Your Moment of Zen: Sire Records Just Say...Series (Part Four)

Monday, April 21, 2008

Sire Records Just Say...Series (Part Four)

1990 was a dark year for me. I was a junior in high school and the pressure was immense. I had entered the time when I was taking classes that, for the first time, actually mattered. College was on the horizon (a prospect my somewhat immature make-up was not altogether prepared for) and it was probably the first time I began to really question the future and what was in store. It's funny how we gravitate to music to soothe us, inspire us or console us. In the case of 1990, music was all about anger, frustration and fear. I was angry that I had to face the fact that I was readying to leave high school (unlike most people who spend any time there). This was coupled with the fact that I was in no way shape or form a rebel meant that music was my only expression for my life. On the surface I was a good student (one might even call me a nerd). I had friends and was relatively well liked. But I couldn't shake the sense of anger and the music I listened to that year fueled that.

Here's where this fits into my ongoing deconstruction of Sire Records. 1990 was an angry year for the label as well. This compilation brought MINISTRY, PRIMAL SCREAM and MY BLOODY VALENTINE into my life. (Talk about timing!) Even the DEPECHE MODE track is dark and dirty (this was the first single off "Violator", which has a special place in my heart as far as DM records go...) The MORRISSEY song filled the void of longing and sadness that I carried with me for the year. But it was the combination of Ministry's anger (as evidenced by the relentless drums that make up the song "Breathe") and MBV's foreboding sense of hopelessness that I cam back to again and again. Be the end of the year, things got better and my Senior year was one of joy and fun. But for one year, I was your prototypical angst ridden teenager.