Paul’s Boutique revisited ...
Carseat Headrest brings its fuzzy and jangly self-examinations to the Earl Thurs., Dec. 10.
It was a bright summer morning in 1989 and I was rushing out the door to go climb a fence at a vacant house across town with a couple of local hooligan friends. The night before we had discovered an empty swimming pool in the backyard of a vacant house across town and were bound and determined to go carve around in it on our skateboards all day, or at least before the neighbors called the cops. I was almost out of the house when my attention was caught by the television. The video for “Hey Ladies” was on MTV and I had to stop and watch. Years had passed since the Beasties’ License to Ill had lost status with my juvenile ears as the greatest albums of all time. By the summer of ‘89 I had moved onto Minor Threat, the Dead Kennedys, the Misfits. Did I really need another go-around with the Ad Rock, MCA and Mike D?-
Indeed I did. But in retrospect I was tapped into the collective unconscious and didn’t think they could top Licensed to Ill, nor did I even care that much at the time. Despite critical raves, Paul’s Boutique never grabbed the attention of anyone that I knew. At least not until years later when the massive success of Check Your Head made the world go back and take another listen.