I have been thinking about the early '90s a lot lately. I graduated from high school in 1992, and that was 20 years ago! So I have been all sorts of nostalgic this last year about my formative music years. I was born in the '70s. But I really grew up in the new wave '80s. 1984 - 1986 were really the years that I first remember getting obsessed with music. These are the early years of MTV and the years I fell in love with new wave and all things British. The B-52's and Berlin were probably the only bands that I loved that actually came from the United States. Most of my favorite bands and albums throughout the '80s and '90s came from England.
 

My favorite bands in 1984 are pretty much my favorite bands today. I can't imagine my life without New Order, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Smiths, Human League, Pet Shop Boys, Ultravox, Talk Talk & Bauhaus. These bands have been a huge part of my life. My British obsession would only get bigger over the years. I got deep into shoegaze and dream pop in the early '90s. Which then led me into Britpop and British dance music in the mid '90s.

I have been obsessively making lists and CD compilations of each year of the '80s and '90s. I have made a playlist for each year and a list of my 10 favorite albums from each year. I will slowly be sharing these with you over the next couple of months. I am going to start with the early '90s since these are the years that have been on my mind the most lately.

It is hard for me to think about anything except for Grey Gardens today, but I will try. The new Grey Gardens Docudrama was on HBO last week, but I finally had my little screening party last night and watched it. I have been a big fan of the documentary for a while. I fell in love with it not only because it is an amusing look and a very interesting eccentric family, but also because it is tragic and beautiful and hilarious all at the same time. There is really a bit of the Beales in all of us. But I had my doubts about this movie. I was excited about all the interest in what I felt like was a secret little documentary that not that many people knew about. Still, I was skeptical-- I had not seen the musical version on Broadway but thought it was sort of a strange subject for a musical. Somehow despite all that, this movie worked out perfectly. I really can't imagine it being any better. I really think that the Beales would have even liked it themselves. They would most certainly enjoy the fact that the story of their lives was not only an award winning documentary but also a musical and an HBO movie.

Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore were fantastic as Big and Little Edie. I have been really wanting them both to have a good role for a while now. Jessica Lange was great in my favorite, Tootsie. She also starred in Frances that same year in 1982 and broke my heart with her performance. While I loved her in Cape Fear in 1991, I feel like she has not really found the right role for herself until now. And Drew Barrymore just blew me away with her performance as well. I have long been a fan of Drew Barrymore but never really liked the movies she ends up in. I really have not enjoyed much since Firestarter and E.T., aside from Charlie's Angels. The makeup was probably the most amazing thing about the movie. This was only a TV movie but had better makeup than most big budget blockbusters. I can't wait to go back and watch the old documentary now. It was really crazy how they seemed to totally become these two characters. They not only got the look and voices perfectly, but they also had all the mannerisms down perfectly. They really were a fascinating family. I liked the way the film intertwined the backstory of how they came to be with the recreations of the footage from the original documentary. The story is actually extremely sad and poignant. Fantastic. This movie will be staying with me for a very long time to come.

I just went to go see the wonderful Sinead O'Connor this last Sunday at the fantastic Davies Symphony Hall. I absolutely love this venue. Not only is it a wonderful little venue with great architecture and sound but it is so close to my house. The only other time that I had been there was for the Margaret Cho show a couple of years ago. We had seats in the balcony this time, so it gave us a different perspective on the whole venue. It is nice seeing someone like Sinead in a venue where people usually see classical music and symphonies. The Margaret Cho show was great expect for the fact that we had a loud dude sitting behind us. He really felt a connection with Margaret and felt the need to yell out "true" after every single joke that she told. I can literally still hear the sound of his voice in my head.  Now it makes me laugh, but not so much at the time. Lucky for us, I don't think he was at this show. But we did have one of those dudes who likes to sing along sitting behind us. I am not sure if he wanted to show us how cool he was because he knew what the songs were before they even started. Or maybe he was just such a super fan that he could not hold in his excitement. There were many others that felt the need to clap during the first 30 seconds of most songs. It had Curt and I wondering why this always happens. I understand that they want to show the artist how much they love them. However, it seems that what they really want to do is show the rest of the fans what a bigger fan they are. These types especially like to clap for the more obscure songs as soon as they recognize them. I totally understand clapping after a song is over and I usually participate in this activity. But clapping and cheering at the beginning of the song just sort of ruins the beginning of the song. But then again, maybe people like Sinead would start crying and refuse to play the song if nobody clapped at the beginning. But I seriously doubt it.