Rockin' Stroll

ORN: 3.1 miles in 36:34. Bloody treadmills. For some reason, today my desire not to be rained upon trumped my hatred of running on a treadmill. And the treadmills at work are especially bad. My schedule called for 60 minutes today, but I could not bear it arny longer and aborted early. As I was getting dressed afterward, I composed a long list of reasons why I hate treadmills so much, but I will spare you. It's all too obvious. Moving on.

I think I may have mentioned this before, but in case I haven't, here is an interesting fun fact about me. I always come late to the party when it comes to music. I'm what you might call a bass-ackward music snob. That is to say that I intensely like the music I like, to the exclusion of everything else, even thought it's not any good and is ten years old. The consequence of this is that rather than having my head up, scanning the horizon for new music I like, trying to identify the next big thing, I've always got my head down or turned backward. I'm obsessively digesting music people were talking about -- and I was ignoring -- 5, 10, 20, or more years ago. I'm constantly playing catch-up. I could try to say that I'm retro-chic, but I can't pull that off with the stink of dumbass all over me.

Case in point, I just got a copy of It's a Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads. I can vividly recall hanging out with my wiser and hipper pals back in college who were raving about this genius named Evan Dando and his tight, smart band. I also recall turning my nose up at it back then for being pretentious, navel-gazing, emo crap because I couldn't be bothered to listen to anything but hardcore punk from five years before from one obscure California label. Now, here I am jamming my ass off to Hate Your Friends, Creator, and Ray, feeling like a dumbass for missing the boat. Again.

I've been the same way about Nirvana, The Cure, Joy Division, and a host of others. Just last night, I was playing with Little One with one of the cable TV music channels on -- Retro-Active, I think -- and I was startled by how much I liked Peter Murphy, The Church, New Order, and some other bands that I can't recall this precise second but that I know I rolled my eyes at back in the day.

I think that part of my problem is that I cannot be bothered to invest too much in being hip. Staying current takes energy. I have never had the time, attention span, or the money to keep current on what's new and happening with music. I've only ever been able to afford to concentrate on what I can put on my plate at the moment, as the world continued to turn and great bands came and went. Tragically, I frequently regret the time I lost when I could have been rocking out to something really good. Like The Lemonheads.

Plus, right or wrong, I have, working against me, a nagging belief that nothing is any good if other people like it. Oh my gods, I am the bastard offspring of Indie Rock Pete and Metal Steve. [monocle drops from the author's eye]

Oh well. I can always blame DJ Nano who laid this crap on me today:

1. Plainsong - The Cure
2. Pressure Drop - The Maytals
3. The Hypothesist - Novillero
4. Hide Away Folk Family - They Might Be Giants
5. When the Well Runs Dry - Bob Marley and The Wailers
6. I Like Young Girls - Love Jones
7. Paper Cuts - Nirvana
8. Prime Audio Soup - Meat Beat Manifesto
9. Hate & War - The Clash
10. Down On Me - Janis Joplin