A Connection Was Made

While getting ready in the completely silent Y locker room this morning an old familiar song popped into my head:



I couldn't tell you what made Elastica's "Connection" suddenly appear in my mind's ear but I'm pretty happy it did. I am unquestionably buying their debut album on iTunes as soon as I get home. They had such a killer sound. Their music takes me back to when I first started listening to what was then called alternative rock. I don't know what you would call it now. The alternative rock artists of then are now the establishment and the artists who have taken their place are just emo bitches.

Elastica were just a small part of my Brit-pop obsession. I loved Blur, Oasis, Pulp, the Smiths, Morrisey and more. I still follow those musicians but I didn't listen to Elastica for long. They released Elastica in 1995 but didn't release anything else until 2001 and that album didn't place anywhere on the US charts. The fans who payed more attention than I were pretty disappointed. They waited so long and they ended up waiting for crap. Apparently Justine Frischmann's drug habit didn't just affect her relationship with Blur's Damon Albarn (total teen-mag fodder that I just gobbled up)- I'd say it killed her band. It was a total waste of talent. I forgot all about her until Blur's 13- the album that was almost nothing but songs about their break-up.

It's amazing where just a few unprompted bars of music can take you. Not only did I think about the contribution Elastica could have made to music but I thought about what I was doing in most 1996 (adjusting to moving to Northern VA) or where their influence took me (to listening to Pulp.) It was a pleasant thought spiral that lasted me the 20 minute bus ride uptown. Reminiscing can sometimes take me to a dark place. But not today. Today was a happy place.