Thursday, April 16, 2009
Music and Comics
When "Little Things" came out, I wrote out a playlist at Largehearted Boy. Now there's a second playlist up for "Funny Misshapen Body", so you can see some of what I used to listen to back in high school and college. Missing from the list is the New Radicals, whose lone album was a source of comfort in those troubled adolescent times.
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One of the songs on your list "Captain Badass" just sent nostalgia crashing back on me. My college band ("Drunk") toured with Jason Molina (aka Songs:Ohia) during his tour supporting that album. That remains my favorite of all of his releases, and the song "Redhead" from that same album has a particularly strong meaning. Our band (there were seven of us) would always get up and sing it with him, and it was always so much fun. We got snowed in at his house in Bloomington, IN for several days and went stir crazy.
ReplyDeleteWow, if I think back to what I listened to in high school, I'd say it was mostly classical, Beatles, and Broadway musical soundtracks. In college, my friend introduced me to Cake, Smashing Pumpkins, Portishead and a bunch of other bands that I still listen to. But it's still pretty different from the steady diet of indie music I listen to these days.
ReplyDeleteThe playlists are a great idea. I love that your song choices have a specific memory attached to them.
I usually illustrate to a particular song that captures the feel of the scene (e.g. Iron & Wine for a child nodding off to sleep). Then I put them together on playlist.com and send the playlist to my editor and publishers along with the work so they can get a better understanding of what I was originally going for and let me know if I miss the mark.
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ReplyDeleteOddly, there isn't a time in my life I remember that I don't associate different music with. It's not only music, either. I usually recall sense impressions of what I was reading, too. And the weather sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI remember a really rainy afternoon in August 1980. It was a Friday and I was listening to Ian Dury and the Blockheads (New Boots and Panties) while I copied the splash page to Howard the Duck #1. I was waiting for my girlfriend to turn up - the HTD picture was for her. I'd been reading Shogun by James Clavell and that day I'd reached the part where John Blackthorne is embarrassed at the gardener's revealing himself in front of some children. I was excited at the prospect of the evening's shenanigans.
What's odd about all this is that I have no use for that set of memories at all, except to remind me how much I liked Howard the Duck and that I still enjoy reading it. I know I could draw them into a comic, but there'd be no rhyme or reason to it - I can't see any good reason not to just leave them as they are.