Return to Oz

I got in the car this morning determined not to listen to Scissor Sisters. I dropped the iPod in the cradle, and after just 2 bars of Filthy/Gorgeous I was hooked. Damn that album just plain rocks. It takes me back to my childhood, before I began exploring music on my own.

I remember many late nights (and days, and mornings, and any time, really) of my dad sitting at the drawing-table, working on some illustration and blasting his favorite music from the 70's. There was Supertramp, Led Zeppelin, The Doobie Brothers, Bob Seger, David Bowie, and all of the great mega-bands, and all of it was brought to our house by XL102, that bastion of classic rock that blew the doors off Richmond for decades prior to its devolution into "The X".

A lot of the music was just too weird for me to enjoy. I never derived any pleasure from Elton John, and though I loved their power-ballads, Queen just didn't do it for me. The BG's were there, too, freaking me out with that guy's falsetto.

But I listened to this music for years and years, and my first personal interest in music came in a maniacal devotion to Pink Floyd. Then Led Zeppelin, and finally at age 15 I started liking new music, and rarely looked back.

Some months ago, however, something changed. Amanda picked up the Scissor Sisters album on a whim, and I at first had no truck with it. I started having "No Tits on the Radio" playing in my head one day last month, and have been stuck on that album ever since.

It's like Elton John, Supertramp, Queen, and the BG's got together for one great joint-album. They cover every aspect of the great 70's bands, omitting nothing, and adding a modern quasi-techno flair. It's awesome, and I can easily picture myself laying on the floor with artist's markers by my dad's drawing table.

I just can't get enough of this wacky throw-back. Is it that I really like the music, or that I pine for my lost youth? I cannot deny the strong sense of childhood that this music gives me, nor can I properly describe it fully. I see myself in the passenger seat of the Porsche 930, and--only when listening to this album--remember my dad exactly as he looked then. The feeling of nostalgia comes at me like a wave, and it's a wave I really enjoy.

I think they put some weird mind-control in the tracks.