teenage tunes: intro

I love revisiting albums and artists I used to listen to when I was younger. There's this lovely nostalgic feeling I get whenever I hear "Creep" or "Waterfalls" by TLC or "Secret" by Madonna. I don't really think of those bands/songs as a guilty pleasure either because I still genuinely like those songs. (Maybe I feel a bit guilty about Madonna, since I still follow her new releases pretty closely.)

But there's a period of my life, from when I was about 17 to about 19, that I don't revisit. Ever. On one hand, my musical persona was developing into what it is today. There are a lot of bands/genres I discovered during that time period (Le Tigre, shoegaze, garage rock) that I still love today.

On the other hand...I own the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack. What the fuck.

Seventeen to nineteen was a weird time, because even though I was growing into this "musically enlightened" person, I was still caught up in a lot of teenagerish music likes. Hence the Hilary Duff. And the Freaky Friday soundtrack. (Did I have some hard on for Disney?)

But I decided to be ashamed no more. Which is why I decided to dig out certain albums of that period (highs and lows) and reevaluate them. Some I've grown out of, and some I still like. And there are even some that I didn't appreciate fully back then.

Either way it should be an interesting auditory experience, full of self-discovery and self-loathing. Lizzie McGuire. Why.

teenage tunes: the donnas turn 21

I bought this album before The Donnas hit the mainstream with "Take it Off." I'm pretty sure I read about them in RockerGrrl (RIP), which is where I actually discovered a lot of new bands.

One of my most vivid memories about this album is when I first played it for my BFF at the time. I thought she would think they were awesome (girls rocking out, WHO WOULDN'T LOVE THAT?). Instead, she complained that the lead singer sounded like a chipmunk.

I was offended at the time...but looking back, I guess I can kinda see where she was coming from. There is a nasally, kind of cool/kind of annoying quality to Brett Anderson's voice. (Although I still think the chipmunk thing is kind of harsh.)

I attribute that nasal kind of cool/kind of annoying voice to youth. The Donnas got started when they were still teenagers. Turn 21 was their FOURTH album--the album title was pointing to the fact that they had all just turned 21. By the time Spend the Night came out, Anderson lost all traces of that nasal teen snit voice and adopted this gritty California girl snarl that just kills me with its awesomeness.

The Donnas have always aspired for that hard rock, AC/DC sound, even if they didn't quite hit that mark with their first three albums. Their self-titled debut is a pop punk masterpiece, and you can definitely hear The Ramones influence on that record. The two albums following their debut seem to cement their hard rock ideal; goodbye power pop chords, hello hard rock chord progressions.

That hard rock sound really comes together on Turn 21, from the first chord on the first song. That said, Turn 21 still feels like a band feeling out their style, in other ways. Lyrically, the album is a super party album, with almost all the songs focusing on one night stands and drinking till you pass out. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. But the lyrical cleverness in their party songs definitely evolved over the course of their albums (their latest album, Bitchin' had quite a few gems).

One thing's for sure, though: Allison Robertson, the lead guitarist, ALWAYS ROCKED. She is such an excellent guitarist, and she is the biggest reasons I still follow this band. She can do Ramones-esque punk pop well AND she can do hard rock. She can do it all.

If you didn't guess already, I still listen to The Donnas quite frequently (mostly just Gold Metal, though, which is their best album). Revisiting this album reminded me of why I stuck with the Donnas for so long: they can really rock.