I Just Got Into This Great Pop Band From Liverpool, Can't Think Of Their Name...

Sometimes it happens that you manage to miss out on something that would have been, according to the unwritten laws of taste and preference, in your catalog of things you love.

What?

Let me try that again: Sometimes you hear a band or read a book or see a movie, way after its new and shiny and hip, and you think... "How the hell did I miss this? Where was I when everyone else was clued in? What was I doing, reading Star Wars novels?"

Last summer I "stumbled" onto Sleater Kinney, only possibly the most famous, beloved and well-reviewed of the "riot grrrl" bands of the 90's. I ended up spending the entirety of the season listening to them exclusively and telling people, "Hey, you know what, Sleater Kinney really IS good!"

This earned me some well-deserved eye rolls, but also several rounds of "How have YOU missed out on Sleater Kinney until now?"

I guess it's not that nuts of a question. I did spend most of my adolescence rocking out to Bikini Kill, Alanis and Tori (as much as you can really rock out to Tori) -- so one would think that somehow, someone would have said, "Yeah, Alanis is ok, but if you want really good music, and if you're into female punk bands, Sleater Kinney is the way to go."

Alas, that never happened.

However, in college, I heard about them all the time -- but for some reason I never got it together to actually give a listen. It wasn't until my dear friend Erica found out how much of a lack of Sleater Kinney I had in my life, that she freaked out and very generously made copies of every single one of their records for me -- plus some rare B sides.

And you know what? They fucking rock! So it's really annoying that I didn't get into them when I was 17 and they were still a band. Of course I only get into them only after they break up and thus no longer tour.

I did this with Rainer Maria too -- the first time I saw them, it was their last show ever. "Goddamn it!" (a litte RM humor there, for the fans.)

Anyway, here's SK on the Henry Rollins show, doing my favorite song of theirs, "Entertain" :



Not too shabby.

These days I'm wondering, "Why the hell didn't I get into Joanna Newsom when everyone I knew told me to?"

Here's my favorite single from her first record, "The Milk-Eyed Mender," "Peach Plum Pear":



Not for everyone, I know, but I dig it the most.

What music, books, movies have you somehow missed and are only now cluing into?

(Oh, and I recently saw "Manhattan for the first time, and was talking to someone about how great the opening titles are for it, and they looked at me like I needed to repeat the first grade. Again. Apparently it's famous. Also, I'm reading "The Brothers Karamazov" -- ever heard of it?)