So Long To The Salad Days

Yeah.

Remember? Remember how awesome this album was when it first came out (and still is today)? It was critically reviled at first (even though all the kids loved it), but even the most jaded ones eventually came around. They sounded like KISS should have, but better and they didn't have the stupid kabuki makeup, either--they looked like me and you. Saint Kurt had been been in the ground a scant month when this was released and for the weeks leading up to its release (it should be noted that I didn't pay attention to album street dates much back then, but "Undone [The Sweater Song]" had been played on MTV quite a bit so I knew about this one), me and my grunge-entrenched friends would often talk about music being "lost" which is a stupid thing to say, but 17-year-old boys aren't known for their insight or impeccable view of the big picture. This album along with, ironically, this one, released that fall, showed everyone that it was going to be okay. They were the final two nails in the grunge coffin and it was actually a welcome change. The sludgy grunge sound was already getting tired and The Blue Album, as it has become known, with it's clear, hearty, thundering riffs and ironic, self-effacing lyrics about embracing your inner nerd were just what everyone needed, it seemed, to lighten the general mood.

When I got ahold of this album, I listened to it non-stop. I went to college that fall and continued to listen to it non-stop. I still listen to this album a lot. Music has shaped my life a bit more than I like to admit and this record recalls a very specific time in my life where I was very happy. I'm happy now, too, but my life isn't changing as fast as it was back then and this album in particular is the soundtrack to me growing up a lot that first year away from my parents. I had never asked a girl out on a date until I was in college and the first time I did (and got shot down, mind you), I was at a party where they were playing this album in it's entirety. I specifically remember "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here" playing in the background (I swear) as she said "I really like you as a friend, but..." It hurt, but I laughed it off (plus she was way out of my league) and it wasn't so bad. I would get shot down many more times, but I would succeed once in a while, too, just like Rivers. He was a lovable loser who got it right sometimes. He replaced Kurt Cobain as my music idol for a few years in there and he didn't seem like the type to kill himself, either, so I knew I was safe. Pinkerton confused me at first and I didn't really like it, it seemed whiny and he talked about his feelings too much. A few years later, though, I fell in love with an Asian girl and though she was 100% Chinese and not a "half-Japanese girl" I would sing the intro to "El Scorcho" to her often and we would laugh. Pinkerton crept up on me while Rivers was at Harvard. The wait for a new album was agonizing and, ultimately, anti-climactic.

The stuff released post-Ivy league just doesn't have it. Sure, The Green Album is pretty good and Maladroit has some good riffs but they don't hold up. I'm not mad, just disappointed.

What happened?