Actually, I think I saw Ned's Atomic Dustbin that same summer. I really like the period of '88 to '93 or so, with those bands, the shoegazer bands, Stone Roses, Close Lobsters, Charlatans, Happy Mondays. Carter USM (just kidding). Lots of good Brit music then.
omg, this is too weird. i drove my daughter's car today (it's a '97 mazda, sans CD player) and dangitall if didn't pop in my original sunday's cassette tape, & listened to "here's where the story ends" about five times using the rewind and auto-stop and play features! hee!
if i had to pick only three albums on a desert island, reading, writing... would be one of them.
Blower, what happened to your boy Gilbert and the Wizards this weekend? No happy ending!