10 years ago...

I was in my final summer before college. I don't really remember anything magical about it. I worked four 9-hour days every week (Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday were my days off) and hung out with my high school friends, but definitely less than I had during the school year. And then I went away. I'm the only person from my graduating class who went to college in Philadelphia, so by default the only one who went to St Joe's. I was excited to be so close to being "on my own." The Red Wings had just won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 42 years, so I was pretty jacked about that.

Those first few weeks at school were really liberating. I've always been kind of a loner (I love people, but I need my space, and time to be alone every day), and it was great to set my own agenda. It's been 10 years since OK Computer came out. This, along with Nevermind, Ten/Vs, and Odelay (wow, they're all available for $10 or less at Amazon) are probably the defining albums of my peer group's lives. My memories of this album include buying it from the big Tower Records store on South Street with my AT&T Student Advantage card (15 percent discount - cha-ching!) and listening to it while doing my French homework one cool fall night about a month later.

I listened to it again this morning. It was tough for me to tell at the time why everyone thought it was so ground-breaking and world-changing, and I still don't totally get it. Don't get me wrong, it's a good album. But I've never been a huge Radiohead fan, and my favorite song (My Iron Lung) and album (The Bends) has been out for a couple years already at this point. Nonetheless, this was a landmark moment in the history of alternative rock. It won a Grammy, and was nominated for another. Sonic Youth never won a Grammy. Neither had X, or Social Distortion, or Dinosaur Jr, or Pearl Jam, or even Nirvana. These were basically the bands that had set up this incredible success.

That opening to Airbag is masterful. Paranoid Android waxes and wanes like a Floyd-esque epic. The Karma Police - Fitter Better Happier - Electioneering trio is spectacular. They played Electioneering on Leno in July 97 and it was great. I saw them at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in June 98, and they were really good. Not overwhelmingly great, but really good. College is the best time of your life (for most people), and this is one of the musical experiences I will forever associate with it. Can't believe it's been 10 years.