by James M. Graham
In 1996 I was hired by AOL to be their FIRST music critic, writing a column a week. I was paid $20 per article, which even by today's standards is pretty hefty. My column was called GREETINGS FROM THE EDGE and ran for about a year and a half. I scored comp CDs, tickets to shows and attended press events. I walked out on the Echo & The Bunnymen reunion tour, cried at a Paul Westerberg show and fell in love with a band called Guided By Voices.
When AOL was bought by Warner (or someone else who regrets it, stock-wise) I was "let go" - unceremoniously. Whatever. I got paid to write about the great and not so great music I saw between 1996 and 1997. Looking back on it now for Fucking Nostalgic, I'm amazed at the number of bands that are not together anymore, the people I saw that are not alive anymore, and the general demise of everything I loved. All in 15 years.
But there is always hope. Who the hell is "Thrall?" Well, they were fucking amazing as you will soon see via my archival contributions...
As Frank Zappa once said, "Music is the best."
