7/26/16: Playing favorites

A lot of the decisions I made as a teenager are burned into my memory. I guess it’s because this is such an intense time in your life; everything is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.

For example, there’s boys. When I was in junior high school, Duran Duran were The Thing. Of course, my girlfriends and I all had crushes on them. Everyone had a crush on a different guy – mine was Simon LeBon.

I mention this because since then, whenever I hear about him, I recall that he’s my “official” favorite member of Duran Duran. This is in fact not true – John Taylor is my favorite, because he is a KICKASS bass player. But, like the Supreme Court Justices, Simon LeBon seems to have the title for life, as determined by my 13 year-old self.

I mention this because it’s Mick Jagger’s birthday today, and by the same preteen reasoning, the Rolling Stones are my favorite band. Starting at the age of 13, I was hooked.

I immersed myself in the Stones as only a nerd with excellent research skills can. I knew that (at the time) Keith played a 5-string tuned to an open chord. I knew that Charlie collects cars, but can’t actually drive. I knew about the 1967 bust at Redlands and the untimely death of Brian Jones.

Nowadays, I’m still a huge fan. Of their music. I’ll still go and listen to Stones albums with headphones on and pick apart the songs and figure out how they were recorded. But I don’t really follow the boys’ personal lives or look up how Charlie’s drums were mic’ed on a particular track. Still, like Simon LeBon, the Rolling Stones retain their title as my Favorite Band Ever.

So here are a few favorites from the official Best Band Ever as Determined by a 13 Year-Old Girl, chosen by the lady she grew into.

 

Photo by Steve Denenberg (Creative Commons license 2.0)