Would you...?

[geanakc]

If you could wipe your Cocteau Twins related memories, would you do it just to experience their music again like it was the first time? I didn't discover their music until 2001, freshman in high school .. so it may be a harder question for those fortunate enough to have seen them play live before.

[randomrob]

No

:)

[dprid]

No - 20 years of memories and pleasure lost.

[andylama]

No. Everything happened in its time, and the memories are precious.

[davespear]

No me neither, in fact I wish I had heard them earlier (first hearing was 'The Moon and the Melodies') though it's just occured to me that I may not have 'dug' them quite as much if I'd first heard 'Garlands' ? Oh who knows.....

[fredofla]

no

[geanakc]

OK, maybe losing all your Cocteau Twins memories forever is a bit harsh, what about temporary amnesia? I wouldn't mind losing those memories short-term just to blow my mind again listening to the brilliant Fruitopia short. Lol, hope this post isn't too silly for a forum n00b.

[randomrob]

I wouldn't mind losing those memories short-term just to blow my mind again



----> http://www.mytinyphone.com/uploads/users/rockafella/471059.jpg

:coffee:

[agcu418]

OK, maybe losing all your Cocteau Twins memories forever is a bit harsh, what about temporary amnesia? I wouldn't mind losing those memories short-term just to blow my mind again listening to the brilliant Fruitopia short. Lol, hope this post isn't too silly for a forum n00b.

NO i don't want to be glamoured (anyone else enjoying true blood)

[geanakc]

NO i don't want to be glamoured (anyone else enjoying true blood)

Used to, until fairies became integral to the plot line.

[agcu418]

Used to, until fairies became integral to the plot line.

I'm a fairy :heart::heart::lol::lol:

[Quisquose]

OK, maybe losing all your Cocteau Twins memories forever is a bit harsh, what about temporary amnesia? I wouldn't mind losing those memories short-term just to blow my mind again listening to the brilliant Fruitopia short. Lol, hope this post isn't too silly for a forum n00b.

No, your post is not too silly at all. In fact it reminds me of the sort of thing Leesa (the sadly missed "mother" of this forum) would have liked to discuss.

I have to agree with the others and say no, I wouldn't take the deal. Too many memories, so much comfort and joy over the years, to take back now.

Though as davespear mentioned, I sometimes wish I could have heard the music earlier -- I didn't get into them until late in their career (though luckily I did get to see them live once).

[edward]

I'd give up all of my Pearl Jam memories. Really. Take them.

[hebe]

Impossibleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[andylama]

I'd give up all of my Pearl Jam memories. Really. Take them.

roflmao

I feel like I learned of CT at exactly the right time in their career arc: right after the release of Treasure (1984). Much earlier, and they might not have clicked with me, and I would have missed out on so much magic!

I do have many fond memories of the excitement I would feel during 1984-85, when it seemed they were putting out a new release every few months. I'd go to my favorite store that always had the lastest imports, and grab the newest CT EP--always in that loose plastic sleeve that imports always came in. I'd drive home, feeling prickly with anticipation for what I was about to hear. (swoon!)

[randomrob]

roflmao

I feel like I learned of CT at exactly the right time in their career arc: right after the release of Treasure (1984). Much earlier, and they might not have clicked with me, and I would have missed out on so much magic!

I do have many fond memories of the excitement I would feel during 1984-85, when it seemed they were putting out a new release every few months. I'd go to my favorite store that always had the lastest imports, and grab the newest CT EP--always in that loose plastic sleeve that imports always came in. I'd drive home, feeling prickly with anticipation for what I was about to hear. (swoon!)

Yep, exactly :nod:

[fredofla]

nope. ain't gonna happen.

not even short term.

because

life is just too short.

and some things are just too freaking wonderful to let go of.....

[Quisquose]

roflmao

I feel like I learned of CT at exactly the right time in their career arc: right after the release of Treasure (1984). Much earlier, and they might not have clicked with me, and I would have missed out on so much magic!

I do have many fond memories of the excitement I would feel during 1984-85, when it seemed they were putting out a new release every few months. I'd go to my favorite store that always had the lastest imports, and grab the newest CT EP--always in that loose plastic sleeve that imports always came in. I'd drive home, feeling prickly with anticipation for what I was about to hear. (swoon!)

Now that's the experience I would have like to have had.

[edward]

I suppose things are better now with the interwebs and all, but it was truly an adventure to rummage through rows of records and discover something you didn't know existed. It was hard to get a discography back then. I think Victorialand was my first big surprise. I thought I was on top of ct shit until I found that lovely LP.
oh crap. That was like 23 years ago....

[andylama]

The pre-internet era made you WORK for it, which made it all the more precious and rewarding. If CT happened NOW, they'd probably be lost in the noise and everyone's nanoscopic attention span.

[geanakc]

The pre-internet era made you WORK for it, which made it all the more precious and rewarding. If CT happened NOW, they'd probably be lost in the noise and everyone's nanoscopic attention span.

This is true. The internet, which is great because it makes music so accessible, has pretty much destroyed any sort of distinct musical culture. Websites like pitchfork don't help.

[edward]

I don't know, Pitchfork introduced me to some great bands, like DIIV for instance. Also, they have good videos and offer streaming concerts. Over the weekend I watched live performances of Atlas Sound and Vampire Weekend, among others. I know that Pitchfork gets shit for catering to hipsters, but they expose tons of little known bands to the world. You may not like their reviews, but there are always tons of underground bands on that website that would otherwise never see the light of day.

[geanakc]

I don't know, Pitchfork introduced me to some great bands, like DIIV for instance. Also, they have good videos and offer streaming concerts. Over the weekend I watched live performances of Atlas Sound and Vampire Weekend, among others. I know that Pitchfork gets shit for catering to hipsters, but they expose tons of little known bands to the world. You may not like their reviews, but there are always tons of underground bands on that website that would otherwise never see the light of day.

