Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Tripping Daisy and I Am an Elastic Firecracker are irrevocably wrapped up in three major milestones in my life, thus I will always see them through a refracted lens of youthful exploration and awe, and have no ability to gauge the band or album's quality. So this post is going to be much more autobiographical than music-related.
I met my first "girlfriend" Becca at summer camp over a conversation about "I Got a Girl", Tripping Daisy's one quasi-hit and adult-me's least favorite song on the album. Later that day, things escalated over a game of spin-the-bottle, then that night, I snuck out of my tent and asked her to be my girlfriend while we laid on our backs looking at the stars. She said yes, and we smooched. One of the most magical nights of my life. When camp was over, it turned out that she lived an hour away, so over the course of the next few months, we went on a total of three dates -- one to see Batman Forever, one to see Waterworld, and one to see an Al Gore speech (L O fucking L) -- before she dumped me and I cried for a week.
Somewhere in there, I went to my first show, and you guessed it: Tripping Daisy, motherfucker. Hagfish opened, so technically they were the first band I ever saw live, and it was literally the loudest thing I had ever heard. I was completely overwhelmed, and bought their CD, which I still think is pretty great. But Tripping Daisy blew my fucking mind -- I just remember headbanging the entire time because I thought that's what you did at a show, and getting the sense that the people next to me were making fun of me. Fuck 'em, I kept headbanging. Then Reverend Horton Heat played and we left a couple songs in because even then I could tell that psychobilly was corny af. My ears were still ringing the next day, but I was in the cool club now. (Just googled the show, and unbelievably, there IS evidence of it on the internet courtesy of the Washington Post. 9/23/95 at Lisner Auditorium. I'm reminded that Supersuckers also played, although I have no memory of their set.)
The following spring, my grandmother died. My grandfather on my mom's side had died when I was 5, but this was the first time I'd really had to reckon with death on a meaningful, existential level. One night before bed, I asked my mom what happened when we die, and she told me that no one really knows for sure, but it's probably just like going to sleep and never waking up. Her answer and her obvious unsureness were both very tough pills to swallow. With my limited musical palette, "Motivation" was probably the saddest song I knew, so I just listened to that on repeat for weeks, including on the way to the ashes-scattering ceremony.
So that's a snapshot of the life of a 12-13-year-old DEAR SPIRIT. Listen to the album, too. Sugary alt-rock with splashes of starry psych, possibly of interest to Smashing Pumpkins fans. I threw in their cover of Harry Nilsson's "Jump into the Fire" from The Craft for bonus nostalgia. Also, I'd love to hear your stories of firsts and their musical associations, if you'd care to share them.
Track listing:
1. Rocketpop
2. Bang
3. I Got a Girl
4. Piranha
5. Motivation
6. Same Dress New Day
7. Trip Along
8. Raindrop
9. Step Behind
10. Noose
11. Prick
12. High
More coming-of-age tunes:
The first song I remember that my parents didn't listen to was Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll". The first time my father disliked my music was Ministry's "Stigmata". The first time I thought I could die for a song was Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise".
ReplyDeleteMy parents never liked my music, but they really started hating it when I got into Ministry and their ilk. My dad loved Public Enemy though, whenever he did a big house cleaning, he would play It Takes a Nation... (or The Fall of Us All by Steve Tibbetts) extremely loud, forcing the kids to go play outside.
DeleteNOTE TO SELF IN 2034: Family anthem and first song my 6-year old daughter loved: Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera". Special daughter/dad song: The Frigthnrs' "Till then".
ReplyDeleteI'm quite a bit older....My first show was Alice Cooper billion dollar babies. It was the first time I realized someone hated everyone as much as I did. and he was fucking cool. Sparked a fire for sure.
ReplyDeleteOh damn, that must have been an amazing experience. Alice Cooper live at his peak.
Deleteit really was. It was such a relief for my smoldering teenage heart
DeleteI don't really know how this made it's way to a medium size Irish town with no alternative music scene in Southern Ireland in the 90s but it did, and soundtracked the summer before college for me and a bunch of my friends. Consequently, it's still one of my favourite records to this day. Just picked up the vinyl reissue actually.
