I credit two girls from high school with my introduction to Siouxsie. One girl shared the same last name as me, which meant that we tended to sit right next to one another in those classes where the teacher sat us alphabetically, which was often. Additionally, she and I were both in a similar curriculum, so for the better part of 3 years, we had about 75% of our classes together. One of her closest friends, who I did not as well, ended up being taking the exact same electives as I was taking, which more or less filled up the other 25% of my high school time.
These girls were not super close friends, but they were friends, all the same. As one did in a big high school, you tended to get to know the people that share similar interests, and in this case, it was all about the music. One day, Amanda and I were talking albums, and she pointed out that I did need to get better acquainted with Siouxsie. I certainly was familiar with the band, if not really familiar, but was not quite as enthusiastically overwhelmed as these girls were.
I gave the band another listen, and the impact was huge; I remain quite the fan, and my appreciation for her music has never waned.
Hence the soundtrack for today, which you can also listen to as soon as you decipher the hint from the title.
This past week started with the receipt of a message from an old friend of mine. She and I knew each other many years ago, and music is one of the things that brought us together. She was more into hard rock, even metal, and I was absorbed in my own tastes, but there is always that bit of cross over. She also has a bit of a thing for some of the electro-pop, synth stuff (think late 1980s).
Her message from Monday was actually a follow up: "Have you listened to the song, yet?"
The previous Friday, she sent me a link to a song that she had recently discovered. The band is an American synth-pop band, probably about 15 years old. Apparently they have put out several albums, and have some level of notoriety, but I obviously had never heard a thing about them. Neither had she, come to that.
Well, she was so overwhelmed by the one song she shared with me, she sent the message indicating that it might be something I would like.
I had not given the music a listen, but her reminder prompted me to take a few minutes and check them out.
My initial reaction was not very positive. The song had plenty of elements where I should have been able to connect: the bass hooks, the electronica, the unique singing voice.
But I just could not get into it.
Two or three more listens, as well as a few attempts with some of the other songs, did not change my impression.
I wrote back to her, giving my honest opinion, but felt a little guilty. She was familiar with my tastes 25 years ago, and even though those tastes remain rather similar, they are unsurprisingly no longer exactly the same. I did not outright hate the song or the band, but just felt no connection at all. I said as such in my message, being careful not to rip someone for liking something that I did not.
During the course of the week, I related the story to a friend of mine, who is also a huge fan of music. He summed things up with once sentence, "If I am not emotionally touched by the music, then that is it. I won't really like it."
It made sense, and reminded me that this was exactly how I felt about the arts, particularly music. But that feeling naturally extends to the likes of cinema, literature, architecture, painting, and so on.
If it does not grab you emotionally, then you are less likely to make the connection.
Of course, we all like to passionately discuss such topics with our contemporaries, and I have noticed that my experiences have changed through the years. Numerous times I have posted that I have migrated from a position of "if you don't like what I like, screw you," to something much more accommodating, like, "hey, that is an interesting view, and thanks for sharing that music with me."
25 years ago, I was still learning how to become more accepting. There were still times when I would enthusiastically share (or push) my current favorite band on someone, and feel a bit insulted if they did not share my passion. It was a naive view, but I am aware that people still have this natural tendency.
Take films, as another example. People tend to scrutinize the reviews and the user ratings. My sister usually avoids watching films where she reads the review-aggregation with a low score. She always checks the review prior to watching the film.
Her influence on this has caused me to check some reviews more than I care to admit, but normally I just launch myself into the film, and decide for myself how I feel about the work. Sometimes, I to have to turn the film off 15 minutes in, as it is complete trash. Other times, like with a 10 hour series I watched this past week, I found myself 3 episodes in, still intrigued, but also thinking, "gee, this show is not very good."
I finished the last 4 episodes yesterday.
And indeed. The show was not very good.
But that is fine. I recognize that my opinion is different, but others might flock to it, saying it is the best martial-arts, science fiction, part Outlander, part Highlander, show put out in the past 5 years.
In short, I simply found no emotional connection to the show.
Late in the week, somewhat timely, I received a link to an article commemorating the 20 year anniversary of one of my favorite all time films.
The author of the article talks about the impact of the film, which received worldwide acclaim, adding in her own personal view; she seems to like the film almost as much as me. She also shared a few reviews from critics that were not very positive.
The article was a good read, but gave me a couple of things to think about.
For starters, I go back to my comment above, that this is one of my all time favorite films. In fact, my blog profile lists the film as one of my faves; I remember listing it when I first set this blog up. The film simply ticked all the boxes of my criteria for "what makes me like this film so much." The setting is brilliant, the soundtrack was world class, the story line is incredible, and of course, the actress playing the lead role was superb. And cute.
Packaged all together, I was simply emotionally overwhelmed.
I remember gushing about the film with others, but I do not recall (keep me honest, Pablo and Chris) if I was ever pushing this film on others. My recollection is that I just loved the film for me, because it touched me. And that was more than enough.
Sure, when I was in conversation with people who also mentioned that they had seen the film, it was easy to discuss the positive feelings the film tends to bring. But I never ran up and down the streets proclaiming how great the film was. I certainly never ran around forcing people to drop whatever they were doing and go see the film.
The significant thing, which only came to my attention after reading the article, is that some people did not like the film.
This never crossed my mind, not then, and not now, that someone might dislike the film. It never occurred to me. And again, that is quite okay.
The film, of course, is Amélie. I have watched the movie hundreds of times over the years, not only in the OV (French), but also in Spanish and German. In fact, it is probably the one film that I have watched in all three languages, with equal enjoyment from all. Sure, my preference is still the OV, partly for my appreciation for original version, and partly for my fondness for French people and culture.
I think of the film rather often, primarily due to the connection I have always felt with the character, not so much because she is young, French, and cute (that is a different side of me), but because of her imagination, perspective, and character.
With that, I am going to enjoy the rest of my Sunday, borrowing a quote from the article.
"It is a fantasy that invites viewers to pause amid our everyday lives to find moments of quiet magic."
see you out there
Bryan
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