One of the things that I touched on last week was listening past the surface to hear the song underneath it. I mean, the person I was in 1988 would never, ever, have been able to handle, say, My Bloody Valentine. While I wouldn’t want to have to fight to hear… I dunno how to phrase it… “the dream of the song” underneath everything maybe… while I wouldn’t want to have to fight to hear the dream of the song every time I listened to music, there are times when doing so is exceptionally rewarding and, surprise surprise, it’s punk rock (of all things) that taught me how to listen for that.
And so I’m sad to say that the first time I heard “Kiss the Bottle” was not from Jawbreaker but from Lucero.
That’s the song I knew first. It feels backwards and upside-down to say that I wouldn’t have been able to listen to this sort of thing without being taught to listen to this sort of thing by this sort of thing… but there it is.
So… what are you listening to?
Yay, something I know for a change!
Actually, I think the best thing about covers is that they bypass barriers people put up for music. You hear a band you like playing someone else’s stuff that you might not have given a chance before. If it’s any good you can hear that song in it’s original version and make a connection to the music you already like. Kinda cheesy, sure, but I have to say it worked for me.
These comments always make me feel a little bit better because I always suspect that I’m playing music that you guys knew about last year and I’m some johnny-come-lately asking “hey, have you guys ever heard of this Lady Ga-Ga?”
my ability to know music is very very limited.
Jay, you’ve always got something new for me.