ReplyDelete_/\_ Thank you for introducing me to the Polyphonic Spree.
ReplyDeletenice words DS, thanks !
ReplyDeletesweet memory of mine : an uncle used to make mixtapes for me when I was a kid back in the 80s... on one of them, right between kylie minogue and another shit I don't even remember, he had included "prowler" from Iron Maiden !! Don't even know why he put that one in there but that instantly turned me into a metalhead !!
and then came the glorious 90s and I guess I could then talk of a lot more firsts about metal-sex-metal-drug-metal-shits-metal... but ya all know that kind of stories don't you ??!?!
cheers for that tripping daisy, I remember I had borrowed it from a library in my hometown, I was high af and found the cover funny...
What a great trip down memory lane. I completely forgot about TD. Solid band and good fun to listen to.
ReplyDeleteSince I am rapidly approaching OldAF - I can say I saw Jethro Tull when they still mattered...fkMe. Still, worth noting that I rolled my own cigs in high school and that fact allowed me to have papers when other concert goers had their paraphernalia seized. They returned the favors in kind and that show was very fun indeed.
but onto fond memories that I struggle to remember:
Genaside II supporting Lords of Acid.
There were druqz before there were more druqz before we arrived at the show before we missed Genaside II (still don't forgive myself for that one) before I we had an exorcism of our consciousness and left the show - far too early for the imbibing we'd used to counter the drugz we'd taken - which left us wondering what exactly the next day would look like in 6 hours. It wasn't pretty. I ended the day with a parent/teachers conference that would have made it into Trainspotting 3...
My father took me to my first gig aged 10: Iron Maiden, No Prayer For The Dying tour. I remember the sound pressing heavy into my chest. They only had large t-shirts, which dwarfed me when I wore it to primary school. I tried explaining to the headteacher, in his office, that Fokker was a WW1 airplane, but for some reason the old fart didn't want to hear it. T-shirt fits me perfectly now.
ReplyDeleteNice! I'm convinced that I just had no idea about shirt sizes when I was a kid, because I was pretty puny all through my teens, but all of my shirts from back then are XL or larger.
DeleteSorry if it's a known point, Tripping Daisy was fronted by Tim DeLaughter who went on to form Polyphonic Spree.
ReplyDeleteFirst show, I snuck into our local toilet circuit venue to see a Hair & Skin Trading Co. (psychedelic shoegaze featuring members of Loop) and Rosa Mota (brattish girl/boy punk that recorded with Steve Albini later, records never lived up to their live show). About a month or two later I went to the Nirvana day of Reading Festival 1992, hell of a first proper show experience.
I definitely like Polyphonc Spree but I never got as into them as I did Tripping Daisy, so I tend to forget that PS were definitely the more popular band, and probably worth mentioning.
DeleteDamn, your first shows are amazing though. Hair & Skin Trading Co. is a super rad first show (never heard Rosa Mota) and then one of Nirvana's most iconic performances?!? Good job!
When I was a little kid apparently my favorite song was Overside by Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I that was probably because I loved tornados and the art for the single had a tornado on it. The first song I remember being obsessed with was In the Court of the Crimson King, which my dad showed me when I was in third grade. Every Friday in music class our teacher would go down the line and give each student a choice of playing an instrument, playing a round of limbo or musical chairs, or bringing a CD and playing a song off it. One day for my turn I brought In the Court of the Crimson King and within three seconds of it beginning all the other kids started talking loudly over it and the teacher cut it off after three minutes.
ReplyDeleteI have very fond memories of summer vacation in 2013 because that was when I started branching from classic rock and heavy metal and started exploring more music, and I would basically listen to Porcupine Tree and Primus all day while playing Metroid Prime.
The first concert I attended was some Christian rock concert our youth group took us too and I don't remember that much except all the bands had colors in their names and Skillet may have possibly been there. The first time I saw a band I was really interested in was 2016 when my dad took me and two of my friends to see Swans.