Friday, June 12, 2015

Can I get a 'woop!' for the boxing imagery?

I can't listen to the newest album from Barenaked Ladies - Silverball - without being me and I don't think I would even want to talk about it while pretending that the last 17 years of me being a fan of the Barenaked Ladies existed.

The Barenaked Ladies released Stunt in 1998 which was certainly the best year of my life up until that point. But it's possible I didn't actually hear it until 1999 which was definitely much worse. An unprecedented alignment between me being sure I liked something and me being sure that amongst society and my peers that it was okay for me to like that thing meant I concentrated a lot of liking into the Barenaked Ladies.

I'm a little bit worse for wear
Got a little bit more grey hair
I'm not gonna be the next big thing
But I'm getting fitted for a new brass ring

Then they released Maroon in 2000 which was the year I thought I was having a mental breakdown but didn't say that to anyone because I figured that they'd tell me I was overreacting and that would be belittling to people who were actually having mental breakdowns and that years later I would look back on that time and realise that it wasn't that bad and that I was overreacting and wasn't having a mental breakdown at all because I was a teenager and didn't have to deal with all of the normal stressors of adulthood and I was overreacting to my own overreacting. But mostly I didn't think I could be having a mental breakdown because I couldn't imagine any way that my life could possibly ever get any better than it was right then and was sure that it was on a downhill slide forever.

I've been dunked, I've been kicked around
Now I'm ready for the big rebound
I know you can't win them all
But I'm swingin' like Pitt gettin' hits in Moneyball

A decade and a half later I am pretty sure that I did, in fact, have a mental breakdown that year.

Anyway.

It's difficult to listen to any newer Barenaked Ladies album and not feel some combination of two things.

1. Disappointment that there is no way that this album could possibly mean as much to me as Stunt or Maroon and the reality that it is unlikely that I will ever love an album as much as I loved them

2. Relief and happiness that I don't need this album as badly as I needed those.

Get back, get back up
You gotta get back, get back up
You got a whole stadium on their feet
It's not about a victory or defeat
See you gotta get back, get back up
You gotta get back, get back up


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