One of my personal favorite albums of all time without a doubt. It’s always around Spring when I fall in love with it all over again. It certainly has to do with some neurological regression that occurs deep down. At least I’d think? I’m having a hard time remembering the first time I’ve heard it was. I absolutely know for a fact that it was in the car with my old friends Bob and Dennis from the movie theater. We were driving back from somewhere on break and they had one of the songs on. At the time I remember hating it. It was just grating noise to my ears. I can’t put a date on when this was and now it’s bothering me. Without a doubt it had to have been before January 21st, 2006 because I remember listening to the album for hours on the 22nd. I do know that in our car ride, I had Dennis listen to the new leaked Less than Jake song from ‘In with the Out Crowd’. God only knows when that was.
I don’t remember or think it was in 2005, however this certainly could have been the case. Sometime in 2005 between October and January 1st? It had to have been this window of time. It would only make sense as that would allow me to become familiar enough with the album in order to listen to it the way I did from the 22nd and on. Boy of boy did I listen. I remember in March of 2006, Bob and I went to Walmart together to get World of Warcraft and I remember blaring the album in his red Jetta. What a wonderful time to be alive. It was around this time that the album had a steady and extended playtime in my rotation. I believe this is the reason every time this time of year comes around, I think of the album and get nostalgic.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the album. None of the original band is still in the lineup, however Dan (the drummer) has come back for previous albums. They performed a 10 year anniversary tour where they played the entirety of the album. If they do it for the 20th, there is zero doubt that I will go!
I can’t wait for the weather to get nicer and I can just drive around blaring it like I was a teenager again!