I remember my Grandma, trying to figure out what to do with a young boy, asking me if I wanted to get a music player. I came from a poor household, drugs all over, and nobody ever got me anything new. My fathers side was largely a mystery to me but my Grandma had started reaching out and so I got to spend time with one of the nicest people I have ever met. A bit bigger than my 10 year old bobble head, the box was light blue and had a CD player at the top.
The next question, which I had not considered, was “What do you want to get to listen to?” I get to pick my own music as well? I was over the moon. I had always just listened to music when other people were listening to music. When my Grandma asked me what I liked, I had no clue what that was so I did what most kids do in such situations, I guessed based off of which looked the coolest. Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile by Everclear. I could tell my Grandma was not sold that I knew exactly what I was getting, but she let me nonetheless.
I consumed every song, even Unemployed Boyfriend which I saw nothing wrong with at the time or Thrift Store Chair with the “real good sex”. It was also where I first heard Brown Eyed Girl, so much that when I first heard Morrison I thought it was a cover. For a kid who often felt alone though, Wonderful carried me through so much.
I went backwards and bought their previous album, So Much for the Afterglow, but that is where I stopped, but in the way the way a 10 year old kid follows the influence of their peers and nobody I knew was listening to Everclear (their loss). Not directly related but years later I looked them up and found this short film and was impressed enough to recall it while writing this.
While writing this post I decided to google Art, the lead singer and guitarist, and see what he thought of the album looking back. Of Unemployed Boyfriend he had to say this [source],
“Oh I fucking hate that! I hate it! But I have to play it next year, because it’s on the record. Why do I hate it? Because! Well, one, that’s my ex-wife [who provides the commentary on the track] on that thing. I think it’s a kind of a stupid song, and everybody loves that song!”
Their latest is Sing Away.