all the news that print will fit.
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| notes from underground - societal whispers all the news that print will fit. |
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Tuesday, November 13, 2007 i don't get shivers when i read stuff much any more - and here i'm talking about shivers of the good variety. the kind you get when you read something that you really identify with or truly feel you understand. but oh, my goodness how i felt like an ice age had entered the room when i started into just the preface of jim walsh's the replacements - all over but the shouting: an oral history. and yes, this is indeed about the band i trot out whenever i am 'forced' to answer the question "who's your favorite band?" walsh is a contemporary, both geographically and historically, of the replacements and his preface is a moving recollection of why we geeks fall in love with art in the first place. the multiple experiences, those dizzying heights. i could write pages and pages about my experiences with the replacements' work, but one thing that almost always urges a wry smirk or two out of people is relating your attempts to share your devotion with others. you can't force art on people - they really have to come to it on their own. people who have tried to get me to listen to bands over the years will note, with some frustration, my obstinate refusal to really hear stuff if it's being forced upon me. i have to feel like i came to it myself, not had it thrust onto me. and this isn't a question of not wanting to give people credit - i whole heartedly do that*. a girl i dated for two weeks and i were hanging out at her house. her friend was there and i made them both listen to pleased to meet me. it went over like a led zeppelin. they put on something by rob zombie immediately afterward. now you know why this lasted two weeks. another ex-gf and i decided to select a song for our relationship. 'our song,' you know. since we couldn't decide collectively, she went with one song ("oh, you've got the darkest eyes.."), i went with the replacements' "they're blind." ("to the brown-eyed beholder..") we both had brown eyes. the end. no one i've ever dated has really latched onto the replacements, nor would i expect them to. in a way, they're my band. i'm always eager to share my love of a band with others - especially if they are fans as well. but sometimes, it feels good to crawl up inside of something that you, and only you, are invested in. obviously you're not the only person in the world who knows it, but maybe the only one in your world. i went through all of high school never knowing another replacements fan. i also would amuse myself by playing "fuck school" from their stink EP loudly, windows rolled down, as i would leave high school in the afternoons. sometimes, things are better inside. * - for sleater-kinney and, very much after your gallant attempt, mary lou lord, thank you, jenny. for the cash brothers, thank you, michael. for the posies, thank you, mad dog. for cat stevens; a tolerance and appreciation for the grateful dead; through bludgeoning, repeated playings of hejira, joni mitchell, and 10,000 maniacs, thank you, rachel. for bob dylan, thank you, andrew and jeremy. for tom waits, thank you, sylvia and jeremy. for the chameleons and the veils, thank you, beth. for iris dement, thank you, mom. posted by J. Neas | 11/13/2007 11:57:00 PM
Comments:
I just noticed something - "it went over like a led zeppelin." Do you mean that in the sense of "it went over like a zeppelin, following something," "it went over like Led Zeppelin, in the sense that I don't really care for Led Zeppelin in the least," or did you just mean to say "lead"? :)
# posted by
 : 10:01 PM, November 27, 2007
i bought this book for my bro-in-law (a huge replacements fan) for christmas last year, and -even though i like them yet never latched on myself- i could not stop reading the thing until i'd finished reading every page. in the end he received a used book.
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