I am addicted to Napster! The latest files I have acquired:
*Two songs by Dido, whom I've liked ever since she first appeared on the loop CD's at work a month or two ago...
*Half of a semi-decent remix of a Jocelyn Montgomery song called "Et Ideo." I'm debating whether or not it's worth trying to get the other half sometime... The remix isn't THAT good.
*...And about half of Radiohead covering Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" with Sparklehorse. I love Radiohead! And Sparklehorse, as a matter of fact, although I don't think anybody else has ever heard of them... And of course, Pink Floyd. I spent my entire day staring at Pink Floyd stuff, writing down Pink Floyd titles, Pink Floyd albums, etc... I know my Floyd, dammit.
As a matter of fact, since I'm not sure what I was going to write about in this entry, I think I'll talk about Pink Floyd...
I knew a grand total of one song by Pink Floyd... Well, two if you count "Money," but everybody knows that one, so it doesn't really count. Anyway, that one song was called "High Hopes," and I was addicted to it... I taped it off the radio and played it five or six times a day.
I got my first Pink Floyd album for Christmas in 1994. My dad got me "The Division Bell," and, just for kicks, my present to myself that year was "The Wall."
By June of 1995, I had every studio album Pink Floyd had ever made. For those of you who are unfamiliar, they've got like, 20 or so, give or take. By June of 1995, I could tell you which members of Pink Floyd were featured on which albums (because, of course, the drummer, Nick Mason, is the only one who's been on every single studio album), who was singing which parts, what year each album had come out, and a good bit of Floyd history.
By June of 1995, I had the biggest crush in the WORLD. His name was Skott. He worked at Tape World in the mall. Skott called me The Floyd Freak.
I went to Tape World every other week or so to buy a new Pink Floyd tape. I never bought anything else, and I never bought anything at all unless Skott was working. Skott was SO cool.
He was very tall. Like, 6'1" or so, maybe taller. He was very skinny, and had dyed black hair and pretty brown eyes with big dark lashes. Skott was a total babe.
"So what should I get this time?" I'd ask, and he'd shrug. He was at least four or five years older than me; I was 14 or 15. Of course, I was terribly shy, and talking to Skott took a great deal of effort, but I managed it, because he was sweet and a little soft-spoken, and had a pretty smile. He was still a guy, and guys still mostly scared me, but he had this way of putting me at ease.
I bought "Momentary Lapse of Reason." I listened to that all winter. It wasn't Pink Floyd's greatest accomplishment; mostly mellowish instrumental stuff. You can tell David Gilmour wrote a lot of it; when Roger Waters was writing, the music was a lot harsher. Their voices are like that too: David's is softer and mellow; Roger's is kind of scary... My favorite song from that was "One Slip."
I bought "Works" and "Relics." Those were compilations of early Pink Floyd stuff. I still listen to "Relics" a lot. I like the song called "Careful with that Axe, Eugene." For awhile, I decided I was going to name my firstborn Eugene... I grew out of that phase, thankfully.
Sometimes, I got the distinct feeling that Skott seriously didn't understand me... As a matter of fact, I think Skott thought I was a serious weirdo... I guess he had a point... I mean, if I'd been fifteen in 1969, I think Pink Floyd would have been a pretty cool obsession... But this was 1995, and in 1995, fifteen year old's were listening to the Batman Forever soundtrack, NOT Pink fucken Floyd... Yeah, I was weird... Hence Skott's nickname for me: The Floyd Freak...
I bought "Atom Heart Mother." After that, I didn't get anything for awhile. I could have listened to that tape forever. It was so beautiful. Weird, but beautiful. Now, when I listen to it, I think, "Gahd, Aaron would love this..." Aaron would like it. Aaron's got a pretty high tolerance for classical-type experimentation.
I got "Dark Side of the Moon." I didn't like it. I told Skott that. Skott thought I was even more of a freak.
I got "Meddle" and "Animals" and "A Saucerful of Secrets" and "Wish You Were Here." I liked "Wish You Were Here" best. I told Skott that. He suggested some Queen album to me... Some music they'd done for some TV show or something, if I remember correctly... Skott was a freak too. But his nickname wasn't anything so special that it ended with "-Freak." His nickname was simply, "Skott With A 'K'."
On Tape World day, my school day just flew by. Tape World day -- the first day I had enough money for a new Pink Floyd tape -- was the best day ever! Sometimes I'd skip last period just to run down to the mall and see my beloved Skott and my beloved Pink Floyd. And one day -- the day the NEW album, "Pulse" came out -- I skipped first period to go to Tape World first thing in the morning.
Skott was obsessed with the Little Mermaid. He wanted to have sex with Ariel, the little mermaid. Skott was a freak. Seriously. I don't think I need to make any jokes about fins or gills to make you realize that...
I got "Piper at the Gates of Dawn." It was weird -- too weird even for me... But I kind of liked it anyway. I told Skott that. Skott just shrugged. I was too weird for Skott.
"Hey, it's the Floyd-freak!" Every Tape World day, that was my greeting. Unless of course, Skott wasn't working, in which case I left and came back another day.
Tape World closed a few years back.
All of Skott's co-workers left or were relocated elsewhere. Skott himself left town and ended up someplace in Georgia or Florida or something. Of course, he's managing a CD-store.
Two of Skott's co-workers are now my co-workers.
They've told me recently that Skott was gay (what the HELL, people!?), that Skott's real name was just plain old Scott without a K, and that Skott only SAID he wanted to have sex with the Little Mermaid so that nobody would guess he was gay. I TOLD you he was a freak.
This morning, at work, my job was to write down every song on the Pink Floyd box set, which has nine CD's in it. We needed a cheat sheet in case anybody asks us what's in it. So I did it, painstakingly and lovingly printing title after title, humming each song as I wrote it down, remembering where I was the first time I'd played each album, remembering my pathetic puppy-love for Skott, and most of all, remembering the absolute JOY of Tape World Day.
I wish I knew what store Skott worked at. Today, I wanted so badly to write him and tell him where I was and what I was doing: copying Pink Floyd songs with his old co-worker at my side... and thinking of him. I'd probably even tell him about my stupid crush on him, and that I miss seeing his smile every week or two on Tape World Day. He was such a damned freak!
~Helena*
"Remember a day before today... a day when we were young..." --Pink Floyd, "Remember a Day," from "A Saucerful of Secrets," 1969.