Yeah Pitchfork is OK and they do give some good music the exposure it deserves.. I just remember in middle school when our version of Pitchfork was going down to the local independent record shop and chatting up the workers...who were not so much workers as much as they were post-scene music aficionados. That was much nicer :/

[Adam]

I sometimes wish I could have heard the music earlier -- I didn't get into them until late in their career (though luckily I did get to see them live once).

Me too, the very first thing I read on their website was Simon's post about their quiet disbanding :)

[fredofla]

Pitchfork is a whole other animal nowadays.

i recall a time when upon reading their annual year-end "best" list (filled with the usual group of fucked-up male oriented drumkit/post-grunge/angst bands) that i wanted to put my fist through the screen. honestly! i do recall sending them more than a few politely angry letters of protest.....especially at the time when Bjork's Homogenic was summarily ignored in favor of a slew of bad Kurt Cobain imitators.

finally, Pitchfork seemed to come round about five years back.

my guess is they might even deem CT worthy these days.

ah....but it's been a very long time coming.

i know first hand.

[plink]

no, i was 16, that all adds to the magic of discovery

[ScottL]

I personally think that magic can be different for different people. I had a strange course of getting to know them, which I've shared here before...but I had 1 disc a friend gave me in college: Victorialand

I really liked it but didn't know anything else about them or anyone that knew them. I was fairly poor then too and didn't really seek them out, I just listened to that quite often and it really grew on me, while studying on cold dark nights. Later napster came along and I thought I should really seek out more of them. That opened the flood gates and then I got on the .com website in 2000 and really got into them at full tilt and bought the albums, box set, etc.

I should say, discovering bands in this manner wasn't foreign to me, during the late 80's as I started high school and collecting, I really enjoyed digging the archives of many bands I liked from the 70's etc...to me there was a certain magic about immersing myself in a rich and diverse catalogue of music from a group/artist and sorting it all out. Also many bands I liked way back when, if they were still around, I didn't often like their later stuff(eg. Pink Floyd).

Anyway, I do wish I saw CT live, but honestly I don't have any regrets otherwise about when and how I discovered them and I think back on it fondly. With most of my long term bands I go in and out of listening to them, I felt rather out of listening to CT in general in the last year, but lately I feel that is more on the up swing. I like to distance myself from some music I like at times so I can rediscover it in my own way...then it has a new quality and also a cumulative emotional memory effect which only enhances it.


I guess that would suggest my answer to your quedstion is no, because I can rediscover it in time without strict memory loss, but since your question was more hypothetical, I'd say, sure why not? The way you described it, it sounds like I would like that, temporary amnesia letting me listen to it as if truly the first time, barring any other negative consequences obviously.

[fredofla]

really, for me things got all the more interesting when i noticed this strange little "post-if-u-dare" forum attached to the official Cocteau Twins website. the names of the people were very unusual. i would see mmmender this and mmmender that.....and, well, the rest is history, i suppose.

i have to admit: the unique league of CT fans have probably had as large an impact on my life as the music itself.

[geanakc]

My girlfriend really liked them when I was in highschool, 2001. Me, I was into deathrock and punk batcave type music. Our relationship was shortlived.. but I did come away from it with her Kraftwerk "Man Machine" album and the Cocteaus "Head Over Heels"... 11 years later and I'm still listening to Head Over Heels frequently.. Kraftwerk, not so much. Do like Neon Lights though.

[edward]

Man Machine is my go-to song when shit needs to get done NOW.

[Olwe]

...dontchaknow.

Officially, I belong to the Baby Boomers, but it took me a long time to realize we're basically a bunch of spoiled, loud-mouthed losers (Corpus delicti: Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, et al.), that most of our music was . . . ah . . . limited, and that the younger generations -- one after the other -- have been cranking out better and better stuff than we ever dreamed of. And so I have to concur with others that my exposure to CT was timed brilliantly for me to glimmer just enough sense to take CT in and have them set up permanent camp in my head-heart-soul kombinat. For example, I used to listen to the Allman Bros. and would have stomped on such glories as "The Spangle Maker"/Pink Opaque. Luckily, I did an upgrade. But again, it was touch-and-go for a long time.

Maybe for another thread, but I guess it was the Velvets that first opened my eyes, even though they're of my generation. I was in Germany in the Army and a bunch of us started listening to Reed&Cie. and, yes, I was able to open up -- gradually -- to that side of the universe, to "grok" something beside Dylan trying to sound like an inbred hick or a drunken hobo. Yeah, it took me a while, but now I'm happy to say I'm completely faux-C&W/blues-free and loving life again.

[Angel]

I wouldn't because I wouldn't trade the love I felt for the person who introduced me to them. When I listen to them now, I still get the little flutter in my stomach that I felt going over to my love's house and listening to them with him. After almost 20 years, I guess it won't be going away.

[mike_mhg]

I would wipe the Loves Easy Tears EP memory so that I could re-live the jaw-dropping astonishment of that first hearing.

[randomrob]

I would wipe the Loves Easy Tears EP memory so that I could re-live the jaw-dropping astonishment of that first hearing.

yeah that was a mother. :nod:

[andylama]

I would wipe the Loves Easy Tears EP memory so that I could re-live the jaw-dropping astonishment of that first hearing.

I can dig it.

[calfskinSMK]

No,I would not change the first time I heard the Cocteau Twins. It happened in my angsty teenage years in 1986 which is when music was all I had to get me through high school. I can honestly say no one turned me onto their music but for a DJ on a college station who played them on his late night music show which I would faithfully tape each Sunday night (and be so tired for school the next Monday morning but it was so worth it!)