'end of an era' is right
sleater-kinney apparently broke up last night. they say "indefinite hiatus," but with an official announcement on their page, no plans to record or tour again, and a list of 'final' shows, it sounds like it's pretty definite to me.
fuck cheesy: music is my life. and if there is ONE band who made more of an impact on me than ANY other band, if there is one band who is really the cause for my initial interest in music, and more specifically politics and music, then it is sleater-kinney. my sister bought Call The Doctor when i was 12 years old. it's weird that my mind somehow sensed that this was a monumental event, but i remember all the details of the first time i heard them. those details don't need to be indexed here, it just needs to be expressed that that is the moment when life changed course for me. i got really into that album, then bought Dig Me Out the day it was released, got really into that, went to see them, started looking into the weird record label they were on, Kill Rock Stars, started buying other random stuff from them, like Team Dresch and Bratmobile and Bikini Kill and stuff like that, became fascinated by the riot grrrl and dyke scenes... seriously, i honestly don't know where i would be without having those bands to listen to at that time in my life. with Personal Best, would i have come out as early as i did? would i even know what the word 'dyke' meant? would i have been all self-hating and depressed about it? would i have started playing guitar without Dig Me Out? would i even have been friends with the great people i became friends with if we didn't have subversive musical tastes to bond over?
sleater-kinney was totally unlike anything i'd ever heard in my life, and i survived high school relatively unscathed because of them. man it's impossible to talk about a favourite band without horribly embarrassing cliches, but their lyrics really 'spoke' to me. bleh i cant believe i said that. it's true though, i was emotionally overwhelmed by their break-up songs before i had ever even dated anyone, and they had this way of singing about gender and sexism that wasnt preachy or academic or even overtly political at all, it was just very subtle and personal and awesome. i won't say i'm queer or a feminist because of them, but they certainly introduced me to the ideas MUCH earlier than i would have found them on my own, and seriously made living that way so much easier because they put it all out there in great little 3 minute songs.
ok this is really long and probably the lamest thing i've ever written. this news just made me feel all retrospective and grateful for the opportunity i had to experience such a great underground movement. they were one of the only bands in existence today where i could say to myself, "man, they are so damn respectable AND so good musically too!" they never "sold out," they never inflated their ticket prices, they never played questionable events like MWMF, they never changed their sound to make it more marketable, they never watered down the politics in their lyrics. in fact, in their last two albums, their lyrics actually became MORE overtly political, more aggressive, more "fuck you." and when they felt that their music was becoming too predictable or marketable, they went into a forest and changed EVERYTHING because they were getting bored and wanted to disturb their listeners, really shake them up and make them uncomfortable. and i am so glad they did that, because after initially not liking The Woods i have grown to love it and that lesson has really helped me appreciate other forms of music that are not exactly conventional or poppy or short.
anyway, luckily, a couple weeks ago jesse and i bought tickets to see them in philly on july 31, and it turns out that is their 4th to last show ever. i'm sooo happy we bought those tickets! i've seen them 7 times since 1997, and this will be the 8th. i have to start saving now if i wanna buy up a lot of the merch..
ok my first day of work in a month starts in one hour. so long!
fuck cheesy: music is my life. and if there is ONE band who made more of an impact on me than ANY other band, if there is one band who is really the cause for my initial interest in music, and more specifically politics and music, then it is sleater-kinney. my sister bought Call The Doctor when i was 12 years old. it's weird that my mind somehow sensed that this was a monumental event, but i remember all the details of the first time i heard them. those details don't need to be indexed here, it just needs to be expressed that that is the moment when life changed course for me. i got really into that album, then bought Dig Me Out the day it was released, got really into that, went to see them, started looking into the weird record label they were on, Kill Rock Stars, started buying other random stuff from them, like Team Dresch and Bratmobile and Bikini Kill and stuff like that, became fascinated by the riot grrrl and dyke scenes... seriously, i honestly don't know where i would be without having those bands to listen to at that time in my life. with Personal Best, would i have come out as early as i did? would i even know what the word 'dyke' meant? would i have been all self-hating and depressed about it? would i have started playing guitar without Dig Me Out? would i even have been friends with the great people i became friends with if we didn't have subversive musical tastes to bond over?
sleater-kinney was totally unlike anything i'd ever heard in my life, and i survived high school relatively unscathed because of them. man it's impossible to talk about a favourite band without horribly embarrassing cliches, but their lyrics really 'spoke' to me. bleh i cant believe i said that. it's true though, i was emotionally overwhelmed by their break-up songs before i had ever even dated anyone, and they had this way of singing about gender and sexism that wasnt preachy or academic or even overtly political at all, it was just very subtle and personal and awesome. i won't say i'm queer or a feminist because of them, but they certainly introduced me to the ideas MUCH earlier than i would have found them on my own, and seriously made living that way so much easier because they put it all out there in great little 3 minute songs.
ok this is really long and probably the lamest thing i've ever written. this news just made me feel all retrospective and grateful for the opportunity i had to experience such a great underground movement. they were one of the only bands in existence today where i could say to myself, "man, they are so damn respectable AND so good musically too!" they never "sold out," they never inflated their ticket prices, they never played questionable events like MWMF, they never changed their sound to make it more marketable, they never watered down the politics in their lyrics. in fact, in their last two albums, their lyrics actually became MORE overtly political, more aggressive, more "fuck you." and when they felt that their music was becoming too predictable or marketable, they went into a forest and changed EVERYTHING because they were getting bored and wanted to disturb their listeners, really shake them up and make them uncomfortable. and i am so glad they did that, because after initially not liking The Woods i have grown to love it and that lesson has really helped me appreciate other forms of music that are not exactly conventional or poppy or short.
anyway, luckily, a couple weeks ago jesse and i bought tickets to see them in philly on july 31, and it turns out that is their 4th to last show ever. i'm sooo happy we bought those tickets! i've seen them 7 times since 1997, and this will be the 8th. i have to start saving now if i wanna buy up a lot of the merch..
ok my first day of work in a month starts in one hour. so long!