Tuesday, January 15, 2013

1.4.13

(Editor’s Note – I kinda fell off my New Year’s Resolution for a bit, but I’m catching up with the listening and am going to definitely catch up on the writing.)

On January 4th, I listened to The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour, The Smiths The Smiths and Two Door Cinema Club Beacon. I guess this was England day, the first of my very loose themed days.


If you remember from my New Year’s manifesto professing 2013 The Year Of Music, I have a deep emotional connection with The Beatles. I also feel like writing about them is a fool’s errand. So, here we go.

I made Magical Mystery Tour the first Beatles album I would listen to this year because BBC America just showed the movie. I watched it like five times, was fucking mesmerized each time and I’m convinced Monty Python stole their ENTIRE shtick from it! The foot race definitely inspired the Twit Olympics. 

Every song on MMT is a masterpiece, but for some reason my favorite has always been “Your Mother Should Know.” I love how they end the movie with it and they couldn't look creepier walking down the stairs… especially John.


I could listen to this album every Sunday for the rest of my life.

Fan fact: Remember the whole Paul is dead thing? I put the album cover upside down because the way The Beatles is spelled out was supposed to be some guy’s phone number you could call and he’d tell you how Paul died. I dunno, maybe. So, punch up the UK dialing code and call 537-1438.


I guess my relationship with The Smiths started in 1987. That Spring I got suspended from High School cause some psycho jumped me in the hallway and all I did was defend myself. So, with three days off I spent one of them driving to Home Of The Hits, Buffalo’s long gone hipster record store, and came home with the The Smith’s Louder Than Bombs on cassette. I would spend the next several years listening to The Smiths and/or Morrissey a lot. I just realized I got into a fight and ran out and bought a Smith’s record. What a pussy.

Speaking of pussies, years later when the little pussy Emo thing was happening around the turn of the century, I came to a realization. While everyone was crying at the Dashboard Confessional show, I remember thinking that I like my emotional singers FA-LAMING with Johnny Marr backing them up.

I’m way off track here. The Smiths The Smiths! I like this record. It’s not my favorite proper album from the Manchester boys, but it does have “What Difference Does It Make,” and “This Charming Fuckin’ Man!” Some of it is too much of a downer, but a solid debut!

My two favorite lines from the album are from “You’ve Got Everything Now,” “No I’ve never had a job, because I never wanted one.” Fucking ridiculous! And “Pretty Girls Make Graves,” “She’s too rough, and I’m too delicate.” Probably one of my all time favorite tracks from the band, and I always thought, “I’d like to meet a rough girl and mess around with gender roles,” which is weird because that then became a line in a James song and it freaked me out. I dunno, maybe.



This is the girl that inspired the “I’m too delicate” line. I'd let her beat the shit out of me!



Two Door Cinema Club kinda fits right in with The Smiths. I remember not really caring for their first one and some guy I know told me to go back and give their second album Beacon a shot. I did. It’s not bad, I liked the single, “Sleep Alone,” and the cover is pretty cool. (I also put it upside down, cause it looks dirtier that way.) Overall, I was washing dishes when I listened to it and it was just kind of there, but I didn't hate it. 

No comments:

Post a Comment