track 13: strangelove

Summer of 1990, part one:

I was getting into other kinds of music, gradually leaving the world of hair metal and teen pop behind. I remember having this compilation on cassette called Cutting Edge, part of a series called Rock the Planet. It had R.E.M., Erasure, 10,000 Maniacs, Laurie Anderson, Jesus & Mary Chain, Faith No More, The Replacements, Tanita Tikarim's wonderful "Twist in my sobriety" and my favorite, "Strangelove" by Depeche Mode.



I had probably heard "Strangelove" before, since it was originally from DM's 1987 album, Music for the Masses, and they were certainly on my radar by then because Violator had come out that spring. During that summer, my last before I was a senior in high school, I spent about a month in Central Florida, spending half the time with my mom's mom, my Granny, and half the time with my mom's dad & his wife. It was a pretty laid back summer, but I remember having fun.

One clear memory I have about the summer was picking up this special issue of NEWSWEEK called "The New Teens." It was sort of a field guide to the day's teenagers, or Generation X as we had been recently dubbed. There was one group, I can't remember what they called them, but it was basically your thrift shop clothes/Doc Martens wearing, Twin Peaks watching, alternative music listening kids. I was like, "Oh, that's me, then." Despite the fact that I wouldn't shop at a thrift store for another 6 months, wouldn't own a pair of Docs for another year or two and was just starting to get into alternative music. I had obsessively watched the first season of Twin Peaks when it aired that spring. Regardless, it was kind of a revelation to me because frankly, there WERE no kids like that in the Miami I was growing up in. At least nowhere I could see. And there I was, starting to like things that were outside of the popular AND coming to terms with being a gay teen. It was nice to think that I could fit in with some sort of group and maybe that article is what made me so open to befriending the people I would get to know later that year.

I played that Cutting Edge tape out and eventually my copy of Violator as well. I'm not a huge Depeche Mode fan, but "Strangelove" will always be a favorite. I present to you the MP3s of the songs from this amazing compilation, that I think shaped my musical tastes more than I realized until looking at it again:

track 12: like the weather

Around 1988-89, I caught the video for "Like the weather" by 10,000 Maniacs and really loved the song. I liked it so much that I bought the cassette of In My Tribe.


The music I discovered was so different from the pop music and the rock n roll I'd been listening to. Some of the songs told stories, some of the lyrics were cryptic, the music more organic and layered than what I was used to. Some songs, like "What's the matter here" were truly about something other than romance and rebellion. It excited me. I started to say that I listened to "Progressive" music. This is a couple of years before people would invent the term "alternative." I loved Natalie Merchant's unusual voice and some of the songs from In my Tribe are still deeply beloved. I can play "Verdi cries" over and over and over again.



A year after I left high school, in 1992, they would find even more popularity with their superb album called Our Time In Eden. A truly perfect disc, it was more thoughtful and lush and beautiful than anything they'd ever done. It's a necessary album in my opinion. After Eden they released a live disc from their appearance on MTV Unplugged and soon Merchant would leave the group to follow her own path. With the exception of a couple of songs, her solo work never really connected with me. However, I can never forget how just listening to "Like the weather" managed to open my ears to a new type of music.