Good afternoon everyone.
I've been lurking around this site (and the VR site when it was running) for years but didn't join the forum until pretty recently. It's amazing what a new album can do, eh? But I guess I'll get my quick intro out of the way now.
I'm Curt, I'm 23 and I've been an STP fan since roughly 2002. Growing up in the 90's, I didn't like very much of the music that was out there. Especially during the grunge period. But there was always something different about STP and I did like their stuff when it would come on the radio. I never really felt like they fit in to the whole 'grunge' thing.
During the summer of 2001, I would stay up late and watch music videos on VH1 (during the early hours of the morning, the only time anyone showed actual videos) and always looked forward to seeing the video for "Days Of The Week." I thought it was different sounding from what I'd heard from the band, but it was catchy as hell and the video was very entertaining.
Fast forward to 2002 and I was going to see my second Aerosmith concert in St. Louis, MO. Run DMC and Kid Rock were opening most of that tour, which I wasn't thrilled about. But when I learned that STP would be opening at the St. Louis show, I got even more excited for the show.
When the day of the show (
October 2, 2002) rolled around, I was just as excited for STP as I was for Aerosmith. I got a little worried as there was heavy rain coming down that day and I thought the show might be delayed. But much to my surprise and delight, STP came on stage right on time and blew me away. They played a very basic and much too short setlist, but I was hooked.
I went out the next day and bought "Core" since it featured more songs from the concert than the others (and since I couldn't see the tracklist on "Purple" or "Tiny Music..."). I then bought "Purple" after learning that was the album that had "Vasoline," "Interstate Love Song," and "Big Empty." I bought "No. 4" after that since I thought "Down" was just a great, heavy song.
After that, I went to see other bands and STP fell by the wayside a little bit. Then I read about their demise in a magazine while standing in a Jewel Osco and was very disappointed. But I was excited about their best of CD/DVD that was mentioned. I also got into Velvet Revolver big time and got to see them live in
2005 (in Springfield, IL, not Tinley Park as that mentions).
At first, I was upset about VR falling apart, but when I realized an STP reunion was happening, I was happy. Unfortunately, life got in the way of me getting to see them on the reunion tour. Still, I had high hopes that they would get a new album recorded and released.
Ever since Scott mentioned having a bunch of songs in his head at a show, I'd been anticipating the new album. It completely renewed my interest in the band, so I sought out the two albums ("Tiny Music..." and "Shangri-La Dee Da") that I was missing. Unfortunately I couldn't find either of them in stores, so I had to order them both online. What made matters worse was that I ended up having to order "Tiny Music..." twice since the first one had some issues. The wait was worth it though.
So I spent the months leading up to the new album listening to the previous five and getting to know a bunch of gems that I previously hadn't known. I even ordered used copies of the Zeppelin and Doors tribute albums to get the STP material from those (Scott's vocal on "Break On Through" is amazing).
I listened to "Between The Lines" as soon as it hit the net, but refrained from listening to anything else from the new album since it was my first brand new STP album since I became a fan and I wanted to keep it old school. Though I did end up hearing "Hickory Dichotomy" for the first time on VH1's Friday Night Alright show.
Sadly, my grandfather, whom I was very close to, passed away on the evening of May 24, the night before the album was released. The next day, I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to get the album and listen to it for fear of having it always be attached to the loss of my grandpa. But I decided to go ahead and buy it since I was excited about it. Since then, the band, but especially that album, have been a great aid in getting through this rough time in life. So while the album for me will always remind me of this time, I am grateful for the band for helping me when I needed it most.
My favorite album is "Purple," but it wouldn't surprise me if the new one overtook it because I really do love it and it obviously carries a lot of emotional weight now.
Thanks for reading my novelized intro and I look forward to chatting with all of you on the forum!
