Semi-Charmed Life

SEMI-CHARMED LIFE, THIRD EYE BLIND

(September 1997)

Freshman year at SI: the funny thing about becoming a disciple of Z95.7 is that it completely changed the way I listened to music. When I started to listen to the radio and watching MTV on my own, I was heavily into R&B - TLC, Boyz II Men, Brandy, the works. Gone was strictly listening to the Old School and Latin music my parents listened to. But then, when Z95.7 was introduced, and with my overwhelming need to fit into a high school where I already felt intensely uncomfortable, I became a fan of whatever pop music was deemed cool, and I devoured all of it, even stuff that I didn't initially like. But what did I totally fall in love with? Third Eye Blind. I mean, my favorite song of theirs, "Never Let You Go," wouldn't come out for another three years, but until then, "Semi-Charmed Life" was good enough for me.

Third Eye Blind was the personification of the late-90s in San Francisco for me. I mean, it's probably because of the video, with Stephen Jenkins running around the Mission, that I think that if my high school life were ever to be shown in a montage, that song would play over it. It wasn't my favorite song as a teenager by far, nor the most meaningful, but because it was the first song I heard in that late-90s rock-pop style that would become the dominant musical trend of my high school career (along with teen pop, but more on that in another entry) that I feel that it encapsulates high school for me in a weird way. It would have nothing to do with the lyrics - despite what you might think, I was not a crystal meth addict as a fourteen-year-old - but the "feel" of it, for lack of a better word.

Because it's theoretically coming up next year, I keep thinking about my high school reunion, but aside from the fact that I'm sure I'll be completely awkward and will need to get completely sloshed beforehand in order to maintain some semblance of social behavior, I keep wondering what kind of music will be playing. I will be really upset if this song isn't played (though really, why wouldn't it be? Though if it's all 'NSync and P.Diddy (or Sean "Puffy" Combs, as he was known then), I will be really pissed and make a drunken fool of myself), but then again, I'm not in charge of the music. Though I'd like to think that if I were, it would be hella awesome.

Steal My Sunshine

STEAL MY SUNSHINE, LEN

(September 1999)

Junior year of high school: I was listening to my favorite radio station, which remained Z95.7 throughout high school, and this song pops on. I'm pretty sure I heard this song on the bus, which is where I heard a lot of songs for the first time. I've always been behind in everything, but particularly technological stuff, so I didn't have a Discman, just a plain old Walkman, which was permanently stuck on Z95.7. I can still sing their variety of signature jingles, which is dorky, I know, but then again, I was just reminded that the nature of this very blog is inherently nerdy, so who am I to fight it? As a freshman, I listened to Wild 94.9, specifically the rambunctious Doghouse in the morning, but I got over them pretty quickly, not to mention the fact that I really wasn't into the hip hop they were playing (as with so much music, though, I wasn't into it then but I love that shit now). I read about The Z in the school newspaper (why there was nothing else newsworthy that day? I don't know), but the article was talking about this brand-new station blah blah blah, and lo and behold, I became a big fan. Ultimately, The Z was the most unoffensive radio station in San Francisco at the time - it played general Top 40, cleaned-up versions of mainstream hip hop (I remember when Juvenile's "Back That Ass Up" was changed to "Back That Thang Up" on most radio stations, but The Z went one step further, changing it to "Back That Back Up"... what the hell?), and subtly helping the gay agenda by playing old 90s gay dance songs, like "Finally" and "What Is Love?" making sure that plenty of high school boys got in touch with that queen inside them.

When I heard "Steal My Sunshine," I was thoroughly annoyed. I wanted to tell Marc Costanzo to clear his fucking throat. I didn't understand what the hell the song was talking about. "My sticky paws were making straws out of big fat slurpy treats"? Like, was Sharon singing about giving a guy an epic hand job? What did that have to do with sunshine being stolen or millions of miles of fun? I didn't really care for the Andrea True Connection sample. And that video? God. Obnoxious. It's so indicative of 1999, I think, looking back on it now. The weird not-fashions, the plasticity of the whole thing. Oddly enough, looking back on my old issues of Rolling Stone that I have saved from that time, there was a sort of anime-esque plastic gloss over everything, that and bright poppy colors. Seriously. Go watch Christina Aguilera's "Come on Over, Baby" video and it's like that was 1999 in a nutshell.

I didn't hear "Steal My Sunshine" for years. Years, literally, until, I want to say that my brother Daniel had this song on his Zune, and we were trading songs from our respective Zunes, and he sent this to me. "Didn't this shit come out when you were in high school?" Why, yes, and since I was in a major nostalgia kick for turn-of-the-millennium music, I listened to it and loved it. I think it's because there are two spoken interludes before each verse that were cut from the radio single edit, and these conversations (between Marc and some other guy in the band) basically confirm that they were high as kites when they wrote this song. The first conversation is spoken in code about how one of them wants to smoke out and is asking the other if he's holding ("So what do you want to do?" "Well, do you like buttertarts?"). It's either that, or a proposition for gay sex in the bushes, but I seriously doubt that. The high explanation makes the verses make complete sense, and totally adds to the carefree summer feel the song has.

I don't know if I love it now strictly for the nostalgia of it, but I know that I just think it's a lot of fun now. Do you like buttertarts?