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(Almost) Thirty Years On: July 1997

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It had been ages since I actually had a paid vacation and given that I’d be here at HMV for the long term, I was able to accrue enough hours to finally get one! And so it happened that my inaugural vacation would be a roadtrip….to Ohio! My high school friend was living in Columbus with his wife at the time and as we hadn’t seen each other in quite a long time, it was planned that I’d spend the week there. [Side note, the only reason I remember exactly when this trip took place is because it was the same week Contact came out in theaters and I really wanted to go see it.]

It was also the first lengthy road trip I’d be taking with my own car, which excited me to no end. My four-year-old Cavalier still ran pretty good at the time (although I somehow kept forgetting to get oil changes for a while there), and I set about preparing for it. As I did not yet have a tape deck in said car, I’d be bringing my boombox to listen to any cassettes. And it also meant making mixtapes! I’ll be honest, I’d started making the first Songs from the Eden Cycle mix partly for this reason, and my sister made me a driving-themed one that’s mentioned below.

Did I do any writing? Well, actually no. I’m surprised I didn’t, but at the same time I wasn’t anywhere near the write every single day habit I’d eventually reach. This was more a time to soak in the ideas and let them steep in my head for a while so I could come out with something strong and exciting. Instead I would read what I had so far and make a few mental notes of how I could move forward. I did manage to write one scene when I stopped at a hotel in Wilkes-Barre PA on the drive home, and it’s a scene that made it into the rewrite as A Division of Souls, where Nehalé witnesses an attack on a church.

If anything, this weeklong road trip inspired me to go out driving a lot more often in the future. While I wouldn’t do any further long-distance or overnight ones like that (at least not until I went to my first science fiction convention in 2001), it would inspire me to head to my favorite places in Boston and elsewhere with more frequency, and would also inspire my soon-to-be-weekly drive across most of the state for Wednesday comic book runs after work.

The Prodigy, The Fat of the Land, released 1 July 1997. Very much like the Chemical Brothers, this was a long-awaited album after a hugely successful teaser single (in this case, “Firestarter”). It was an instant hit at the store and ended up on the year-end best-of wall. Interestingly I’d known of the band previously as one that played more blissed-out electronica, and this new more punk direction worked perfectly for them. Several of the tracks still get a lot of play on alternative radio these days.

Limp Bizkit, Three Dollar Bill, Yall$, released 1 July 1997. The kings of meathead metal rap rock, they were a band I wanted to hate and yet somehow they managed to surprise me with halfway decent songs every now and again, especially this goofy yet fun cover of George Michael’s hit. This was their first breakthrough, and would get even bigger with their next album.

Mixtape, Trust in My Tires, Faith in My Chrome, created July 1997. My sister provided me with this collection of driving songs across several different genres — alternative, country, folk, classic rock, and so on — and I did give it a few plays during my Ohio road trip. The first track, fittingly, was Pretenders’ “My City Was Gone”.

Primal Scream, Vanishing Point, released 7 July 1997. Just when I thought PM was firmly entrenched in their Stonesy style they’d perfected on their previous record, they went in a completely different direction and recorded what would be the first of three albums that explored the darker edges of their sound. I really liked this one, especially the single “Kowalski”. This one recently got a brand new expanded edition just last week!

Smash Mouth, Fush Yu Mang, released 8 July 1997. I remember the first time I’d heard “Walkin’ On the Sun”: I was on Route 80 through Pennsylvania when a local alternative station played it. It sounded so different from what was being played at the time: both 60s retro and 90s pop-punk, didn’t take itself too seriously yet contained smart lyrics, and had one hell of a great hook. I made a mental note to ensure that my store ordered enough copies of this when I got back to the store, as I knew it would be big. They’d be a favorite of mine ever since.

Sarah McLachlan, Surfacing, released 15 July 1997. While Fumbling Towards Ecstasy had some success with the sublime yet creepy “Possession” and the quietly intense “Hold On”, it was this album that broke her wide open with several singles like “Sweet Surrender”, “Building a Mystery”, “Adia” and “Angel”. She’d come a long way from her quirky early 90s beginnings, that’s for sure. She’d follow this up by hosting the massively successful Lilith Fair festival.

Lauren Christy, Breed, released 22 July 1997. You might know her now as part of the songwriting/production team The Matrix (known for their hits for pop singers like Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Jason Mraz and more), but she started out as a quirky alt-rock singer, and her second album was a minor favorite thanks to the title track featuring on the Batman & Robin soundtrack. The slower and moodier ‘Reprise’ version of that track would show up on a future Eden Cycle mixtape.

