Part 1: King of the Castle

A few days ago I gave a little back story as to the foundation of what makes up my musical DNA, that is, I told you how The Beatles always seemed to be around, playing (not live), when I was growing up. All music is compared to the Beatles in some way, specifically: Does it make me as happy as their music does? I don't literally say this, but if there is an ultimate watershed, this is is.

In two posts I'm going to talk about two bands: Dave Matthews Band and blink 182, both of which had a profound effect on the young me -- and one of these two still really, really does!

I remember driving home from Sagamore Hill - you know, the famed Long Island home of Teddy Roosevelt? - with my mom and my sister, when I was about thirteen years old, and "Crash" by DMB came on the radio. Now, at this point most in my life my music listening habits were regulated to, A) whatever my parents listened to, and B) Weird Al Yankovic. I love Weird Al - in so many ways he's a genius - but I wouldn't quite consider him part of my musical journey. Sure, I love comedy nowadays, but that's more of what Weird Al is to me, comedy, humor. It just happens he choose music to get laughs.

OK, so we were driving along, the sun was shining, and on came "Crash Into Me" and, right away, the tune really thrilled me. Even now I remember the day, listening to it in the car, going to Mario's Pizzeria thinking about the song, humming the "I'm the king of the castle" part Dave does at the end. I knew I had to have it, my parents knew I had to have it, so I used their credit card to buy it dirt cheap on Half.com.

The next few days sucked. Waiting for that package. It was almost as bad as waiting for Pokemon Blue to come in the mail. By Saturday morning the disc still hadn't arrived, and as I got myself ready to go to a Bat Mitzvah - I think I had a little bit of a crush on the bat mitzvahee - I was pissed the fucking thing was still in transit.

So I danced, acted like a jackass thirteen year old all day, was pretty tired at 7 PM when someone's mom picked me up -- BUT WHEN I GOT HOME "CRASH," DAVE MATTHEW'S SECOND LP, WAS WAITING FOR ME. Didn't even change out of my nice clothes. I put that thing on my discman and listened to the entire record, pining for my young Jew crush as I followed along with each and every lyric printed in the CD booklet, straight to the end of "Proudest Monkey."

DMB was the first band I got hooked on, ON MY OWN. No one else played it for me. My mom or my dad weren't into it. I was going to have to turn THEM on to it (Mom/Dad: "The music is nice but I don't like his voice/lyrics."). This was my band, I discovered them, I bought all of their records and inhaled them, they were mine. DMB is significant because of the independence I discovered, the thrill of choosing what music to listen to. And also the feeling it invoked in me. I remember being really emotionally involved in "Crash," feeling like it was totally how I felt about that girl.

Part of enjoying music is about that search for something new, and when it's good - when it's emotionally resonant - the discovery is almost spiritual, and thrilling to boot. I don't listen to DMB on a daily basis anymore, but I don't need to. I listen to the occasional song every once and a while, though no new stuff for me. I can't abide people who are constantly thrilled with this guy, even though I realize the power and allure of his songs because I was there, but I was a thirteen year old, not a 25 year old U of F grad who still swoons when they hear that Dave is king of the castle. It was a jumping off point. The beginning. You gotta start somewhere and I'm totally happy Dave got me to where I am today.