Play It Again, Sam - 10/10
Notes
This is my first attempt to write a story set in a season in progress, and it had its challenges - not the least of which was seeing something I’d written become canon and have to be completely reworked. Dean singing ballads! Castiel and The Who! I had it first, damn it. Now I know how the rest of you feel.
This show's relationship with its fandom - honestly....
The idea for this story came to me when the Tom Jones song came on in the grocery store one afternoon. Like Sam I’d never actually heard the original, and as I stood in the Asian food aisle, searching for garlic ginger teriyaki, I imagined Dean using the song to tease Sam. Preferably before inappropriate relations ensued.
From there the whole thing grew and expanded. My previous spn_j2_bigbang was intended to poke fun at Mary Sues and third sibling stories. This one is intended to gently poke fun at song fic. I hope I’ve accomplished that.
Dean’s music here is classic rock with the appropriate smattering of hokey ballads that I thought would reveal his true inner dork. (You can imagine my simultaneous fist-pumping and cursing during the “All Out of Love”scene in 7.06.)
The great running gag of the show is, of course, that Sam’s musical taste is unknown - except for two seconds of Jason Mann in 4.01. Because “Mystery Spot” is a Sam-centric episode, in my mind “Heat of the Moment” is a Sam song. So from there I decided that Sam has a deep and abiding, if unconscious, love for 1980s music. And let’s face it, as much as we all like rocking out to AC/DC and Zeppelin, sometimes it’s really fun to belt out some embarrassing Whitney Houston, isn’t it?
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank audreytiphaine for reading various incarnations and for always offering support. She’s like cheerleader!Jared in every “Fired Up" J2 AU.
I’d also like to thank dear_tiger, who has devoted a lot of time and energy to my work in the last year. She’s never afraid to say what she thinks is working and what’s not, and I really value that in a reader. She’s also the one who got me onto Van Halen, though she doesn’t know it.
I also want to acknowledge the last-minute, super-fast, well-articulated intervention by hobnailedboots. She came on board when I was sifting through feedback, scratching my head, wondering if I'd accomplished the revisions I needed to, and I really appreciate her being able to say, "Yes, I agree that should be changed," or, "No, that didn't bother me, and here's why..." I like to have multiple sources of feedback, but occasionally this can mean needing someone to help me decide which are necessary to follow.
I’d also like to thank my artist, gassadaa, for her efforts. It is incredibly flattering to write something and then see it come to life in visuals.
I also offer a brief dedication to my first beta ever, musiqueguy1, who wanted a forehead kiss in the panic room scene of 6.22. It’s nine months later and a story you didn’t work on, and it’s (possibly too) subtle, but I hope you like the nod.
Finally, though he’ll never read this (and if he does, I don’t want to know, because scary!), I’d like to thank my tiny dog, who served as the primary sounding board for the playlist. Like Sam he freaked out at “Paint It Black,” and he actually covered his face with his paw at my renditions of Zeppelin. He does, however, really appreciate Jefferson Starship. (Scary, see?)
Last but not least, if you’re reading this right now, thank you!
Further Reading
There are lots of musical versions of the Sam and Dean story. One of my favorites is Top 40 Nightmare (it’s Destiel, be warned), in which Dean is cursed to sing and Sam rolls right along with it because he’s awesome like that. Most of them are stories in which Dean is the singer or the one cursed, so I thought it would be fun to explore Sam as the one with the musical affliction.
I should also recommend A Life Most Ordinary, from which I developed an appreciation for AU. This fic has one scene featuring Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” - it’s a minor scene, but it made me realize that the song is kind of good. Not the “ra ra oh la la” part, but the “I want your love and I want your revenge” part. You should read it, if you haven’t already, because all of sonofabiscuit77’s work is amazing.
I also highly recommend I’d Gladly Lose Me to Find You. It’s a wonderful story - so much Sam and Dean love. The title comes from The Who song “Bargain,” which is the most Sam and Dean song ever in the history of the world, and it turned me back onto The Who after writing them off as music of that enemy franchise our show poked fun at. So thanks, flawedamythyst.
Um, I think that’s it. I mean, I can give you a hundred more recs if you like. But, for now, I’ll just say thanks for reading.
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Side B (outtakes)