What Do You Have To Say? - Music: My First Favorite Band
Red Hot Chili Peppers
I was in seventh or eighth grade. I think eighth, because that's the year I got my first cd player. So I'd lay in my bed in the dark, listen to the depressing songs on the soundtrack to "The Bodygaurd" (yes, that Whitney Houston / Kevin Costner movie) and playing Super Mario Brothers with the sound off. I was depressed and my mother only accused me of being 'a snobby anti-social brat' and telling me I needed to 'get over it'. One night, I listened to the radio instead of my only cd. I'd waited till mom had gone to bed and gone into the bathroom to dig into the medicine cabinet. Mom never threw a prescription medicine away, so I knew there were a lot of pills in there. I didn't know what they would do, but I figured if I took enough, they'd kill me. So I took one of every pill and capsule in there and also nabbed my grandfather's old fashioned shaving blade. (The kind where it was a long straight blade that folded into a casing, sort of like a knife.) Then next night, I went in my room with the pills, the razor blade and a cup of water to swallow everything. I wanted to take all the pills and then slice my arms open. (Up the street, not around the block, kiddies!) I was sitting there, again listening to the radio, waiting for mom to go to sleep so I could just... die. I was about to kill myself when mom got up, so I hid the pills and razor under my pillow.
While waiting for her to go back to bed, "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers came on. All I could do was listen to this song. It was as if Anthony Kiedis (as I later found out the singer and writer of the song was named) had dug into my brain, found how I was feeling, put it into words and paired it with music. For whatever reason, I was tape recording that half hour block of music, so I got the song on tape. I played it over and over till the tape, quite literally, fell apart a few months alter. But that night, all I did was flush all the pills down the toilet, put the razor away and drink the water before falling asleep.
Even though anymore I claim U2 as my favorite band, "Under the Bridge" and the Peppers still have a totally special place in my heart. Not only did they keep me alive, they made me realize how deeply music can affect a person.
I should probably send the Peppers a fan letter telling them that they saved my life, quite literally, but I'm too scared they'd laugh.
I was in seventh or eighth grade. I think eighth, because that's the year I got my first cd player. So I'd lay in my bed in the dark, listen to the depressing songs on the soundtrack to "The Bodygaurd" (yes, that Whitney Houston / Kevin Costner movie) and playing Super Mario Brothers with the sound off. I was depressed and my mother only accused me of being 'a snobby anti-social brat' and telling me I needed to 'get over it'. One night, I listened to the radio instead of my only cd. I'd waited till mom had gone to bed and gone into the bathroom to dig into the medicine cabinet. Mom never threw a prescription medicine away, so I knew there were a lot of pills in there. I didn't know what they would do, but I figured if I took enough, they'd kill me. So I took one of every pill and capsule in there and also nabbed my grandfather's old fashioned shaving blade. (The kind where it was a long straight blade that folded into a casing, sort of like a knife.) Then next night, I went in my room with the pills, the razor blade and a cup of water to swallow everything. I wanted to take all the pills and then slice my arms open. (Up the street, not around the block, kiddies!) I was sitting there, again listening to the radio, waiting for mom to go to sleep so I could just... die. I was about to kill myself when mom got up, so I hid the pills and razor under my pillow.
While waiting for her to go back to bed, "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers came on. All I could do was listen to this song. It was as if Anthony Kiedis (as I later found out the singer and writer of the song was named) had dug into my brain, found how I was feeling, put it into words and paired it with music. For whatever reason, I was tape recording that half hour block of music, so I got the song on tape. I played it over and over till the tape, quite literally, fell apart a few months alter. But that night, all I did was flush all the pills down the toilet, put the razor away and drink the water before falling asleep.
Even though anymore I claim U2 as my favorite band, "Under the Bridge" and the Peppers still have a totally special place in my heart. Not only did they keep me alive, they made me realize how deeply music can affect a person.
I should probably send the Peppers a fan letter telling them that they saved my life, quite literally, but I'm too scared they'd laugh.