Nobody cares about the bands you saw 15 years ago

You goad the music section into giving Paul Wall the finger, and we reward you with a Payback Time T-shirt and two tickets to a Live Nation club show of your choice taking place in Vancouver within the next four weeks. Here’s this week’s winning whinge.

Dear Payback Time: What the hell is the deal with your recent concert picks ["Fall concerts in Vancouver", Sept. 16-23]? Yes, I think it is great to inform the readers about all the wonderful shows coming this fall, but really, Alice in Chains, Alexisonfire, Roger Waters, Primus, Slash? Do these bands warrant mentioning when a cursory peek at Sealed With a Kiss’s website reveals bands like the Drums/Surfer Blood, Japandroids/Ladyhawk, Holy Fuck, Frightened Rabbit, and Avi Buffalo, all coming this fall. Perhaps I was mistaken, but I thought the Straight supported a more independent sound. Sure, there are big names coming and they are noteworthy as such, but do not neglect those bands about which people will one day be saying, “I saw them when.”

> Jeff Teed

Mike Usinger replies: Dearest Jeff—At first I was going to respond with something like “Man—you’ve really teed me off.” But then I got thinking about all the acts that I’ve seen, and how no one walks around going, “I saw them when.”

The shortlist includes Letters to Cleo, the Dinner Is Ruined, Green Apple Quick Step, Bootsauce, National Velvet, the Vines, Sahara Hotnights, Semisonic, Escape the Fate, Spinnerette, the Ataris, the Sounds, Preston School of Industry, Boss Hog, P.O.D., Kittie, and the Living End. I could go on, but really, what the hell is the point?

Admit it—you don’t give a shit about any of those bands, and you don’t regret for a second choosing to miss every one of them for Saturday night reruns of Married With Children, The Golden Girls, The Simpsons, and Mr. Belvedere. Quite frankly, with the possible exception of Letters to Cleo, neither do I. (And the only reason I care about Letters to Cleo today is a) the fact that their singer was too cute for words, and b) in case you haven’t been listening to what they’re spinning at Urban Outfitters lately, the ’90s are, like, totally hot right now.)

As for the rest of the thousands of bands I’ve sat through, I’d like a good chunk of my life back. And yes, Bootsauce, I’m especially looking at you. So what I did with the fall concerts feature was pick bands where you might actually be interested in hauling your grandchildren onto your knee one day, looking them in the eye, and saying, “I saw them when,” i.e., they might actually give a shit that you saw Roger Waters perform the legendary songs of Pink Floyd at Rogers Arena. Telling them you saw Avi Rabbit or Frightened Buffalo back in the day is, however, going to make you about as interesting as some guy who insists on recounting the time he caught Spacehog at the Starfish Room.

You can voice your impotent rage by snail mail or by sending an e-mail to payback@straight.com.

Comments

4 Comments

Foxxe

Sep 30, 2010 at 6:32am

To the whiner:
Personally speaking I don't give 2 sh1ts for who you like and don't like either. It is not the duty of a newspaper to make such distinguishments. Some people like music; other people like rap and that form of recording NOW misnamed as "R&B" (despite the fact that it bears NO relation to ACTUAL R&B) And btw, the Georgia Strait is in no way the same newspaper as it was 15 years ago. In fact few things are the same as 15 years ago. Get used to it. It is the way things have been and will ALWAYS be.

Abass

Sep 30, 2010 at 10:43pm

All people are different and some will want to tell their grand kids about particular bands, are they going to care, likely no but that is not the point. I will tell my mine someday about Sahara Hotnights, Five Iron Frenzy and other random bands.

Jesse

Oct 11, 2010 at 6:21pm

Who gives a shit about telling your grandchildren bla bla bla. I don't want to go to a show just because they're a big name and it will make for a good story. I'm not trying to collect memories to keep me interesting in the last years before I die that I can pass onto the little brats I spawn. I want to know what good shows are going on and yes, I do want to see Japandroids(great show btw) more than Alice in Chains. I get the distinct feeling that all of you are the kind of people who take pictures with your camera phone in the middle of a show.

Batt Fink

Oct 15, 2014 at 6:59pm

But Spacehog ruled.