Friday, October 27, 2006
Flashback track from 1996
Sure, why not? If radio stations can do it, so can I. Today's flashback track is Normal Town by Better Than Ezra. Nobody except hard core BTE fans even know this track, and I mean hard core fans. Deluxe went platinum. Friction Baby rode a wave of bad reviews to sell much less than that, and I'm pretty sure no one actually listened to the whole album. Some reviewers were so cruel as to disparage a couple of tracks as sounding like Leonard Skynard B-sides. Reviews didn't matter to me at all at the time. My friend and I drove to Circuit City and bought Friction Baby the day it came out. I was a card carrying member of the BTE fan club ( I still have the card) which resulted in me getting an exclusive book of lyrics and also BTE's special fan club only Christmas cassette release. Anyway, I loved this song in 1996. It features a pretty cool funky bassline throughout, a decent melody and then the most surprising thing of all...a flute solo! Sure, in our current indie world, everyone uses band instruments. But remember this was 1996. People were shocked and awed with Dave Matthews Band using an electric violin. So, to have BTE feature a flute and a real flute no less, not some synthesized flute was a big big deal. I didn't think bands could use flutes effectively (to be fair, I was unaware of Jethro Tull when I was 16. Also to be fair, I think that's for the best). The strangest thing about this song is that it takes place in Boston. Why is BTE, a New Orleans band through and through, singing about Boston? A good memory of Friction Baby takes me to a debate tournament. I was sitting on the ground with my back to a wall, listening on my JVC portable when a girl on my team sat next to me and asked what I was listening to and if she could listen. I gave her one of earphones and as she was listening she leaned forward and then "accidentally" leaned back against my shoulder. I instintively pulled away and she bumped into the wall. I don't think she ever talked to me again. And I spent my teenage years wondering why I couldn't get chicks. Seriously.
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2 comments:
Ha, ha. That's a great story about the girl at the debate tournament. As if you being in debate wasn't geek enough, you had to shun the pretty girl. Nice.
You're probably the only person on the planet with a BTE memory that doesn't involve "Good." Actually, now that I mention it, I have a memory from my mission, of all places, with a different song but I don't know the name of it. That was the first and last time I ever heard the song. It's off Deluxe. Go figure.
Elf Power, man. I just can't get past the stupid name. Even though I've listened to some bands with stupid names over the years: Violent Femmes, Say Hi To Your Mom, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Robot Ate Me, The Unicorns, and Possum Dixon to name a few. But the way you talk about them really makes a case for me to change my sentiment.
BTE?! Wow. My friend Chris and I wore out a copy of Friction Baby and I've still got a semi-scratched copy of How Does Your Garden Grow lying around. Definitely a nostalgic band that has not aged well. I'm waiting for a post on Third Eye Blind... seriously. That first album is a cornucopia of hits. Don't tell me that you can't sing along with every song. Don't even pretend you're above it...
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