Land of the Loops, Bundle of Joy, released 22 July 1997. This Boston musician was known for his quirky homespun lo-fi electronic music, and the catchy single “Multi-Family Garage Sale” got a lot of play on local radio, partly thanks to the clever use of samples from The Brave Little Toaster but also its use in a Miller Genuine Draft commercial. The album isn’t anything amazing but it’s enjoyable and fun in its own way.

Catherine Wheel, Adam and Eve, released 29 July 1997. Their fourth album tends to be forgotten due to its lack of huge hits, but it’s also their moodiest and most introspective. There’s the slick sounds of “Delicious” but also the lovely “Ma Solituda” that both got a lot of radio play at the time. It’s well worth checking out.

The Dambuilders, Against the Stars, released 29 July 1997. The final album from this Boston band sadly got overlooked partly because of the overwhelming success of Radiohead’s OK Computer, but they were always a fun indie rock band that got a lot of play from WFNX and WBCN. “Burn This Bridge” was a local favorite and quite possibly their most sucessful song.

Soundtrack, Spawn: The Album, released 29 July 1997. This was another movie that could have been great but alas ended up a box office bomb, and yet its soundtrack was a major success. Like 1993’s Judgement Night soundtrack it gathered rock bands and paired them with electronica groups. While some were rather…odd (Moby with Butthole Surfers, Marilyn Manson and Sneaker Pimps), there were also excellent pairings like Filter and The Crystal Method’s “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do” which got a ton of airplay. It’s definitely a mixed bag like the movie, but it’s worth checking out.

Whiskeytown, Stranger’s Almanac, released 29 July 1997. Despite the band splintering at the seams and singer Ryan Adams being a hot mess both onstage and off, they managed to release a fantastic second album of alt-country goodness full of amazing songs and moods. “Yesterday’s News” was a favorite on WFNX and The River at the time, and my personal favorite was the high-lonesome closer “Not Home Anymore”.

Various Artists, Urbal Beats: The Definitive Guide to Electronic Music, released 29 July 1997. There had been several electronica compilations by this point, but this one was a major success thanks to containing several amazing songs by The Chemical Brothers, Orbital, The Prodigy, The Orb, Portishead, Roni Size, and more. [It also helped that it was released by a major distributor, PolyGram.] Of note was a breathtaking track by Rabbit in the Moon called “Out of Body Experience”, originally a single from 1993 and perfectly reshaping a lengthy Tori Amos sample of “Precious Things” into a torrent of chillwave goodness. [It was renamed the more simple “O.B.E.” here.] This mix sold considerably in our store and became an employee favorite, and it also spawned a sequel in 1998. It eventually became an MU Legacy Soundtrack as well.

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Coming up: In which almost everything I listen to suddenly becomes a writing soundtrack.

(Almost) Thirty Years On: May/June 1997

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This one’s a little longer than usual because May’s releases were kind of quiet. That said, by this point I was doing pretty well with writing The Phoenix Effect. I wasn’t even close to working daily, let alone getting a significant number of words, but that wasn’t my aim at that point. Some days I’d work on my poems and lyrics instead; other days I’d just sit and listen to cassettes on my Walkman. Some days I’d get a few pages’ worth of longhand words, other days I’d get one paragraph.

This whole exercise was simply to keep at it, with no strict rules yet. It was a story idea that sparked my interest, so it was more important for me to find my footing with it. Who were the main characters, and what were their goals? I think the thing that helped was the creation of Caren and Poe, two characters very loosely inspired by Mulder and Scully from The X-Files, assigned to investigate a major near-catastrophic event at the huge tower in the center of the sprawling city. [That in itself was an idea dating all the way back to the original 1993 Vigil outtakes. Its instigator, now known as Nehalé Usarai, was originally a True Faith character reimagined.] They were brand new characters in a story already three years and several versions old, and they were the focal points I needed in order to make this idea work.

Once I had my footing and perhaps a few chapters down, then I’d try spending a little more time on it than ‘when I could find the time’.

