MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES PT.2

When I was 13 The Breeders released Last Splash and I was intrigued by the single Cannonball. I specifically remember sitting around the cafeteria table in Junior High discussing what new music my friends and I wanted. I mentioned The Breeders and this kid Josh Iams said something to the effect of, "What? They're a girl band! They Suck!" I can remember furling my brow and pulling my head back in a gesture that was mixed with equal parts disbelief and a very new feeling called being emasculated. I quietly protested, finished my lunch, never spoke another word of the all girl band to Josh again, and ended up getting the album for Christmas shortly after; The album is still a classic in my music collection. Let's face it though, The Breeders rocked! I realized I could have some things girlier than The Breeders peppered throughout my collection of "boy" music and be quite comfortable with that. More sissy music, please! As a matter of fact, I got a nice combo of Das EFX Straight Up Sewaside and The Cranberries Everyone Else is Doing it So Why Can't We on the same day that same year. Thus, the balance had begun. Over the years I developed an alternate listening lifestyle that I believe aided me in being in touch with a more cultured personal open-mindedness. In one moment I was getting my testosterone bubbling to heavy Rock or some hard core Hip Hop and the next minute I was being serenaded by the angelic voices of Hope Sandoval (possibly my first celebrity crush) from the band Mazzy Star or Harriet Wheeler of The Sundays. The Sea and Cake were also like nothing I had ever heard. Fronted by Sam Prekop's hardly singing airy vocals, they combined american pop with bossa nova with subtle electronic experimentation to create nice little day dreams. This softer side of music certainly changed my overall perspective of the world.

In the small town I grew up in and attended school, there weren't many people to share these experiences with. There were plenty of people, but just too many Josh Iamses. I was often alone with my atypical appreciation for a love song. That was okay by me because, in a sense, I didn't want it to be shared with anyone else until it really matured in my own head. I needed to really study it on my own time and grow and draw and listen and grow and draw.

There is music that I listen to today that is probably considered "gay" by the more insecure adults that I know. If you're a 30 year old man and you walk into a bar and begin talking about modern classical music, you will instantly be considered a wuss. Now if you walk into that same bar and start talking about an Iron Maiden album, you are instantly accepted; at worst your opinion of which is their better album will be argued. I'm generalizing out of spite, but you get the idea. Sure, Iron Maiden slowed things down a bit and wrote their version of a love song at some point, but there are many more avenues of music to take one further down a path to connect with emotions that may have been repressed for no good reason. Be a man; Listen to girly music for a change.