elvis died 35 years ago today

that's what one of my co-workers told me today.

it's weird cuz i guess elvis is a big fucking deal. i bet his death was shocking and tragic to millions. but i wasn't even alive yet. it didn't mean shit to me. i was birthed in a post-elvis world. it was understood that he was no longer around so stop waiting for a new comeback single. go buy a bruce springsteen album instead.

i remember when i was a kid, i had this short lived elvis phase. i had a tape of his greatest hits and i used to listen to it a lot. but that doesn't mean much cuz i also had a fat boys tape and i used to listen to that a lot. they did a song for one of the 'nightmare on elm street' movies and freddie kruger raps on it, no fucking lie. it was pretty atrocious.

in fact, for years i listened to tons of awful music. here's a short list of just some of the awful stuff i can remember, which approximately spans the ages of 8-13:

fat boys
mc hammer
vanilla ice
motley crue
cinderella
kris kross
full force (i don't even know if anyone but me remembers these guys. their biggest hit was a song called, "quickie," and they were in a kid n' play movie at some point)
dj jazzy jeff and the fresh prince (one exception here- 'parents just don't understand' is still a great fucking song)
poison (i had a best friend, jesse, who loved poison and i loved the crue. we used to debate constantly which one was better. i was team: crue, but i still listened to a lot of poison)
debbie gibson (i shit you not, i owned a debbie gibson cd)
the monkees
piledriver- a compilation of world wrestling federation themed music

***(before we move on, i would like to note that somehow, someway, i never got into new kids on the block)***

that's all i can remember at the moment. i'm not proud of this list.. but it is what it is. luckily i have a cool mom and she listened to a lot of cool stuff... way cooler than any of this garbage. we had some great vinyls and every now and then she'd get me a tape of something cool like 'the beatles greatest hits.' my mom schooled me on classic rock, a seed that didn't really start to sprout properly till age 13.

13 was the first time i ordered cd's from a cd club on my own. nirvana and grunge just changed mtv and they changed me. i ordered nirvana, pearl jam, and beck cd's. i took inspiration from my mom's classic rock listening and ordered greatest hits compilations of stuff like the doors and jimi hendrix.

i'm proud to say that i'm really not ashamed of anything i've listened to since age 13.... even the lady gaga (that's right motherfucker, i like lady gaga). it's all been awesome since then and one thing i haven't willingly listened to since age 13 is elvis.