I don't have a favorite band. I get obsessed. I take after my father and find myself playing the same song or album over and over again until I've absorbed all the joy and magic right out of it. This is a brief smattering of bands/musicians that I have been obsessed with at different times in my life:
The Police- This obsession began with a cassette tape of Synchronicity pilfered from my dad in junior high.
Simon and Garfunkel- I learned to play Scarborough Fair on the piano when I was 8 and the true love started my junior year of high school. Cecelia is still one of my favorite songs.
Kansas- For some reason Kansas was always good high school make-out music. Lights dimmed, parents out, and the melancholy Dust in the Wind setting the mood. Thankfully this infatuation didn't last long.
Sting- The longest living obsession. He might be my dad's age but the poster of him from Nothing Like the Sun, long hair, sultry expression, hung on my bedroom wall from junior high through college. He was beautiful.. He lost me with the lute album.
Terrence Trent D'Arby- Songs about wishing wells deserve a little enthusiasm.
Guns N' Roses- My mom wouldn't let me buy Guns N' Roses albums, my friends copy theirs and slip them to me and I would hide them inside Paul McCartney's Pipes of Peace cassette case.
Shakespears Sister - Hormonally Yours, both the name of the album and my exact mindset in 1992.
Arcade Fire- Current obsession, see here.
Nelly McKay- She is a little vegan Doris Day genius.
Tori Amos- Little Earthquakes broke my heart and put it back together again.
Nine Inch Nails- I listened to Pretty Hate Machine enough times that the cassette broke.
Avett Brothers- I love them so much this very minute, anxiously waiting to see if their tour comes through here this year. Kicking myself that we didn't see them last September. Watch this and understand my love:
Billie Holiday - Her voice is raw and beautiful. As she aged it was filled with pain and damage, but also full of life.
The Garden State Soundtrack - I liked this movie but the soundtrack was even better. For about six months this is what I listened to when I read or fell asleep at night. Iron and Wine, The Shins, thanks, Zach Braff and that old guy from Men at Work.
The song Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners - Best 80's song ever, and it's dirty. And they are wearing overalls, without shirts, overalls!
The song I'm a Slave for You by Britney Spears- This is the most embarrassing one on the list. I'm ashamed and yet I'm going to go listen to it right now.
So who's your favorite band? Right now or in 1987?
In 1987 my favorite musician was probably Amy Grant, or possibly Michael W. Smith. I actually saw them in concert that year, my first concert.
ReplyDeleteCurrently and for the last decade or so, my favorite band has been Barenaked Ladies. For the music, but mainly for the lyrics. Any band that can work words like "remunerate" and "flummoxed" into pop lyrics has my undying admiration.
My newest love is probably MoZella. I just love her voice.
(Haha, my captcha is 'SoCal'!)
Come on Eileen??!! That is a brilliant admission but surely AHAs take on me is the best 80s song
ReplyDeleteThe comment space doesn't allow for enough characters for my response to this post. Sad.
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