Jan 202008
 

Still reading old vacation journals, I laughed out loud at a paragraph I wrote about my aunt Sharon watching music videos on some European channel called “Viva!” I wrote that she liked men who wore copious layers of makeup and that seeing the video for X-French Tee Shirts had her all excited. I’m sure what really happened was that she was like, “This is fucking terrible” and I began chanting, “Sharon’s in love.”

But the reason why I laughed is because back then, I had no idea who Shudder To Think was, and while at the height of my urban music phase, I can only imagine the pain that must have coursed through my body while enduring such a “weird” song.

After reading that, I was inspired to look for the video, to see if it triggered any memories of lounging on a hotel bed in 1995. It didn’t really, but I laughed again when I discovered that I already have that song on my Zen, so naturally I listened to it the other day and have become batshit-obsessed with it; it makes me feel like Annica the Swede is giving my temporal lobe a deep tissue massage which puts me in a really weird state, like I’m not really in 2008 yet I’m not fully back in 1996, but kind of floundering in some fucked up limbo full of tear-inducing sentimentality for a song of which I have no recollection, yet it still triggers unspeakable amounts of emotion which I can’t put my finger on, but is probably best chalked up to my bi-polarism.

When I first heard of the band a good four years after that trip (because they did the soundtrack to First Love, Last Rites), there still was no epiphanic sparking of any particular, isolated memory bringing me to my knees in a nostalgia overdose; however I did think they were a really great band after that because my tastes had matured and developed a little. (Though I’ll always have a soft spot for some Bone.)

But every time I watch this video, I giggle uncomfortably, imagining what I must have thought back then. The mix tape I had on that vacation was full of 2Pac, Bone, Jodeci,  Junior Mafia and Mary J. Blige, for Christ’s sake! And of course it had to feature at least one black sheep of a song that created a jarring juxtaposition to the mix, and I believe on that particular tape it was “Cry Little Sister” from the Lost Boys soundtrack.

Does anyone else have a story about revisiting a band later on? And does anyone remember this video? YouTube doesn’t have the embedding option for this, and AOL Video is full of retardation, so trying to bring this video to you has been delightful, especially with my boyfriend pushing me out of the way so he can “fix it” because did you know he’s the one who created html? Incidentally, he didn’t do jack to help me, thanks.

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  14 Responses to “Shudder To Think, revisited”

  1. weird. i don’t remember this video, but now i can’t stop watching it.

  2. Back when Toad the Wet Sprocket was popular, I remember liking “Something’s Always Wrong” and “Fall Down,” so I decided to get the album. I LOATHED the rest of it; I found it awful, so I listened to the two tracks I liked and abandoned that CD for years. In college, I pulled it out again and realized that I really loved it.

    I think we all go through phases like that.

    • I loved them when I was in high school. My step-dad had a juke box in the garage and two of their songs (“walk on the ocean” and “all i want”) was on it. I used to play them over and over and feel sorry for myself in the driveway. I still feel sad when I hear those songs.

      We definitely all have those phases — I was just curious to read about everyone else’s.

  3. wow, i could only sit through like half of that video. i’m not even sure why, it just wasn’t my “thing” i suppose.
    very strange though.
    and why is it that he can wear blue eyeshadow and not look like a two bit prostitute? totally unfair.

  4. I have the opposite: I used to love Blondie when I was a kid and now I can’t stand any of their songs.

  5. Awww shit Erin, I totally forgot about these guys. I had a brief run with them when I saw them play with Sunny Day Real Estate in like 95 or 96. I never owned any of their albums, but friends did and we grooved on them for a while. Now I’m gonna have to go and dig some stuff up.

    You know what band I did that with was The Pixies. Back in my Depeche Mode/Erasure days I had a friend hardcore into the Pixies and I just didn’t get it, but I’ve recently gotten back into them and now I can’t stop. Another band I was tepid about back then but am really into now is the Afghan Whigs.

    • YOU SAW SUNNY DAY?! I’m jealous!!

      Ditto on Afghan Whigs — I bought their Black Love CD in the 90s because one of my penpals freakin’ loved them and kept hounding me about it. I didn’t like it then, but I picked it out of the shelf a few years ago and ended up really liking it. I really like Greg Dulli’s other project the Twilight Singers too!

      The singer from Shudder to Think has another band called Baby. I grabbed one of their mp3s off Pitchfork a few years ago and it was really good. I can email it to you if you want!

    • I saw them 3 times actually. I first saw them got into them with friends when we saw them open for Velocity Girl. Then the aforementioned show with Shudder to Think (whom I think was the headlining act) and then again with their own show. Back then they were a big hit with the group and those days we wouldn’t let a show pass with a band we even remotely liked, so we cashed in quite a bit.

      I’ve never heard anything by the Twilight Singers, yet something else to look up and check out.

      I would love to have ya send it my way. I’d be curious as check it out.

  6. i don’t hate this song…
    it just makes me feel really weird.

    i felt the same way about milli vanilla.
    when they 1st came out, i was like- woah, what is this shit!? but, i just heard “blame it on the rain” the other day and am IN LOVE!!!!

    i wonder what they’re up too now!?!? on tour?!?
    let’s get TIX!!!!!

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