Paul McCartney, Flaming Pie, released 5 May 1997. Paul’s first album since the Beatles’ Anthology project has its obvious inspiration, right down to its title that comes from John Lennon’s fanciful description of the band’s origins in a 1961 issue of Mersey Beat. But it’s also a loving dedication to his wife Linda, who was suffering from breast cancer at the time and would pass away within the year. Several fans felt it was a long overdue return to form after his less popular albums of the late 80s and early 90s, and it’s definitely the first of his albums where he fully embraces his own legacy instead of trying to fight against it. It’s one of my top favorites of his and highly recommended.

Soundtrack, The Fifth Element, released 6 May 1997. I remember this movie coming out and the overwhelming response being what the hell did I just watch? Hardcore Luc Besson fans had expected something serious and high-octane like Leon: The Professional and instead got a weird and darkly comic adventure that really didn’t take itself entirely all that seriously. The trailer also framed it as a deeply serious movie when in fact it’s filled to the brim with absurdist humor. [It’s also noted that the hero and the villain never actually cross paths let alone know about each other throughout the entire film, and that’s quite a feat in itself.] It’s since become a cult favorite to the point where it’s still quoted. The soundtrack is quite a lot of fun as well, composed by Besson’s frequent collaborator Eric Serra.

Foo Fighters, The Colour and the Shape, released 20 May 1997. How do you follow up a debut album that was essentially a solo record yet became a huge hit? By solidifying a full backing band and writing some the strongest and darkest and heaviest songs you’ve got swirling inside you. This is my favorite of the early FF records, as it’s full of tension, anger, and maybe a bit of pain as well.

Soundtrack, Batman & Robin, released 27 May 1997. A lot of people will say that 1995’s Batman Forever is terrible (it is, but in a really good and fun way), but this sequel actually is terrible (it is, in a really not so good and embarrassing way). I understood they were trying to channel the Adam West version with its cartoonish silliness, but it’s just bad and pretty much put me off of future Batman films. The soundtrack itself is another one of those “The Album” releases, where only a handful of tracks actually made it into the film, with the rest being “inspired by” it. Of note, however, is the REM rarity “Revolution” and two blazing tracks from The Smashing Pumpkins that got a significant amount of play on the radio.

Mixtape, Songs from the Eden Cycle, Vol 1, created June 1997. By mid-June I figured it was about time I made an ‘official’ mixtape for my current writing project. Almost all of my other projects to date had one, songs that inspired scenes or set the moods for me, and this was the first of many I’d be making for The Phoenix Effect. At this point I was still calling the project “The Eden Cycle” as I’d had vague plans of it being a multi-book universe. The first track of course had to be Poe’s rerecording of her song “Hello”, but it was also the first (of many) appearances of Failure’s epic closer “Daylight” which, even then, I knew would play during the final scenes of the story. This mix got a ton of play over the course of the next several years, including three more volumes made during my years at HMV. And once I started working on self-publishing the Bridgetown Trilogy, even more volumes would be made.

Days of the New, Days of the New, released 3 June 1997. At first I kind of filed this band away with all the other growly grunge bands like Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains, but there was something about this band that made them different. They were swampy like AIC, bluesy like STP, and maybe even a bit inventive like Soundgarden. “Touch, Peel and Stand” and “Shelf in the Room” got a lot of play on WFNX at the time and gave them a significant following.

The Verve, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” single, released 16 June 1997. Yes, that video and song! This one dropped a good couple of months before what would be both their breakthrough and their break-up album, not to mention their hugest selling hit in which they made pretty much nil due to an uncleared sample. And yet it remains an alternative favorite to this day, a late-90s update on the classic GenX my life is shit theme in post-punk and early alternative rock.

Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, released 16 June 1997. Yet another video in which the lead singer is doing nothing but walking, this was the band’s third record and an unexpected hit in the States for them. Unlike the hazy rave sounds of their first two records, this was more of an experiment in soundscapes, going from the gorgeous lullaby of the title track to the epic wall of sound with the single “Come Together”.

Radiohead, OK Computer, released 16 June 1997. Meanwhile, this band was on the verge of self-destruction, not quite knowing how to follow up the massively popular The Bends, while at the same time dearly wishing to escape the chokehold of worldwide fame and high expectations. Instead they went inwards, creating a deeply unsettling and uncomfortable record that dealt with exactly that: the feeling of not being unable to detangle yourself from the restrictive ropes you may or may not have placed upon yourself. The trick was to go against all expectations and write from the heart: the twitchy “Airbag”, the bizarre fever dream of “Paranoid Android”, the disgust of “Karma Police”, even the brittle beauty of “Exit Music (for a Film)” (written for Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet and following its plot line explicitly), it’s miles away from anything they’d done before and in effect allowed them to follow their own experimental paths thereafter. This one got a ton of play over the next several years and is of course an MU Legacy Soundtrack! [Side note: I only recently learned that the highway cloverleaf you see on the cover is actually the highly confusing I-84/I-91 interchange in Hartford CT, the very same one I’d take the following month on my planned roadtrip, and one I’d pass several times years later on my trips down to New Jersey in 2004.]

