My Top 1000 Songs #144: Blister In The Sun
And in the moment it seemed like the coolest album ever. Some resemblance to the punk & indie rock I'd started exploring (though my exposure to that remained pretty limited until I got to college the following year); but stripped down and acoustic, like folk music played by snotty, stoned teens.
And of course the lead-off track gets your attention instantly, that simple 3-note riff that I played incessantly on my acoustic guitar when I got home, the lyrics that felt both sophomoric and emphatic--if you didn't spend part of high school walking the halls while singing "When I'm out walking I strut my stuff, and I'm so strung out" under your breath, I didn't want to know you.
I ran out soon thereafter and bought the cassette at the local mall.
For awhile, that tape felt like a great little secret. Sadly, at some point while I was in college, the song found a broader frat-boy audience; I remember hearing it playing at a party, idiots guzzling warm Rolling Rock out of red Solo cups belting along, and it totally turned me off. I still liked the band, and bought some of their subsequent albums, but it took a few years and some emotional distance before I could enjoy the song again.
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