Day 62: 1998 was a big year for me. I graduated from MSU, Jen and I got married, we moved out of state, and we both started grad school at Purdue. That is a lot to deal with. When the two of us first went to MSU, we both had high school friends to lean on and hang out with, but when we moved to Lafayette, we really just had each other. We were newlyweds, so spending time together was fine, but that first year in particular was a little bit tough and a little bit lonely before we really got to know people. I think today's track, "This Mess We're In" from PJ Harvey (with some help from Radiohead's Thom Yorke) captures some of that feeling. It's a duet with a bit of a brooding feel, dark feel, but it is still a great song. That is kind of how I view that first year at Purdue. It was a good year, don't get me wrong, but there were some dark clouds as Jen and I danced our little duet in a new state. That first year of course work at grad school can be brutal, and I am sure that there were times when we thought, "How did we get into this mess?" Furthermore, I remember receiving this CD, the brilliant "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" one Christmas and listening to it on the long drive from Michigan back down to Lafayette, and I always think of that drive and the Indiana countryside when I hear this song.
12/02/2014
Day 63: By the time Jen and I landed at Purdue, I must admit that I thought my CD/tape collection was complete. I had spent the better part of the previous 10 years listening to new bands and buying up the CDs of those that I felt were worthy. But, by 1998, the music landscape had changed. Alternative music had gone completely mainstream, which did have some advantages, but in general, it brought on a new wave of bands that seemed to be to be talentless hacks trying to score some bucks on the newly popular genre. There seemed to be an awful lot of "poser" rock bands cropping up (see Ray, Sugar as an example) and I just had no use for any of them. My golden age of music was over, I thought. That being said, for the first year or so that Jen and I spent in the Lafayette area, we were essentially poor graduate students, and so cheap entertainment was key. Friday and Saturday nights were often spent playing NTN trivia at BW3s (but not ordering a meal), wandering the Super Target near our apartment (but not buying anything), and occasionally splurging on used CDs at my new favorite store: CD Land, which offered a great 5 for $20 deal. I had no interest in new bands, but there were a few older acts that I had yet to explore, and used CDs stores were once again a way to access them. I was first introduced to Ani DiFranco by a co-worker at Dart Container during the summer that I interned there. I never bothered to explore her music much until one day I found a used or deeply discounted copy of her album "Dilate". I decided to take a flyer and buy the album, and we became instant fans after just a few songs. The aggressive female vocals reminded me a lot of PJ Harvey, but with more of a cool, folk-rock feel. (Plus, Jen liked her a lot better than PJ Harvey). Today's selection, "Shameless" is a great example of why I fell in love with Ani DiFranco's music. It has a driving acoustic guitar part that draws you in and doesn't let you go, yet it also has a sweet, soft middle section that provides a nice contrast to the rough and angry start and finish. Plus this song helped to remind that even if the golden years had past, there were still good artists out there to discover.
12/03/2014
Day 64: It seems that in most situations, there is an exception to every rule. I mentioned yesterday that by the time I had arrived in Lafayette, I had become rather jaded about the state of new music. Yet, I still would listen to whatever Lafayette's modern rock station was at the time during my commute to campus, and very, very rarely I would run across something interesting. One day I ran across a song that really intrigued me. The singer sounded like an angry version of Michael Stipe from R.E.M. to me. It also had that neat mix of fast and slow, soft and hard that reminded me of acts like the Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, and Ani DiFranco. It seemed like a bit of a fresh take on what had become of alternative rock. I was so intrigued by the song that I wound up calling the radio station to confirm the name of the band and song (as I never seemed to hear it during the broadcast), and I found that it was today's selection, "We Are" by Vertical Horizon. Perhaps not all was lost in the realm of new music after all...
12/04/2014
Day 65: Now, I don’t want to make it sounds like Jen and I never made any friends during our time at Purdue. We actually made several very good friends. It just took a little while. And, we certainly did have some fun times down on the banks of the Wabash. One night that really sticks out was the evening of either the birthday or perhaps the Masters Defense of Jen's office mate Heather Landis. We decided to go out dancing with other members of the Civil Engineering Department to a horrible dive of a place called T.A. Tom's in West Lafayette. It was the kind of place where the wooden floors were just permanently sticky. The night started off a little slow, but eventually our crowd slowly took over the dance floor from what I can only imagine were a handful of undergrads. One of the songs that catalyzed our takeover, was today's selection, "Jessie's Girl" from Rick Springfield. I had not heard the song in years, but I was quite familiar with it, as both my sisters, and especially Jennie were pretty big fans of Rick Springfield back in the day. (I would even wager that a vinyl version of the record "Working Class Dog" might still be sitting in my parent's basement). Once this song came on, that was it, we had everybody on the dance floor, even Jenn's now husband Brett. And, who could blame us, really? It is a fabulous song. I mean, where else can you find both the correct usage of the word "moot" and an un-needed key change? Yeah, that's what I thought. Some songs from the 80s seemed dated and silly at this point, but Rick Springfield's ode to coveting other man's girl was built to last.
12/05/2014
Day 66: Jen and I over the years have always enjoyed entertaining. We don't necessarily do it that often, but when we do it, I think we usually do a pretty good job. The roots of that interest likely can be found during those first few years at Purdue, when as one of the few married couples, we felt the need to be good hosts for some of the other students who were perhaps even more isolated than we were. Back then, the menu was typically take out pizza, but it was a good chance to get to know some of our new friends a little better. One of the evenings that sticks out is one night when Jenn and her now husband Brett came over for pizza and some board games. I had found out that Brett was a bit of a fan of The Cure, and they had recently released their 2000 album Bloodflowers, which features today's selection, "Watching Me Fall". I decided to pop that CD into the stereo for the background music for the evening. I can't remember exactly what game(s) we played that evening, but I do remember that in one iteration, Brett and I were teamed up and once we claimed victory, we decided to run a "victory lap" around the small card table that we had set up in our apartment living room. Jen and Jenn were not as amused by this as we were. We had a lovely time. Lafayette was feeling like home. At that time, I believe the Cure was slightly past their prime of the early 90s, but Bloodflowers was an album grand in scope, much like its predecessor Disintegration. Today's track is 10 minutes of slow burn classic Cure that always reminds me of that fun night of fellowship by in the 765. But, alas, time moves on, people graduate (eventually) and go their separate ways.
After 4 years, Jen and I had also finished our degrees and we were ready to move on as well. We both found jobs in Michigan and found ourselves in Ann Arbor, of all places. We were finally adults, I suppose, with real jobs, and I pretty much held on to my belief that the golden age of music had past and my CD selection was pretty much complete. At least, that was the case until I experienced my own personal musical renaissance. But, that my friends, is another story, and is the subject of our next chapter.
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