Summercamp, Pure Juice, released 17 June 1997. This band often gets forgotten in the avalanche of late 90s emo pop, but this album was one of my favorites. It’s bouncy, exciting and full of catchy songs like “Drawer” and “Should I Walk Away”. This one got a lot of play in the back room at the store and also during my writing sessions.

Mansun, Attack of the Grey Lantern (US Edition), released 24 June 1997. The original UK version of this album dropped earlier in the year (17 February) and its US version had much of its track listing shuffled around, but regardless, this was a band that made me stop and think: what the hell am I listening to? They might be seen as a Britpop band, especially with its UK hit “Wide Open Space” (which itself was a single that dropped back in November 1996), but the track is so unlike anything else that was being played at the time that it just stood out that much more. I remember many of my coworkers really liking the record, enough that it got a significant amount of play on the sales floor at the time. I quickly became a fan and listened to this one quite often.

CJ Bolland, The Analogue Theatre (US edition), released 24 June 1997. The squealy-sexy single “Sugar Is Sweeter”, with its vocals courtesy of Lords of Acid’s Jade4U, was another oddball favorite on the dance floor as well as on WFNX, enough that it showed up on the excellent Urbal Beats compilation (see next entry) and multiple soundtracks.

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Coming up: On a long road trip to Ohio and writing a defining moment.

(Almost) Thirty Years On: March 1997

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The mind is elastic, as they say. Sometimes you end up misremembering things, or you’re absolutely certain something happened in this order when it actually happened differently. If you look at the timestamp I wrote on the very first page of The Phoenix Effect, it says 3/7/97, 10:30pm. I almost always timestamped my longhand work, something I’ve done since the early days of the Infamous War Novel back in 1984, so it’s not as if I was making it up. Now, this goes completely against my firm belief that I started writing that novel in the food court at Solomon Pond Mall before my shift started.

Now, maybe I did, and the first attempt is full of scratch-outs and mistakes, and later on that evening I started over. Or maybe I actually did start writing it that evening and then started writing in the food court thereafter. Either way, it’s almost thirty years ago and unless I have any other notes, I’ll have to guess that it’s one of those because it’s all a bit fuzzy now.

ANYWAY! The important thing here is that I started a new novel in March of 1997 after finally deciding to trunk True Faith once and for all, and my aim here was to see if I could pull it off. I hadn’t completed a novel in years, and I was getting frustrated with myself for having all these unfinished and abandoned ideas gathering dust in crates in the boiler room in the basement. I still wanted to write this futuristic sci-fi idea, this spark that had appeared in 1993 and had never gone out. And now I had the time, a clear mind, a steady job and a computer to work on it.

Next thing was to start amassing the soundtrack I’d be listening to while writing it.

U2, Pop, released 3 March 1997. I remember the PolyGram Distribution rep being extremely let down by this album and really not doing much at all to push it to my boss Tom. U2 had become a band where you expected excellence and ever-increasing originality with every album, and that never works with any band at all. Me, however? I loved it! Sure, it’s not as grandiose as Achtung Baby or intriguing as Zooropa, and even the band members themselves admit that it’s a rushed project that should have had more time spent on it (they had to rush as another ridiculously huge tour was on the horizon). Personally I think this is when the “it’s cool to hate U2” really started. Regardless, I played the hell out of my promo copy over several years while writing not only TPE but the entire trilogy. On it’s own it’s full of fascinating sonic experimentation and intense lyricism. It wouldn’t have worked as a grandiose statement, and I think that bothered a lot of people.

Guster, Goldfly, released 4 March 1997. Local boys done good! This Somerville band was a fan favorite in the Boston area with their quirky sound (and their stick-less drummer), and the creepy yet catchy “Airport Song” was an immediate favorite on WFNX and WBCN and other MA stations. This was also their first major release after self-releasing their debut. They’re still going strong to this day.

