But, I have a rare quiet moment here at work right now, so I'm abusing my access to the Internet to relay a couple antecdotes, the first being a story born from my last rare quiet moment at work.
Free time is a dangerous things in the hands of my coworkers and I. Mayhem always ensues if we don't have deathly ill or broken patients to tend to. People get taped to their seats, gurneys or swivel chairs are raced down the hallways, Wile-E.-Coyote-esque weaponry is built out of medical supplies or, in the most innocuous cases, strange, strange conversations are held.
The most recent had to do with "it"s. "It Girls" and "It Guys"; Whatever you may be into. People shared their all-times, with varying degrees of weirdness. I don't have many celebrity crushes. Most actresses don't do it for me, and even fewer models do. There are a few hot musicians, but if she sucks then that pretty much kills my buzz. And considering that the vast majority of new music sucks, well, you can figure it out.
It came to be my turn, and though I hadn't thought about it in awhile, there really is one clear-cut all-time "It Girl": Miki Berenyi.
Only hardcore Doom-Generation music geeks remember Miki or Lush, the band she fronted in those heady Bill Clinton days. They didn't get as much pub as fellow Britpoppers Blur or especially Oasis, the latter of which was pretty much the biggest band in the world for awhile. However, Lush had a phenomenal sound, in large part thanks to Miki's vocals.
The Britpop label doesn't do Lush justice. Their sound was more dream pop: The hazy, etherial alternative stuff that served as the forerunner to trip hop. The Smashing Pumpkins often veered into dream pop territory. ("Today"; "Tonight, Tonight" or "1979", for example.) The Sundays and Mazzy Star were also very similar, with sounds built on jangly guitars and etherial female vocals.
But Lush did dream pop better than anyone; Even the insanely brilliant Billy Corgan. Their sound was more aggressive without getting heavy. The guitars were fuzzy, but they churned out beautiful, sunny melodies that framed Miki's dreamy, shimmering voice.
I imagine that it also didn't hurt that Miki was hotter than doughnut grease.
I first discovered Lush the same place I discovered most new music in the '90s: MTV's 120 Minutes. I know I'm dating myself by mentioning a time when MTV actually featured music.
The flaming Ferrari-red hair, the British accent, the ambiguously ethnic features: Every alterna-geek was immediately in love with Miki, Especially in Europe where Lush made more of a splash. Sadly, they only lasted a few years and a couple albums before internal tension and a band member's suicide derailed the group. But Lush's music still holds up a decade later ("De-Luxe" is a track on Rock Band 2...Just sayin') and Miki has never relented her position as my all-time "It Girl."
Naturally, no one involved in the conversation that prompted the wave of Miki nostalgia had ever even heard of Miki or Lush. Everyone just kinda looked vacant and quickly moved to the next person.
On an unrelated note, I recently was given the role of determining the Greatest Song Ever. Don't argue, because this thing has come down from up on high. It'd be blasphemous to say God spoke to me, but I just kinda know this is what he wants me to do.
It changes frequently, as I just hear something, usually a song that's well travelled, and suddenly have an epiphany that this is the Greatest Song Ever. It's happened a few times over the past few months.
First it was "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. Then it was Twisted Sister's hair-metal anthem "I Wanna Rock." Things got a little prog the last couple months as "Carry On Wayward Son" had a go, as did Foreplay/Long Time."
But there was another changing of the guard a couple days ago during yet another boredom-fueled conversation...
"Purple Rain" is clearly the Greatest Song Ever.
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1 comment:
i think you need to find a big screen viewing of PURPLE RAIN...
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