What I'm Listening To
An odd but satisfying assortment of songs sliding into my playlists
Hit, The Sugarcubes: Wow, remember this one?! I almost forgot about it, but then it popped up while listening to First Wave on Sirius XM, and I resurrected it from the vault. Plus it’s got a fun backstory which I will relate in giddy joy. When I was in high school, my mom and I went to Seventeen Magazine’s back-to-school fashion show at Dayton’s in downtown Minneapolis. At the time, this was the most beautiful department store I had ever seen in my life. And they had an actual auditorium for events like this show! Oh, and did I mention it was hosted by Brooke Shields?! Now, what does this have to do with Hit by the Sugarcubes? Because everybody also got a goody bag, and inside that goody bag was a tape that featured this song as well as other alternative songs I instantly loved … think Crash by The Primitives, Where is My Mind? by the Pixies. And p.s. I also won a door prize, which was a VHS copy of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Excellent!
Oingo Boingo: Michael Jackson and Prince both died before I could see them in concert, but I am holding out hope for seeing Danny Elfman and/or Oingo Boingo. Bonus fun: Featured in two eighties classics: Sixteen Candles and Back to School, so naturally an epic band.
Far Behind, Candlebox - As my college roommate put it, they probably were a “dirtbag” band, and weren’t nearly as popular nor as hip as other Seattle bands, but I don’t care. I still like this song.
Tesla, Mau P - Yup, I’m one of those people who has Diplo’s Revolution as a pre-set station.
My Fun, Suki Waterhouse: Ugh. Yet another beautiful model/actress who declared herself a “singer/songwriter”. But then I heard this song, and damnit it’s good. She’s good. And I want to hear more. I take back all my eye rolling and scoffing.
Colorblind, Counting Crows: My go-to jukebox song at my college dive bar was Anna Begins by the Counting Crows … but that was before they came out with this 1999 song featured in Cruel Intentions. And there’s this:
And furthermore …
Candy, Mandy Moore: This. All day long.
There are a handful of movies that will suck me in (even if they are on regular TV and I have to sit through commercials), and Center Stage is one of them. The opening chords of Candy make me want to thrust my hips and warm up for dance class like Jody Sawyer. I love it when her little ballet boy crush bolts in at the last minute and joins class, and they kick ass together in a high energy routine to RHCP’s Higher Ground. Well it just doesn’t get any better.