My Favorite Record is Pirate Prude by Helium
When I was in high school and my first boyfriend broke up with me, I used to stay up until midnight every night, laying on the floor of my parent's living room staring into the ceiling fan and listening to this record. The six songs, Mary Timony, says, should be though of as three singles, rather than an E.P., which makes sense ("Baby Vampire Made Me" b/w "Wanna Be a Vampire Too, Baby", "XXX" b/w "OOO"). It's sort of a concept album, there's this weird narrative in reverse chronological order. Vague story of woman seduced by money and prostitution, becomes pregnant with a vampire, ends up as a monster. Themes of feminist discourse, capitalist culture, beauty. It's also before Ash Bowie joined the band, as the other main contributor to Helium's sound. Timony's signature Dungeons & Dragons-themed lyrics and prog-rock arrangements really kicked in the next year, with 1995's The Dirt of Luck. The first record is kind of metal. The counterpoint between the droning grunge-y guitars and Timony's quiet, plaintive vocals is really gorgeous. Especially since the lyrics are really violent and fucked up (Favorite lines are the blog subject heading and: "I'll be the pirate if you'll be the loot. I'll jump out a plane if you'll be my parachute. You better catch me or I'll kill you." c'mon I was 16!).This was my favorite record during a pretty rough part of my adolescence, and I listen to it all the way through at least once a week. There wasn't really a single from the record, but the video for "XXX" (the only real standalone track) got played on Beavis and Butthead, which is sort of neat.
2 comments:
ZOMG I LOVE THIS ALBUM.
"I wear my heart around my neck like a locket/so I can take it off"
This was absolutely my favorite album of the early 2000s. I listened to it every day before going to my junior year of HS. Then I started a band called MT (Mary Timony) and the Space Tigers. Swoooon.
-Tatyana
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