Yours Truly, 2095

If I had any balls at all, I’d be a music blogger. But the truth is, I’d only want to write about the bands/music *I* like, which is generally not what the mainstream wants/likes, and I’m not interesting and/or cool enough to write about new stuff, which means that if I were a music writer, absolutely no one would be interested in what I write about except for me and my mother. So I won’t inflict that on anyone except for just, uh, this one time I guess.

I’m stuck in the 1980s. I haven’t moved on. Nothing I listen to was made after 1994, except for The Killers, and the only reason they are *remotely* allowed is because they were heavily influenced by the 1980s and so they *sound* like they were made in the 1980s.

I was born in 1975, which means that during the decade I was most influenced by, I was no more than 14. Which means, ah, I don’t know, it’s just that I can’t help but think maybe I’m a little young for this stuff? I mean, it’s not like I listened to it in college, which is possibly the greatest four years of a person’s life in terms of music discovery, though I got some good stuff then. But it just doesn’t add up. How did we get here? I mean, I should have been listening to Tiffany and Debbie Gibson (and oh, I was. Trust me.) and New Kids on the Block (Dude. Totally saw them in concert with Tiffany. And yes, it was a defining moment, next to the time I *met* them while shopping in New York with my sister while wearing a Pepsi (!!) t-shirt, a poodle perm, giant glasses and a mouth full of braces. Donny tried to give me money – was it because I looked homeless or just needed fashion help? We’ll never know.). But I was also listening to Erasure, The Smiths, Depeche Mode (and almost got ‘DM’ tattooed on my ankle in high school. Gah.), New Order, Peter Murphy, Peter Schilling and ah, just so much more.

And I haven’t moved on! Not even a little! I still listen to the Cocteau Twins and Psychedelic Furs and I have the entire discography of New Order and Depeche Mode on my iPod. I can’t get enough of any of them, and I haven’t gotten sick of them in 15+ years. And then it hit me – it all boils down to the influence of a single album:

ELO’s Time.

Haven’t heard of it? Heard it’s cheesy? Yes! It is! But it’s also electronic and a great concept album. What’s the concept? Some dude dreams he’s traveling through time and misses his girl, ends up dating a robot (an IBM!) and bitches about acid rain. Its, um, narrated by an electronic voice, which is presumably a robot or computer or something.

I know. But it’s great.

I started listening to it when it first came out – I was in kindergarten, and my parents bought it, and even at the age of 5, I would make them play it over and over again on the 8-track until they flat-out refused to hear it even one more time. There was long, miserable time that it was discontinued, but finally, it was re-issued in 2001 with a few b-side bonus tracks that had obviously been written in the concept of the album, yet were mysteriously left off of the original. 25 years is a long time to love something, and its electronic vibe was so…soothing and lovely and perfect, even if it had this weird robot voice telling me what the year 2095 was like (it included time travel, trips to the moon and hover cars, if you’re wondering).

Critics generally hate it, and die-hard ELO fans were pretty horrified**, but it remains my single favorite album of all-time. It reminds me of my mother, who so indulgently let me listen to it over and over again, and of an innocent time. Yet it also set the scene for everything I would listen to later – OMD, Psychedelic Furs, Depeche Mode, New Order, Electronic, Cocteau Twins, The Cure – all of them reminded me in some way of that original album.

And now I guess I’m asking y’all in a way: what’s your favorite album, or what do you listen to, and why? And if you don’t listen to music, why not? Is it time, lack of interest or just…fed up with what’s out there? I don’t expect you all to answer, given that roughly nine of you comment every day out of the alarming number (ALARMING. Seriously, it scares me. I’m flattered, but holy shit, it’s just a question of time before my in-laws find this site, at this rate, which: OMG) of you who visit every day, but if you’ve never spoken up before, try it now. But if you don’t, I won’t be hurt, because frankly, every time there is a call for de-lurkers on another site, I just sit there, panicked, like a bump on a pickle and don’t say a word, even if I’m a regular.

But really, I could obviously use some new music recommendations to get me out of 1981. Consider it a public service.

*ELO, of course. From Time.

**Considering it followed the soundtrack to Xanadu, which was universally panned and disdained beyond all belief at the time, but oh! It was FABULOUS!

33 comments July 12th, 2006