The Cranberries: The group that left a sour taste that I eventually enjoyed.

I remember the first time I heard The Cranberries. My aunt had a copy of the CD Everyone is Doing it, So Why Can't We? The first thing I said was, "What is the Hell is this?!" I didn't like it and i dismissed it. Little did I know this would be one of my favorite bands. So what made me change my mind?

This was a transitional time for me in my music appreciation. Prior to my musical awakening, I was listening primarily to rap. I remembered rap going in the direction of gangster rap and it really was not in my taste. I was losing connection to the music that i listened to but I held on only because it was all I knew. Then I found Nirvana (whoa, that sounds profound.) I wonder how many people say that it was Nirvana that changed everything for them, but they truly did for me. The noise, the angst, the hurt it all struck a chord with me. Music... chord... get it? :-p

I was completely embracing this new sound that we now know as grunge. I actively sought out anything grunge. I felt scared because it belonged to the family of rock and at that time when you think of rock you think of hair bands. I still shudder at them but I'm more open to the style now. There were guys who had long hair in grunge, - Kurt Cobain did, Chris Cornell did, but they were different. They were not pretty and the music wasn't either. I wouldn't say I left rap, but alternative/modern rock became my preference from then on.

I was still feeling my way through all this new music when I was exposed to the Cranberries. I think I was used to the harsher sounds that when I heard melody along with grit, I got weirded out. After a while, my music taste expanded. I found Live 105 which was the modern rock station in San Francisco Bay Area. They played everything I liked and exposed me to others. Resurrection Sunday became my link to what I missed - punk, new wave, goth, etc. I become open to newer music because of the exposure of older influences.

I found myself buying Everyone is doing it, So Why can't we? I don't know when , but it became one of the cds that i would pop in more frequently than the rest. I was able to listen to the entire CD without skipping tracks. When Cranberries came out with No Need to Argue, I pretty much got it the first chance I had. "Zombie" was the first single and I loved it instantly. I listened to the rest of the CD and found it being another I would listen to frequently.

Years later, my aunt heard me listening to the Cranberries and said, "Remember when you hated them?" I think my response was a "yeah..." with the inflection of distaste that she remembered my initial rejection and dejection for dismissing the band that has become my favorite.

I bought To the Faithfully Departed and Bury The Hatchet and there were good songs in each but they did not have the same feel as the first two albums did. When my CD collection was stolen, I bought the first two again but not these two. As of now the Cranberries are still in hiatus. I think I saw an article mentioning how they all have kids and they take precedence over the band. One of these days I hope to hear something new from them and if they tour I would be there.

The Cranberries - Promises

What we were listening to 10 years ago or I lived through BoyBand Hell

Turn of the Millenium. Y2K scaring people into stocking up for a potential electronic apocalypse, but actually another apocalypse occurred. An event that took the world by storm. Backstreet Boys, *NSync, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera all had albums that came out. I still shudder thinking about that. Although it was the Backstreet Boys sophomore album it was the others debut albums. Too much pop in such a condensed time really made me want to hurl that entire year, but I'm feeling much better now.

We were also "Living La Vida Loca" with Ricky Martina and Shania Twain was telling us we made her feel like a woman. Will the horror never end!?

Of course it did. To keep us sane, good stuff came out that year as well. TLC came out with Fanmail and told us who scrubs were, were you a scrub? 702 was asking "Where My girls At." Limp Bizkit did it all for the "Nookie" and can you blame them? and Kid Rock was screaming "Bawitdaba." This was rather dark time for me music choice-wise. I think I was listening to heavier darker stuff. The harder the rock the more I got into it. I was a "Freak on A Leash" for Korn and I was raging against the machine while sleeping in the fire.

Nevertheless, the lighter side of me still shined because I loved that Fatboy Slim wanted to "Praise you" and Sixpence none the Richer asked us to "Kiss Me." The Blood Houndgang was telling us about "The Bad Touch." while the Offspring was telling people they were "Pretty Fly (for a white guy.)"

Okay I'm done with song title puns and I'll leave you with Eiffel 65:

Eiffel 65 - Blue
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I suggest...

Listening to energy927fm.com. Especially these guys:


It is a San Francisco station that plays dance music yay! I usually like music in the morning rather than morning DJs talking about random stuff but these guys are funny! Both Fernando and Greg are hilarious and when these two start to bicker about stuff, watch out! One of my favorite things they do is homo vs. hetero, where they take one of each and ask questions to win prizes. I just love the song they play dependant on the winner. They are definitely community activists and I only wish there were more like them. Thanks to something called the internet, we can stream their show on our pcs. A good friend of mine listens to them every morning on her laptop. You can also subscribe to their podcasts and listen to their random convos.

Another thing I love about this station is all the songs they play. Not only do they play all the new dance songs, they play a lot of the older ones as well. When I went to SF for Pride a few years back, I heard Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys and was saying, "OMG I LOVE THESE SONGS" and blasted the radio. My guy just looked at me like I 'm weird. Nevertheless, I've been listening to them since and they play many of the older stuff mixed in which I thoroughly enjoy.

Its great that radio stations have internet presence. Otherwise, gems like this will go unnoticed or stay local. I left SF many years ago, before the station was even there, but stuff like this makes me proud to be a SF native.

It's the little things that make me happy

Over the weekend I got a new toy. Okay, my guy bought me a new toy because I have this weird thing about buying things for myself. After years of having the stock radio, replaced twice because, once, it felt too hot that it made us concerned and the second because the lights on the stock radio died (try changing stations at night when you can't see the frakking buttons!) we got this handy cd player. The owners manual was thick, so I was giddy with all the potential options this thing has but alas it was thick because it was in English, Spanish, and French *le sigh.

Nevertheless, the cd player has quite a few options, to the right there's an auxiliary jack and a usb port. Woohoo! I can just plug in my ipod and it says it's iphone ready. It's satellite ready when I'm ready for satellite (aka when I have more money). It has all the traditional radio stuff and it is a cd player, duh. But, it's also a hands free for my cell phone. There's a mic on the cd player. So, I bonded them and took it out for a test spin to see how the reception is and i can hear my man and he can hear me pretty decently, now if I think he is too loud on the phone I can just adjust the volume through the radio. Love you, hun ;-)