15: the first part-- superchunk

i, naturally, became interested in superchunk because they were from north carolina. knowing this and the fact that they were extremely cool punkpoprock whatever, i decided at some point in high school to check them out. the only cd i could find in rocky mount was 'tossing seeds,' which is a compilation of their early singles. i thought it was great. it was rough, fastpaced, upbeat, exciting. i desperately wanted to check them out in a real album format. and somehow, a couple months later, i ran into the album 'foolish.'

'foolish' threw me for a loop. from my limited knowledge, i hadn't expected superchunk to sound dark, sophisticated, complex. it was different. but i loved it. no song on the album connected stronger with me than 'the first part.' it had this bitter mood and somber lyrics and it built to an awesome climax. it combined much of what i liked in music at the time, namely emotion, music that was more complex than basic punk, and (most importantly) something i could jump around to.

this song reminds me of running cross country. back when i did the balancing act (im still not sure how) of carrying my portable cd player in one hand while running through the woods, i always put 'foolish' on. for some reason, this song made me run faster. and when i was in actual races, i remember trying to get the song in my head to help me pick up the pace (i did not master this well enough, apparently). i also have been fortunate to see this song performed twice live by superchunk, which did nothing but strengthen my appreciation for it. it's just an awesome song. and besides being a cross country standby, it propelled my interest in superchunk and in more independent label rock music. it also (thankfully) provided lots and lots of jumping around the room (and on beds and on couches, also throwing the occasional shoe) in both high school and college, and for that alone, this song deserves much credit.

video (the quality's not great and it is shorter than the album version, but anyway): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yw0s6nRfN4