Collective Soul, Disciplined Breakdown, released 11 March 1997. I’ll admit I’ve always been a fan of this band since hearing “Shine” back in 1993, and while they didn’t quite hit the same heights as their huge-selling self-titled album, they continued to release some really great music that I often came back to. They’re definitely part of that style I like to call ‘commercialternative’ (modern rock that’s easy on the ears and often played on your more adventurous AOR station — and I say this as a positive), but I’ve never gotten sick of them. And they just dropped a new album last week!

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Let’s Face It, released 11 March 1997. This album was a major breakthrough for them, as they fit in quite nicely with the ska-punk wave that was cresting right about this time (see also: Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger, Less Than Jake, and so on). “The Impression That I Get” was written to honor a friend who’d sadly been a victim of an abortion clinic shooting in Boston back in 1995 — I remember that happening as it took place just a few miles away from my apartment — and ended up being a big hit for them. It’s also a great album celebrating the Bay State, with a song about the sketchy-as-f*ck Mayor Curley (“The Rascal King”) and the local interstate (“1-2-8”).

Morphine, Like Swimming, released 11 March 1997. Alas, their last album before singer Mark Sandman passed away. They’re another local favorite that got a ton of play on WFNX and WBCN, and the catchy and amusing “Early to Bed” was a big favorite.

Soundtrack, Grosse Pointe Blank, released 13 March 1997. An oddball dark comedy with John Cusack and featuring a Gen-X friendly soundtrack of 80s college radio faves? It was a major favorite with my generation, and the soundtrack was a big hit that spring. It definitely helped that Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” was the big classic used multiple times in the film, giving the band a much needed boost. This one of course got a lot of play in the back room of the store.

Ben Folds Five, Whatever and Ever Amen, released 18 March 1997. When your debut album is so quirky yet brilliantly written, you kind of wonder how you can ever top it. Their follow-up does indeed feel a bit jaded in that classic Gen-X way — so much so that “The Battle of Who Could Care Less” perfectly encapsulates it while also being a radio favorite at the time. The unexpected hit from this one, of course, is the heart-rending ballad “Brick”.

Matthew Sweet, Blue Sky On Mars, released 25 March 1997. While his 1995 album 100% Fun got some minor play, it was this follow-up that gave him that extra added boost with a much more stylized and slightly psychedelic sound that made it a favorite on AOR stations.

Soundtrack, The Saint, released 25 March 1997. Val Kilmer’s reboot of the old Roger Moore TV show was surprisingly enjoyable even though it wasn’t the biggest hit. Like most action films of the late 90s, its soundtrack is full of twitchy electronica from Orbital, Underworld, Fluke, Sneaker Pimps and more.

Goldfinger, Hang-Ups, released 26 March 1997. I remember hearing “This Lonely Place” on WFNX quite a bit during my commute home from the store, and I grew to really like this perky and sunny track. They’re still around and released a new album early this year!

Third Eye Blind, Third Eye Blind, released 26 March 1997. Say what you will about this band and album (and those three singles you could not escape from over the next few years), I actually really liked this album because it showed that they weren’t just a one hit wonder. There are a lot of interesting deep cuts here including the opener and minor single “Losing a Whole Year” which I always liked. And now I can consider them a local band, heh.

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Coming up: In which I start listening to pretty much everything that comes through the back room at the record store.

(Almost) Thirty Years On: February 1997

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I spent most of the next month or so taking my time thinking about how to approach the futuristic sci-fi story idea I’d had in my head for the last couple of years. While True Faith was a step in the right direction, there were two things wrong with it. One, it felt like a swing and a miss; it had its moments but it felt too derivative and weak, like I wasn’t allowing myself to expand on the ideas and push boundaries. And two, now that I was no longer on speaking terms with its co-author, it was probably for the best that I start over from scratch.

So because of this, I had to approach the project from two different directions: I wanted it to be original and 100% from me, and I wanted to force myself out of my old writing styles and crutches and try something utterly new. And it was a single of a re-recorded track that became the spark that started it all.

Depeche Mode, “Barrel of a Gun” single, released 3 February 1997. The last couple of years had not been good for the band, considering they’d lost key member Alan Wilder after their last tour and almost lost lead singer Dave Gahan to drugs. We weren’t quite sure what to expect of the band, especially when they dropped this heavy and unsettling teaser track. And yet it was less a downward spiral and more of a hard road out of hell, a song of redemption that signaled a new sound and style for the band.

