Did a bunch of music-related stuff today. First went to the library. How is that music-related? On the used shelf where you can buy used books, there was a copy of Our Band Could Be Your Life, by Michael Azerrad. It's a pretty interesting read. The book basically chronicles the careers of 13 bands that, while mostly didn't hit mainstream success, have had massive influence on many other bands. I’ve only read the first chapter, about Black Flag (wow that was draining), but I can’t wait to read the rest of it. Some of the other bands you might have heard of that are in the book include Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Green Day (kidding! haha), and The Replacements (okay, seriously not kidding about that one). I’m trying to restrain myself because I got a bunch of other books at the library including stuff by Jane Austen, Edgar Allen Poe, and that guy who wrote Holden Caulfield (oh, my bad, Catcher in the Rye).
Then Guitar Center. Today I went there intending to buy an Epiphone Thunderbird IV bass. Then I found this other Schecter bass (I never even heard of Schecter before today) that feels better, is more evenly weighted (and lighter), and has better tone. But the Thunderbird looks awesome. It’s kind of like dating in high school, I guess. Do he go for the hot, mainstream, high maintenance cheerleader, or the smart, down-to-earth, underground, nerd girl? The guy knows what he should go for…. But that cheerleader looks pretty good too. I mean, I was that guy, the answer is obvious, (it’s much better underground) but it’s just an analogy of some sorts. I ended up not buying anything today. Maybe I’m thinking this through too much.
In less thought provoking news, got a couple new CDs today. DGC Rarities, Volume 1. Ironically, they didn’t make a volume 2 yet. And this one was released in 1994. It has a pretty good list of artists, considering that DGC is just a subsidiary label of Geffen Records. It includes (with songs in parenthesis), Nirvana (“Pay To Play,” demo for “Stay Away”), Hole (“Beautiful Son,” with a strum pattern similar to SLTS), and Weezer (“Jamie”…… yeah, good song). Also Dude Ranch, by Blink-182. All of the songs sound the same at first listen, even by my standards, but they’re not bad, so I can’t complain. Last, got a disc with #1 Record and Radio City on it, both by Big Star. Y’know… Chris Bell… Andy Hummel… Jody Stephens… Alex Chilton… My standards were average for the album(s), but it turns out that they’re both really great. I can see why Paul Westerberg admired them (especially Chilton, the main songwriter). There’s “September Gurls,” (a great power pop song) “The Ballad Of El Goodo,” (hard to categorize, but still good) , and of course, “Thirteen,” an amazing acoustic ballad that somehow makes me happy and sad at the same time.
Oh and yesterday, I recorded a random cover… but I don’t know about it. It’s better than the “Waitress In The Sky” one I tried to do (I couldn’t sing it good AT ALL), but yeah. Maybe I’ll edit it a bit more, then put it on SoundCloud. Or YouTube. It’s weird having nothing on my channel. Should have another Elephant Pathogen video up soon (either “Love Buzz” or “Civil War”… or both).
Take care, everybody. And I was thinking, since school’s out (NO RECESS) and we don’t see each other as often (but we should), we should start using the comment section more. Just a thought.
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