How Music Saved My Soul (or, but for the Grace of Liam...)

A Lost Musical Soul:
Right, I'll admit it straight away, I didn't always have a good taste in music.  In fact, there was even a time when I actually liked manufactured pop shite bands like S Club 7, The Moffatts, and A-Teens.  Of course, I was about 9 then.  I simply listened to whatever music was catchy and, perhaps had a cute boy or girl in it.  But, even then, I remember liking bands like Nirvana, Green Day, Oasis and the Offspring, as well.  I just had no way of distinguishing good from bad music.  I needed someone to help me out and point me in the proper direction.


Saved By Liam:
A few weeks after moving to England for school at the age of 11, I began to slowly emerge from the 'new Yank' label I received as soon as I transferred there and began to make friends and meet other boys in my year.  There was this one cute boy, Liam, for whom I felt a strange attraction (which I didn't understand at the time), but I avoided talking to him because he was much too popular and incredibly cool.  As I began to find out more about him, the rumour was that his brother was in a band.

Everything about him was just so appealing to me, enough that I finally got up the courage to talk to him one day when he was sorting through his CDs (pre-iPod days).  I shyly asked him about his music and he lit up and was very friendly to me (I had asked him the magic question, apparently) and after chattering away about his favourite bands (only a few I actually knew much about), he then asked me what kind of music I liked.  Ugh, I froze up for a second (I really should've expected this question), and I so wanted to impress him.  So, the first thing that came to mind was Nirvana, being that I knew more about Kurt Cobain and the band (due simply to the fact that I grew up in the Pacific Northwest) than any other 'cool' band I could think of.

Well, I must've said the right thing because he kept going on about how much of a legend Kurt Cobain was and how incredibly cool it was that I grew up in Seattle (I didn't exactly grow up there, but close enough that I didn't dare correct him).  Apparently, that one conversation with him had established my credibility, along with the fact that I was quite interested in learning more about the music he loved.  After that we became good mates, and I even developed a small crush on him that, at the time, I only recognised as being very happy when I was with him for some odd reason.  Nothing physical ever really came from this, but still I feel like we shared something more important, I daresay, even a somewhat intimate connection, at least for me.


The (Pre)History of British Indie:
Thus began my unofficial education into the history of the british music scene, which for us, always began with 70s Punk (proper Punk, as Liam always said), which then progressed to Post-Punk, New Romantics, Indie, and so forth.  I was enthralled and began borrowing Liam's CDs to listen to the proper 'foundational' bands (The Clash, Joy Division/New Order, David Bowie (the Berlin-era), Public Image Ltd, The Cure, The Smiths, The Jesus And Mary Chain, 4AD label bands, The Stone Roses, etc). We also liked and respected many American bands like, Dead Kennedys, Pixies, Nirvana, etc., but our main focus was always on the British music scene.  The thing that all these bands had in common was that they made me feel something deep inside: sometimes good, sometimes angry, sometimes sad; but, always a strong emotional connection to the song and to its artist.  That one lesson has stayed with me and has guided me ever since.


A New Kobalt Emerges:
As a result of becoming one of Liam's mates, I was no longer just a Yank, but felt accepted by some of the coolest kids at school.  I then became less shy and began to feel more comfortable being myself in larger group settings.  I also met other boys with whom I became mates with as well, but Liam's friendship was the one I always treasured most.  He opened up new horizons for me and helped me to refine and deepen my love for music, which I don' t think I ever properly thanked him for.

And, probably my fondest memory with him, was when we both nipped off to the music shop in town and we shared the cost for The Libertines' debut single, What a Waster. Which, for anyone who knows me well, also knows that I was never quite the same boy once I began listening to The Libertines' debut album.  And thus began my love affair for discovering new and vital music.  And I owe it all to an amazingly cool boy named Liam.  =]