Texas, White On Blonde, released 3 February 1997. “Say What You Want” is one of those oh, THAT song! tracks that pops up on the radio now and again and you forget you really like it. This Scottish band dropped a fine single that got a lot of play both on MTV and on AOR stations, and the album was a moderate success for them. Some time later, the song would be re-released as a completely unexpected yet fascinating duet with the Wu-Tang Clan. I remember my boss really liking this album and giving it a lot of play out on the floor.

U2, “Discothéque” single, released 4 February 1997. At this point this band had settled into the well-trodden path of ‘release brilliant album –> put on an amazing live show –> how the hell do they follow this up?’, and this time they put out…a dance song? It took a lot of people by surprise. Instead of getting another rocker like “Zooropa” we got another discofied “Lemon”. [And let’s face it, the Passengers side project was met with headscratching and an ‘okay fine you’ve done your experimental thing, give us another rocker now’.] There were already rumors that the upcoming album was half-baked and incomplete, an utter mess and even more into their own navels than usual. And yet…somehow this became a huge hit despite all that.

Silverchair, Freak Show, released 4 February 1997. After the impressive and popular debut Frogstomp, this trio surprised everyone by coming out with something that was less peppy Pearl Jam and more swampy Alice in Chains. It’s a much darker and grungier album, prefaced by the snotty single “Freak” and followed up with the sludgy “Abuse Me”. I found this abrupt change intriguing enough that this album got quite a bit of play at the time.

The Offspring, Ixnay On the Hombre, released 4 February 1997. It took this punk band almost three years to follow up from the hugely successful Smash album, and when it finally dropped it was a much darker and more polished affair on a major label. It’s not quite as brash as its predecessor, and its songs feel a bit gloomier in comparison, especially the major hit “Gone Away”. It’s not a terrible album, but it’s definitely a step in a different direction that took time to get used to, and one they’d use to considerable success over the next several years.

Blur, Blur, released 10 February 1997. Another band in need of a change, this UK favorite felt like they’d overstayed their quirky ‘Cool Britannia’ moment and needed to adjust course away from Britpop if they wanted to keep going. And in the process, they wrote and recorded a guitar-heavy record that reveals their unexpected angular post-punk side that works perfectly. From the blistering favorite “Song 2” to the Bowie riff “MOR” to the twitchy “On Your Own”, it’s so different from the snarky Parklife and the glossy The Great Escape that its fans were utterly blown away by it. It remains a fan favorite to this day.

Veruca Salt, Eight Arms to Hold You, released 11 February 1997. A few years after their wonderfully poppy American Thighs with its catchy singles “Seether” and “Number One Blind”, they released their second album (its title a nod to the Beatles, of course) along with the equally catchy “Volcano Girls” that got a lot of play on alternative radio.

Poe, “Hello” single, released 11 February 1997. The song itself dates back to her 1995 debut, but it’s this full-band reimagining that contained the venom and power the original sorely lacked, and it became a radio favorite almost immediately. It’s also this version of the track that was the spark I needed to restart my sci-fi novel project. The lyrics are an obvious nod to the literary cyberpunk genre — so much so that it feels like a direct reference to the 1995 movie Johnny Mnemonic — and suddenly I had an idea: what if the soul can be shifted into a different body? Between that and a quick reread of the original Ghost in the Shell manga, I was off and running. And the rest is (a rather long) history.

Soundtrack, Lost Highway, released 18 February 1997. Even though my interest in David Lynch’s work had fallen by the wayside by this point, this soundtrack fascinated me with its heady mix of creepy instrumentals and intense industrial noise. I absolutely loved the Nine Inch Nails single “The Perfect Drug”, but also the Smashing Pumpkins track “Eye” which also got a considerable amount of play on WFNX.

Live, Secret Samadhi, released 18 February 1997. Another band that took its time working on the follow-up to a groundbreaking album, this was yet another one that detoured into a much darker realm. There’s the chunky-riff single “Lakini’s Juice”, the tender ballad “Turn My Head”, the weird “Freaks” and the gritty opener “Rattlesnakes”. It wasn’t as huge a hit as Throwing Copper was, but it did reasonably well.

Sneaker Pimps, Becoming X (US Edition), released 25 February 1997. I’d been waiting on this one since I’d first heard “6 Underground” at the end of last year, and had even talked the boss into ordering a few import copies beforehand, but when it finally landed in the US, it took off like a shot and became a huge favorite of the alternative crowd, especially those who were enamored of that dark and grimy trip-hop sound they’d heard from Tricky and Portishead. It’s a great album, sometimes unsettling and weird but always keeping your interest from start to finish. This also got a lot of repeat play for my writing sessions!

