i would rather die than give you control

[claudelemonde]

my brother ed is probably seven. he barrels down the hallway into the living room where my sister and i are watching television on the couch; he launches into the air and lands dramatically, sinking his plastic teenage mutant ninja turtles scimitar into a floor cushion. "TERRIBLE LIE!" he howls. it is my fault: i have given him a case of the nine

Comments

[mehinda]

"i wish i were a gourd," he muffled out from under his arms, "cos if i were a gourd, i wouldn't have a final tomorrow."

But, Claudia, at least Trent got the subjunctive mood right. That's something, isn't it?

In all seriousness, friends of mine, who were more in the know about music than I was, introduced me to Pretty Hate Machine shortly after it came out. I was 17 years old. We kept listening to it through our late teens and early twenties. When my ex-husband and I started dating/living together, we listened to it so much, I have most of the songs permanently etched in my brain.

My first inklings of "feeling old" came, not because of wrinkles or joint pains, but because of realizations like, "Holy shit. Pretty Hate Machine's now 10 years old." This came up for me at the very end of 1999. I'd just split up with the ex-husband and was thinking about the last ten years, and I went out and bought a new copy of PHM (lost the original to the ex in our divorce). It had aged pretty badly. Like you, I found that Something I Can Never Have held up, and I remember thinking the same thing about Ring Finger.

The rest of the album fit and chafed at the same time. Like, I knew it was pretty bratty and self-centered to feel those feelings very feelingly, but it was also my touchstone of a sort. I needed it when I was a know-it-all shithead of a teenager, who thought the entire world was conspiring against her. I needed it again that December night in 1999.

I haven't listened to it since, I don't think. I'm not even sure if I know where the CD is now. But damn, you've got me wanting to find it again.

it's possibly the only mood he got right

[claudelemonde]

you will look for that disc with the bittersweet foresight of certain disappointment--in itself a trentian sensation, no?

Re: it's possibly the only mood he got right

[mehinda]

Yes. And then I will rail. I'll cry bitter tears over the injustice (and irony, o bitter friend) of it all.

[st_rev]

But, Claudia, at least Trent got the subjunctive mood right. That's something, isn't it?

Slightly related: something I've always admired about Trent is his diction. He enunciates very well. His lyrics may be inane but you'll never spend years wondering what the hell they are. If he mumbled like (say) early Michael Stipe, we wouldn't be able to sit here and make fun of him like this!