Channeling the Past

In the comment thread for this post it was mentioned that Bush is "garbage."

I don't really want to contest this statement because I can't really say that it isn't a fact, but I want to ashamedly admit here that I recently downloaded through iTunes the Bush album Sixteen Stone.

Now before you get all huffy over my poor taste allow me to explain, and then if my explanation makes you huffy, then by all means comment on it.

I'd say in the last seven years or so (the span of time in which my life has undergone some serious growth and change, i.e. graduating from both high school and college, getting married, watching most of my friends move to various far reaches of the country, moving away from home myself, etc.) I have found myself listening to artists that were popular at a particular moment in time that I am fond of. To clarify, I am fond of the time, not necessarily the artists. Many of these have become something of a guilty pleasure because when they were popular I didn't really like them and in some instances I hated them. Now though when I hear one of these songs on the radio it brings to mind certain fond memories and I end up enjoying the song.

This doesn't ring true for all music, but there have been enough of them that I've taken notice. Some examples:

Matchbox Twenty - I really detested this band when they were popular. I thought it was adult contemporary, wishy-washy, happy-pap. I still think that about their music, but now when I hear one of the songs from the late 90s I really enjoy it because they were really popular during my senior year in high school, which was an incredible year for me; perhaps one of the best.

Bush - To be honest I loved Bush even when they were popular, but slowly began to realize over a few years that they really weren't that great. This really hit home with pretty much every album they released after Sixteen Stone. Those albums were not very good, which really took away from my opinion of them as a whole. I recently found myself wishing to listen to that album though and so I bought it, and I've enjoyed revisiting it.

Stone Temple Pilots - Everything I just wrote about Bush pretty much applies to STP as well. Except that with STP, you have to add that Scott Weiland is a freakshow. I liked their first album a lot, even enjoyed one or two after that, and then they just couldn't do it anymore.

There are really a number of other artists who I disliked in their prime, or whom I liked at one time and then lost interest in, whom I enjoy listening to for nostalgic purposes now. I can't think of any now, but I know there are a bunch. There are a ton of them that remind me of high school, and still others who remind me of college, which was also a lot of fun.