Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The Dave Matthews Experience

Dave Matthews Band - the single greatest social and musical influence of my hometown and likely yours circa 1996. From ages 12 to 17, DMB was the absolute shit. I went to dozens of concerts. I paid top dollar to sit 300 yards away from the stage. Do I regret it? Hell no. It was fun. When our parents tell us they used to go to CSNY shows or Grateful Dead tours, we don't scoff.

What we can scoff at, however, was our behavior at those aforementioned Dave Matthews concerts. I remember it like yesterday, that feeling...when "Trippin' Billies" or "Two Step" or "Ants Marching" started to play, we went apeshit. We turned into animals, nay, prehistorical dinosaurs. We would scream at the top of our lungs "THANK YOU DAVE! WE LOVE YOU DAVE!" We would bop around, not really dancing, but bopping to the rhythm. On the slow songs we would sway, again not dancing, but swaying. We're wearing hemp chokers, tie dye t-shirts, bandanas, Birkenstocks, some of us even got a peace sign tattooed on their ankle (who? me?)

But again, we would have it no other way. Sure, looking back on things, it was embarrasing, humiliating, and immature. It was all part of the experience. So go ahead, scoff, it's OK. But remember those days fondly. For those of you who were more into the "let's make fun of everyone who loved Dave Matthews," oh boy, you missed out. To those of you too young to remember DMB, go buy some albums and keep listening to Miley Cyrus. Because some day you'll look back and say, "remember when Miley Cyrus was around? Oh nevermind, she sucked." OK, so don't listen to her. Just stick to Dave Matthews, Miley Cyrus sucks.

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1 comment:

  1. I was the make fun of those that like dave matthews guy..

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