Guilty Pleasures and Late Blooming
Taking a break from the Creede photo stories for just a minute...

Today I made my first mix CD in a very long time. I realize the whole world has been on the iTunes and iPod bandwagon for like, 108 years already. But with the recent purchase of the Macbook and the discovery of Jen's Russian cheap mp3 site, I am now caught up with everyone else who has been downloading music and making CDs and playlists while I've been buying a rare CD or two only to be disappointed that I only like 2 songs on the whole CD.

People, iTunes is GENIUS. Where has this been all my life?

Anyway, my point is that today I made a mix CD. For whatever reason, I found myself in a 90s mood. So I began to download songs from my highschool and college years that I secretly liked but never owned because a) I was poor, and 2) we had a general "Christian music or Oldies music only" rule in the house. It was something more "understood" than "mandated". But I figured spending my money on any music other than Christian rock would not be a wise investment, since I probably wouldn't be allowed to listen to it anyway.

Somehow I forgot that in college, I don't have to go by the house rules anymore... I totally could have bought this stuff. But I didn't.

Consequently, I am a late music bloomer. Put in an 80s CD today, and I am in HEAVEN. It's the greatest thing ever.

So, really my point is that now, 10-ish years later, I am indulging in my 90s guilty music pleasure. It took awhile to compile. Not because I put any great amount of thought into it, or because my computer is slow (because it's not slow at all). But because it took me awhile to remember the songs, remember who made them, and collect them onto one fabulous mix.

Turns out I was kinda into grunge rock in highschool, but not entirely. I had no idea until just now.

Here are the titles on my latest mix that I call "Random 90s, Heavy on the Grunge, but Not Entirely, Also with a Side of Metal":

Free Your Mind - En Vogue
I Alone - Live
Zombie - The Cranberries
Big Empty - Stone Temple Pilots
Machinehead - Bush
Wonderwall - Oasis
Lithium - Nirvana
Lightning Crashes - Live
Even Flow - Pearl Jam
Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) - En Vogue
Comedown - Bush
Enter Sandman - Metallica
Daughter - Pearl Jam
Kiss From a Rose - Seal
Champagne Supernova - Oasis

Now, in the making of this mix, several things came to mind:

1. Most important - Don't judge me for my taste in music. In fact, I wouldn't even consider it "taste". It's more that I'm just getting something out of my system. Maybe in a few weeks I will catch up to what's good these days.

2. I really never owned or listened regularly to any of these songs when they were on the radio. And when I hear them now, I usually change the station or put in a CD. I mean, I knew the songs because everyone knows them. But as for loving them enough to own them? Not so much. But for some reason today they are the best songs I have ever heard in my life.

3. I have no idea what any of these songs mean. At all.

4. Why was everyone so moody in the 90s? And kinda angry. Were the 90s that bad?

5. Where did all of these bands go? I mean, I know about Nirvana. And En Vogue lost one Vogue, and then went away completely. But where did everyone else go? I guess we got less moody in the year 2000 and had no need for the grunge. Anyone?

6. Seriously, I just realized today after I found the song that my latest tagline above "Never gonna get it, never gonna get it" is from the En Vogue song. I could not for the life of me figure out where I got that. It just got stuck in my head one day and it seemed appropriate to go on my blog.

So, there you have it. I may be 10 or 15 years too late. But today, I give tribute to the grunge rock (and En Vogue) of the 90s.

C.T.

PS: After listening to my CD most of today, I may already be sick of it. And kinda angry. And I may have looked for a flannel shirt to wear just now.

It may be time to move on to boy bands and pop princesses of the 2000s.