Wednesday, February 16, 2011

It's been real, Camper Van Beethoven - Key Lime Pie

Released in September of 1989 on Virgin Records
Now let me tell you, this one hurts, but it's day two and it's time to turn up the heat.  It's easy to poke fun at albums like yesterday's A.B.C. release, but the fact of the matter is I'm taking this experiment very seriously.  And if I don't include (exclude?) ALL pre-1991 music then there's just no point in doing this.  (and there IS a point!)

Camper Van Beethoven's Key Lime Pie was one of the cassette tapes my sister passed down to me when we were kids.  I don't know where she first discovered them or when she bought the tape, or even when she gave it to me, but I remember it being in my collection for a very long time.  For a while it just sat there, getting played maybe once every few months.  Eventually, however, the music and lyrics of David Lowery* and co. began to resonate making this one of my all-time favorite records.  Songs "When I Win the Lottery" and "Come on Darkness" are two of my favorites though the whole album is fantastic. 

You might ask why, if music like this reminds me of my childhood, would I want to get rid of it?  Why would I willingly abandon links to my past?  I mean, let's face it, I was 12 years old in 1991.  It was a pivotal time for me.  I was just beginning to explore the world of recorded music, and over the next few years, it would be this music that would shape who I'd eventually become.  That's why I'm doing this.  Because I'm still alive and I don't want to stop evolving.  I want to find new music, new bands.  I want to see more shows and make new memories. 

I look around and see people everywhere listening to classic rock stations.  In public, I'm exposed to "new rock" radio stations whose content consists primarily of music from the 90's.  I peek through people's iTunes catalogs when I'm on a public internet server and see the same titles over and over and over again.**   It's no secret that mainstream radio is a joke, and making fun of MTV for not playing music got tiresome fifteen years ago.  Things have to change.  So I'm doing something about it.  And even though I know it will have ZERO effect on anything or anyone else, I'm going through with it.  Deal with it.

*Years later I would pick up Cracker's Kerosene Hat completely unaware that it was another Lowery project.  

**I have a theory that everyone with a shared iTunes account has at LEAST one song by the band Air. 

3 comments:

  1. i think this is a really interesting idea and i am curious to see what other music you propose retiring...i am also looking forward to reading your defense of bands such as rush and the beatles...my husband, on the other hand, to whom i am reading your blog, is getting all kinds of riled up..so i say, something that stimulates such impassioned conversation is probably worth doing, as long as no one gets hurt...just promise me you won't ever put New Kids on the Block on here-i might have to stop defending you!

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  2. Thanks for checking out my blog, Elizabeth! I appreciate your willingness to acknowledge what I'm doing and for considering it potentially-worthwhile. As for Rush and the Beatles... I can't discriminate. If I'm going to eliminate an ABC album, I have to also eliminate Rush's Moving Pictures. But I guarantee you there will be a post all about my love for Rush.

    The good thing is, the Glee soundtrack is here to stay... for a while, at least.

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  3. Bold!
    Interesting!
    And perversely accurate in a way too...

    I have Air in my iTunes.

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