Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The Odds
Imagine this, if you care to.
In the summer of 1998, there was a music festival in my home town. The headlining band was The Odds, and I, like most of the other rednecks there, had no idea who they were. As far as I knew, they had one song. (“I’m a heterooooo! Sexualllll! Heterosexual man!”) Other than that, who knew The Odds? But, still, it’s a small town, and so The Odds were getting the best V.I.P. treatment we had, including free hamburgers from A&W, which is where I was working at the time.
Because the location of the concert was right outside the restaurant, we stayed open until midnight. I volunteered to close that night, mostly because there was a girl that I had a crush on who was also working late. Towards the end of the night, my boss came in to check on me, and I’m sure she must have been a little tipsy when she said that we could go backstage and have a cooler with The Odds when we were finished. I was thrilled at the idea, even despite not knowing the group, and was the only one who went. They were rock stars, after all; rock stars that, apparently, hadn’t been told about the arrangement my boss made with them, and were sitting in their trailer waiting to get out of town when I knocked on the door.
They must have known, or at least eventually realized, that I had no idea who they were, not really, but they were still very friendly to the wide-eyed seventeen-year old sitting in their trailer. Looking back, I probably should have been embarrassed for not knowing anything but their one breakthrough single, and even more embarrassed for telling them a story about how I was closing one night with a guy who was very likely gay when that particular song came on the radio. One of them - I’m not sure who – explained that the song was a parody of homophobia, heterosexuality, and basically everything I’d just said. I was just some naïve, conservative-raised kid; what did I know?
I left there late that night with a hat that I’d gotten them to sign for the girl I had a crush on. But that wasn’t the only thing I got that night. Ten years later I still remember thinking how much more profound music could be, how there was more within a song than just a catchy chorus. How all the music I was listening to from MuchMusic and DanceMix 98 was nothing more than superficial garbage. This was one of the moments that changed how I listened to music and helped turn me into the diverse and open-minded fan of music that I am today.
And, yes, now I'm an actual fan of The Odds. All it took was several years. ¶ 11:01 AM
In the summer of 1998, there was a music festival in my home town. The headlining band was The Odds, and I, like most of the other rednecks there, had no idea who they were. As far as I knew, they had one song. (“I’m a heterooooo! Sexualllll! Heterosexual man!”) Other than that, who knew The Odds? But, still, it’s a small town, and so The Odds were getting the best V.I.P. treatment we had, including free hamburgers from A&W, which is where I was working at the time.
Because the location of the concert was right outside the restaurant, we stayed open until midnight. I volunteered to close that night, mostly because there was a girl that I had a crush on who was also working late. Towards the end of the night, my boss came in to check on me, and I’m sure she must have been a little tipsy when she said that we could go backstage and have a cooler with The Odds when we were finished. I was thrilled at the idea, even despite not knowing the group, and was the only one who went. They were rock stars, after all; rock stars that, apparently, hadn’t been told about the arrangement my boss made with them, and were sitting in their trailer waiting to get out of town when I knocked on the door.
They must have known, or at least eventually realized, that I had no idea who they were, not really, but they were still very friendly to the wide-eyed seventeen-year old sitting in their trailer. Looking back, I probably should have been embarrassed for not knowing anything but their one breakthrough single, and even more embarrassed for telling them a story about how I was closing one night with a guy who was very likely gay when that particular song came on the radio. One of them - I’m not sure who – explained that the song was a parody of homophobia, heterosexuality, and basically everything I’d just said. I was just some naïve, conservative-raised kid; what did I know?
I left there late that night with a hat that I’d gotten them to sign for the girl I had a crush on. But that wasn’t the only thing I got that night. Ten years later I still remember thinking how much more profound music could be, how there was more within a song than just a catchy chorus. How all the music I was listening to from MuchMusic and DanceMix 98 was nothing more than superficial garbage. This was one of the moments that changed how I listened to music and helped turn me into the diverse and open-minded fan of music that I am today.
And, yes, now I'm an actual fan of The Odds. All it took was several years. ¶ 11:01 AM
