Some people call me Maurice

I have decided I hate Ryan Adams. But even more than that, I hate the fact that I know his name. Do you know how...mainstream *shutter* that makes me sound? I really only know the name because I just read something talking about how beautiful the remake to Oasis's "Wonderwall" is. Gag me. Please. That piece of shit remake RUINS the song. (Why can't I type?)

Now, I'm not exactly an Oasis fanatic or anything. I do appreciate their music, though I appreciate bands such as Lagwagon, Ben Folds (Five), Violent Femmes, Atom & His Package, and the Flaming Lips, to name a few, far more. But this doesn't deny the respect that must be paid to such wonderful 90s nostalgia music as Oasis. I remember the first time I heard "Champagne Supernova". I was in an anti-music stage (it didn't last) and was at my friend's house. Her older, wiser, cooler sister was arguing with me about how wrong my views on music were. (I think I said something along the lines of, "I just don't like any of it." This was also around the time I told my dad the Beatles suck. I know, I'm going to hell.) So she made me listen to "Champagne Supernova". I pretended indifference, because more than anything I had to be right. But I wasn't. I don't know that I heard it again for at least a few years (when I did return to music, I listened to crap at first. Why did I waste so many precious years?), but the tune still resonated. I can remember sitting in the car on the way to my grandparents and hearing a few notes in my head. I doubt I could've put together an entire line, but I knew there was something about a landslide in there. I may have even thought it was "Landslide Supernova".

My point here is not just to lament my wasted youth, but to try to convey a message to Ryan Adams:

Stop screwing with good music! Covers can be cool, but only punk covers. Seriously. I heard a Coldplay cover of a Morrissey song (well, technically I think it was a the Smiths song, but same thing) and it just was not right. At all. But then I listen to Joey Ramone's rendition of "What a Wonderful World it Could Be" and I am in tears. Or Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. I love their stuff as much or more than the original. I mean, have you tried to listen to the original "One Tin Soldier"? Who did it? Eh, I don't feel like searching for that answer. But, whoever it was, it sucks. Seriously. It takes about twenty minutes to get through the first stanza. Completely wrong. Now, some of their stuff also crosses a line, but in a far less distressing manner than Ryan Adams.

Now back to my wasted youth. Can you believe I actually listened to rap? (Okay, I will admit there is the occasional rappish type song mixed into my iTunes library still, but they are only there for sentimental value, and I skip most of them. And they aren't in my "Stuff I actually want to hear" playlist. Except "Hey, Yeah!" But that's because it's funny.) Why couldn't Napster have been around just a few years earlier so I might've refined my palate sooner? Of course, my taste was hardly as common and trashy as rap by the time my brother downloaded Napster. No, I was listening to Smashing Pumpkins and Bush. How I will never know. I think it was peer pressure, because there is no way I can sit through an entire song by half the bands I used to listen to. I can still tolerate Eve 6, Lit (Why don't I have "My Own Worst Enemy" in my library?), and a couple others from that era in my music, but the majority just hurts my soul. I don't even really like Nirvana. I don't know how that could've happened. I can still tell you all the reasons why it is IMPOSSIBLE that Kurt Cobain commited suicide. I still believe it too, but that's because I love a good conspiracy theory. Speaking of which, I actually like one Hole song. Of course, that is only because it was my sister's and myself's "song". We loved that. Ah, memories.

Of course, I still listen to crap music all the time. In the car my programmed stations are: rock station (actually, a pretty decent one. Far better than the one at home), lite (and you know you have to spell light wrong) FM (Very crap. The one at home will actually get one song in during a 24 hour period that I can sing along to), pop (Just for when everything else is on commercial and they happen to be playing a Killers song or something), one of those "the best of the 80s, 90s, and today" (This one tends to venture into genres the one back home steers clear from. Like, I think I've heard REM on it. So, two very enthusiastic thumbs up, fine holiday fun), oldies (This one...), classic rock (....and this one are where my fingers mostly go back and forth between.) I just don't like current music that they actually play on the radio enough. I'd much prefer to sing along to Wedding Bell Blues by the Fifth Demension or Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel than, I don't know, who is popular right now? Um, that crap band that thinks they can sing? You know the one.

Anyway, time for my meds.