the new tori album
bought it yesterday, gave it 1 objective, democratic full listen of all 23 (23?) tracks with NO skipping, and I think it's the last time I'll listen to it too.
it's a sad thing when yr heroes end up fading away instead of burning out....
i'll always love you kurt!!!!
it's a sad thing when yr heroes end up fading away instead of burning out....
i'll always love you kurt!!!!
i never went to long island, its a long story. i'll tell you about it another time maybe next week or something.
i LOVE her, tori amos that is...
but i actually havent listened to any of her music in years. well every once in a while we put on a song or two from little earthquakes and under the pink during brunch with the roomies or something and my heart completly melts and i realize that i still have every lyric to every song shes ever written still stored in my mind since 7th grade. but thats about my limit. my reasons for defending her are by far more of a political move/alliance.
did you ever hear that interview with her on NPR?
they talked about how tori brought back the genre of the girl and the piano. a publicly royal possition in the comfy confines of wimins music that had been long abandoned since the days that carol king smoked out her 4 octive vocal range and got up from the bench. i love carol king too, you know she sang 'i here the earth/ move/ under my feet/ i hear the sky come crumbling down/ crumbling down.' and also penned great hits as 'its too late' (its too late baby now/ its much to late/ tho we really did try to make it great/ something inside of us died and i cant hide and i just cant fake it) you know her, she's completly fabulous.
well when tori surfaced music was a fucking boys club...
it was the early 90s post punk movement that was becoming mainstream thanks to bands like nirvana...
and pearl jam. white boys rapping was big, sonic youths experimental jet set trash and no star was just coming out. clinton just became president and was playing the saxaphone on arsinio (sp?) hall and the breeders had a hit with cannonball.
riot grrrl was ruffly a blip on the surface of mouths of girls from ny...
and i had yet to acquire my first bikini kill record, even further from being set free by songs from team dresch. instead, i heard tori sing 'silent all these years' and i was still set free, but in a very different way. she was one of the first concerts i ever went to, i was in 7th grade, i think that makes me like 12--apple cheeked and adorable. i went with my friend alyson and her cousin michelle which she called tootsie--so magical. i feel like from then on when i opened my eyes they always opened a little wider from that day on. i new there was more to the world then long island and hard core and all these unenlightened boys.
so whats my bag with saving my soft hand for tori amos as if shes my wife...
i feel like she is a very relevant part of music and culture, maybe more importantly to me at least, she is herstory. a part of a rich wimins culture of popular. she single handly (well maybe with both hands actually) brought back the genre of the girl with the piano. took it right away from asses like axel rose, took center stage alone with her boosy and wimins music was reborn into popular culture. all the sudden people cared about wimin making music. she was the mainstream part of the wave that opened doors for things like lilith fair (not that i really care about sarah maclaughlin, she didnt really get the job done) but maybe more importantly there was a revival and all the sudden you could get bands like L7, rasputina, 10,000 maniacs, pj harvey and kate bush on columbia house. and for that, i thank tori amos cos in this way, my early adolescent obsession with her changed my life for the better. and thats not really enough for me to go out and spend money on her albums now, but it is enough for me to defend her till my last dying breath.
so with that lesson learned...
heres a few tips from me about being a dyke and on top of that, being a dyke feminist--ive been doing this for a while so you know naturally i have developed some opinions. aries, we always have crazy essentialist opinions about things. maybe you'll find some of these useful in having a more wimin centric/wimin possitive world view...
1--know yr herstory. just cos something is deemed feminist or wimins art doesnt mean its a one liner.
2--love and respect yr fore-sisters/mothers and the gifts and talents they share with us.
3--unless the situation is completely dire. never hit a womyn.
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Lo and behold in 2007 I find out you were just playing it cool, and obviously had an intense obsession and admiration for her all along. I had no idea!!!!!
This just further concretes yr place as my dyke hero. I WILL give the new album a 2nd listen- she deserves that much. I'm so hard on her now because I really used to worship her, and when I say that her words and music changed my life, shaped my personality, opinions, values, and ideals- I really mean it. Before I listened to Tori it was all nine inch nails and nirvana, she really became my introduction to a whole new world of music, and accordingly a whole new world of thought, people, and culture.
I just feel like she's maybe mailing it in now- you can't deny she's way more commercial; 10 years ago I would have said without hesitation that she is the most talented and innovative musician I know of, nowadays I'm almost a little embarrassed to admit that I listen to her. But yr right- I can't forget what she's already done for me- educating me, inspiring me, changing the world, etc.
From now on, when it comes to Tori, if I have nothing nice to say, I will endeavor to say nothing at all- you have changed my mind with yr persuasive Tori Amos essay. You should have yr own column in a newspaper.
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