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Coming Up: In which I finally begin a new writing project that will keep me busy for the next two decades.

(Almost) Thirty Years On: January 1997

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As mentioned previously, I’m continuing with 1997 as it’s the first full year of my stay at HMV. Even though I’d technically started in late September 1996, I kind of consider those first couple of months a trial run, getting myself used to the job while at the same time dealing with a lot of personal change. Once that disconnect from the recent past was made permanent, I had a clean slate to work with, and I wasn’t going to squander it. I was still thinking about what my next writing project would be, yet I kept coming back to the original Vigil idea that intrigued me back in 1993. I let that stew for a little while, as first I had to work on something else: getting myself started in the first place!

I knew that the best way for me to kickstart my writing again was to use the motto I’d come up with during the summer of 1995: Just shut the f*ck up and DO it already. I’d already been writing lyrics and poetry, something I’d returned to during my stay at the radio station, and thought it was time for me to start lugging a few notebooks with me to work. I started heading in a half hour earlier than normal just so I could sit in the food court. At the start, I’d put on my headphones and listened to a few albums while writing a few lyrics and poems here and there, and it was right around the end of January that I felt it finally reconnected with me. [I remember it was a poem about the mall walkers I’d see every morning that finally pushed me across the line.]

Riverdance, released sometime in 1995-96, depending on which edition. I add this here at this time mainly because this had been such a huge thing on PBS over the Christmas season. It was their go-to for their fundraising drives and the soundtrack ended up getting some serious sales in the process. It was a go-to for the overhead speakers during the quieter mornings. The 1996 edition came out right during the height of the new-age/Celtic folk mini-boom, one that I’d dabbled in for a bit and was an inspiration and influence on True Faith and The Phoenix Effect.

Bjork, Telegram, released 14 January 1997. As a follow-up to her genre-bending second album Post, she dropped a remix collection that didn’t quite hit the same heights but did feature a re-recording of the single “I Miss You”, complete with a bonkers music video animated by John Krikfalusi of Ren & Stimpy fame. She’d follow up later in the year with a proper third album that, once again, defied expectations.

Jamiroquai, Travelling Without Moving, released 14 January 1997. Yes, that video, the one Jay Kay has just recently and humorously riffed on for a Beefeaters Gin advertisement. “Virtual Insanity” was a huge breakout single for his brand of Stevie Wonder-inspired funk, and the rest of the album is just as brilliant and amazing. Further singles “Cosmic Girl” and “Alright” were just as popular, and the closer “Do You Know Where You’re Coming From” — officially a drum-n-bass track by M-Beat with Jay Kay on vocals — is a stunner. This one got a ton of play in the back room of the store and also got some heavy spins during my writing sessions throughout the year. It’s one of my favorites of the year.

Daft Punk, Homework, released 17 January 1997. It took me a little while to get into Daft Punk as the first I’d heard of them was the single “Da Funk” which didn’t resonate with me at all. However, upon watching the highly creative and amusing Michel Gondry video for “Around the World”, I was finally won over. It would take a little while longer for me to finally add them to my collection, however!

The Verve Pipe, “The Freshmen” single, released 27 January 1997. This is the one Verve Pipe song everyone knows, considering it was so saturated on rock radio at this point, but thankfully it gave the excellent Villains album a second boost in sales. They’ll still happily roll this track out these days when they’re playing live…not bad for what was originally a deep cut on their 1992 indie debut!

Built to Spill, Perfect from Now On, released 28 January 1997. This indie band had been around for a few years by this point, but it was this record, their first for a major label, that caught everyone else’s attention. And it’s quite interesting in that it was a deliberate move away from their original sound, leaning more on sprawling melodies and experimentation.

David Bowie, Earthling, released 30 January 1997. This one interestingly polarizes fans, considering it’s his foray into electronic music. There’s a lot of drum-n-bass, industrial and house going on here, and I think that’s why it appealed to me. I’d been a passive fan but never went out of my way to pick up his back catalogue (other than a greatest hits collection or two), but this one fascinated the hell out of me and became one of my favorite albums of the year. It too got a lot of backroom play as well as being a writing soundtrack.

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Coming up: In which several new releases give me an unexpected creative spark.