Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Remembrance of Videos Past #3

I met my first rock snob when I was 12 years old. Scott Jarzombek was the most popular kid in my seventh grade class. All the girls loved him except his cousin. While Poison and Bon Jovi were popular, he turned girls on to The Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones and Butthole Surfers. Remember, this was before Nirvana or Green Day became big.

What was I to do? I loved Def Leppard and here was Scott making fun of the one-armed drummer. I desperately needed to be hip. I vaguely remembered him saying he liked REM.

Hence I watched "Orange Crush" religously. It seemed important; I still don't know what Michael Stipe is saying, but I assume he's talking about Agent Orange and Vietnam. I assumed that back then as well. What I did know was that the video was black and white and there was a lot of dirt and wood.

When I told Scott about the video, he scoffed and said he hated that song. Then he murmurred something about how old REM was better. This prepared me for years of eye rolling from indie snobs who hate Flaming Lips and The Shins. I still stand by "Orange Crush" though. It's got an eerie guitar riff and soaring harmonies.

By the way Scott, this counts as old REM now.



(courtesy of oelectricmayhemo)

3 comments:

The Punk Librarian said...

I still hate that song.

Anonymous said...

For the record, the only reason Scott pulled off the "rock snob" thing was because I made him listen to that music. But for having me as an older sister he would have been rocking out to Def Leppard too.

-The original rock snob

Mo Diggs said...

Awesome. I mean, no, you're not a snob.