I’m tired of talking about boring and kinda depressing medical stuff, so let’s do a little fluff here. The other night, I was thinking about the first time I heard a song by Public Enemy, and it got me thinking about some of my more memorable introductions to bands. Memorable to me at least. Your mileage may vary.
Public Enemy – OK, I was late to the party on PE. It somehow missed their first two albums (yes, even “Bring The Noise“), so I had no idea what to expect when Stefan, one of the waiters I worked with, told me “You like Nine Inch Nails, right? I bet you’ll like this.” He put on “Welcome To The Terrordome” and I couldn’t have been more into it. It was one of the most hypnotic tracks I’d ever heard, and Chuck D.’s delivery was mesmerizing. I asked Stefan for headphones and listened to it on loop for half an hour, letting it wash over me and absorbing the lyrics. This, to me, was the turning point for hip hop. I always like LL and Run-DMC and Kool Moe Dee, but this was just a game-changer for me. I haven’t ever seen ’em perform, but I did get to catch Chuck D. share the stage with Leonard Pitts.
The Church – My roomie, Curtis, was a huge fan but I’d never heard them before. He was super excited when he brought home their new 12″ but he was disappointed with the fact that it was a departure from their earlier material. For me, though, “Under The Milky Way” was magical. It was a dreamy piece of musical perfection that sounded classic from the first listen. This song still lives on approximately all of my playlists and mixtapes.
The New Pornographers – There was a weird period in the early 00s when I was finding all sorts of great bands in Spin magazine of all places. Ted Leo, The Arcade Fire, Metric, The Futureheads…a really long and exciting list. The writers really loved the NewPos, but I had no clue what kind of music they made. Fortunately, Casino El Camino was my favourite bar in Austin and they always had the best jukebox. They added Electric Version, so I gave the first four tracks a play. As soon as the title track started, I was in love. Melody-driven, high-energy, immaculate pop perfection. They remain my favourite band of this millennium and the competition is fierce.
Mogwai – This was another band I’d heard a lot about but never actually heard. At this time, I didn’t really know what “post-rock” was (I doubt I’d even heard the expression), but I had a vague impression that this was a band I’d like. I was at the Borders book store in Dallas and saw that the Rock Action album was in one of their listening stations. I put on the first track, “Sine Wave,” and closed my eyes. It slooooowly came up into audio range and…look, I can’t describe this kind of instrumental music properly. I’ll just say that I love it and still use “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong” as my alarm music to help me get up in the morning.
Ambulance, LTD – This was an accident. During SxSW, I went to Red-Eyed Fly to see Stellastarr* (who are great, by the way). I got their early to make sure I’d get in, so there was another band on the stage. I had no clue who, but every song they played was laid-back, guitar-driven, indie-pop. And they played it very well. They finished the set with an instrumental, which would be a pretty bold move for most bands, but they knocked it out of the park. The problem? I had no clue who they were. The schedule posted on the wall was wrong, so I spent a week chasing the wrong band. Once I finally figured out that the band that I was looking for was Ambulance, I bought the record immediately. It’s probably my favorite record since the turn of the century, so I recommend you check it out. Unfortunately, it was the only album they’d ever make.
Frank Zappa – Heh. OK, so, as usually, I was a latecomer to the party. Jon LaMendola drove Curtis and me to lunch one day and, as we were pulling into the parking lot, he put in a cassette of Zappa’s “Montana.” Being heavily into British Invasion bands at this point, I’d never heard anything quite like this. Or, maybe I had, as the music was very much of the “Warner Brother’s cartoon” sort. The lyrics were silly, of course, and the music was silly, but it all came together in a way that was kind of awesome.
Bad Religion – Another “oops” that worked out for the best. Matt, a dude who worked with me at the record store, recommended Bad Religion to me. I was a little surprised as punk wasn’t really my thing, but sure, why not? I bought Suffer and brought it home. Twenty minutes later, I was in awe (and the record was over; it’s not a very long album). Yeah, it was musically sold, but unlike most punk I’d heard, the singer could sing and the lyrics were (probably too) smart. The kicker, though, is that he hadn’t actually recommended Bad Religion; it was Christian Death and I just transposed them in my head. As I said, it worked out. I’ve seen BR more than a dozen times now.
Polyphia – Chalk this one up to YouTube’s algorithm. I’m not sure why YouTube was so sure that I’d like them, but it kept showing me the video for “G.O.A.T” or reaction videos to the song. Finally, I gave in and gave it a listen. I know I’ve said this before (and likely will do again) but I didn’t have a framework to describe what I’d just heard. I couldn’t say what it was “like” because I hadn’t heard anything like it. Having watched dozens of reaction videos, my experience was pretty common. I guess this is probably a pretty typical introduction to a band that is never going to get radio airplay but has a rabid online following. Anyway, check ’em out. They’re terrifyingly good musicians and composers who never (OK, seldom) let virtuosity get in the way of the groove.
EDIT- how could I have left out…
Laibach – I can’t explain “Camp Wade” here, but “Camp Wade” was a thing. Let’s just go with “a weekend-long party at the house of a friend whose parents were out of town.” Anyway, things got weird in the wee hours sometimes. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t drinking then, so I was off in a corner of the house by myself in a big leather chair parked in front of late-night MTV. This video comes on, just chock full o’ fascist imagery, with a pounding march beat and a singer who looked and presumably sounded like Yassar Arafat (look it up). I couldn’t look away because, even by MTV-still-showing-music-videos standards, it was weird. Then, it dawned on me: This was a cover…of a reggae song. They’d taken this bouncy beat and pounded it flat into whatever “this” was.
Then they played The Pixies.
Anyway, it took me literally years to finally find an album by Laibach because it wasn’t exactly the sort of thing you’d find at the mall record stores. Bill finally got a copy after years of begging him, and the rest of the album was…pretty much like I expected. Still have it.