Soulfly - Primitive

This was amongst the first ten or so records I bought - my record collection was a strange mix back then. It eventually made a solid turn into "more good music than early-2000's nu-metal", but it did take a little while to get there. It was a strange time really, not very much was getting pressed onto vinyl, so it was hard to find anything, let alone things that were genuinely good. I remember the Tower Records in Southampton stocking Deftones' White Pony (which I bought), Rival Schools' United By Fate and A Perfect Circle's Mer De Noms on vinyl over the time that shop was open - I didn't get the latter two because they'd both taken some nasty damage somehow, although I regret not buying both nonetheless. They also had this Soulfly picture disc, which I bought knowing it wasn't going to be great, but it was 2001 and I was excited to hear it.

Soulfly were known for being the band that Max Cavalera formed after he left Sepultura. Their debut album quickly became one that everyone wanted to hear, because it featured so many singers from other bands we were all into - Deftones, Fear Factory and, most strangely, Benji from Dub War and Skindred. On top of that, Deftones had the song MX on Around the Fur where Max screams "Soulfly" over and over again - it felt like a solid endorsement. I bought a copy of their debut with a bunch of bonus tracks (which introduced me to crust punks Discharge) and a few months later bought this picture disc of their second album.

My main memories of this album are both within the first four songs - Pain with Grady from Will Haven and Chino, and Jumpdafuckup with Corey Taylor from Slipknot. I was never a huge fan of Will Haven, mainly because of Grady's singing style (although I wonder if I should give them another try now I'm older), but his vocals are a welcome addition to Pain. Jumpdafuckup was, of course, huge news back in 2001 - Slipknot and Soulfly together on one song? That was a nu-metal dream. We saw Soulfly at Ozzfest in 2001 and I bought a t-shirt with the chorus of Jumpdafuckup on the back. Yes, that meant I walked around with the words "Motherfucker you don't understand all my hate / Motherfucker you don't understand all my rage / Motherfucker you don't understand all my pain / Motherfucker you don't understand" in large font on the back; I can't emphasise this enough - it was 2001 and I was 16, it was acceptable at the time (even if it makes me cringe a little to think about now). Seeing them play that song at Ozzfest was quite exciting, I recall.

I also remember Son Song and thinking it was shit back then - it features John Lennon's son on vocals and really has little going for it. Terrorist with Tom Araya from Slayer was one I'd forgotten about. I remember another t-shirt they had back then said "Terror rise" on it, which I’m glad I didn't buy - just a few months later was 9/11 and the notion of terror was not something to take lightly. I was never a huge Slayer fan, but Tom's vocals are excellent here. Between Grady and Tom, I wonder if I was just keen to hear any voice that wasn't Max's (unless it was Sean Lennon's, it seems - in that case Max was a fucking relief).

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, given the first album, but it's interesting that almost all the most notable songs are the ones featuring guest singers. The opening track Back to the Primitive is the only song without guests that remotely stands out. I don't know whether that's because they relied on the other musicians heavily, or because they wanted them on the best songs they could write. I don't care enough either way to think about it much more than that. It wasn't an observation I made back in 2001, but I was just excited to hear the output.

Format: 12", picture disc
Tracks: 12
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Tower Records, Southampton
When: 07/09/01
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Marilyn Manson - The Fight Song

This record, sadly, has the accolade of being the first 12" record I owned. I'd started my vinyl addiction with the very reputable Motorcycle Emptiness 7" single (a record which was truly a turning point in my life), but then I ruined it all by buying a Marilyn Manson 12" picture disc. It was 2001; what else can I say.

My sister got me into Marilyn Manson. She introduced me to three bands - Deftones, Silverchair and Marilyn Manson. On a holiday to the states when we were younger, she bought a bunch of cds by them and a short while later I ended up buying them from her. One of them was Antichrist Superstar, Manson's peak (or so I assume, it was certainly a local-peak, if not global); she also had The Last Tour of Earth (a live album from just after Mechanical Animals) and Portrait of an American Family (his simpler, industrial beginnings - I've long thought the actual songs on there might have aged better than the concept albums that followed - I've not listened to check).

In 2000, he released Holywood, the third in his loosely-related trilogy (which played out in reverse order, so felt a bit like an after-thought). Being the year 2000, this was exciting news, so I rushed out to buy a copy the day it came out. I remember enjoying the album, but finding it far too long. I liked that it was heavier than Mechanical Animals, but it lacked the real highs that Antichrist Superstar had. It would be the last Marilyn Manson album I'd buy - by the summer of 2001, the charm had worn off and I remember being really disappointed by his performance at Reading Festival; a year earlier and I would have loved it, but as it was, I just remember too many outfit changes and a stage show that felt like it was compensating for the music. It was an odd crowd too, given the very nu-metal start to the day and the fact that Eninem was headlining. 2001 was a strange time. (He also released a cover Sweet Dreams, a song I hated with a passion. That didn't help.)

However, in early 2001 I was still into his music, and when I found this 12" picture disc in Tower Records in Southampton, it was hard to resist. I was young and the prospect of a "Slipknot remix" was far more appealing than the adult-me knows it to be. Plus, I hadn't seen many picture discs and was into the idea of them (years later I'd realise why they were always the shittiest sounding of my records). The a-side is surprisingly fun still. Stupid also, obviously, but he did know how to make a heavy pop song (much like his on-and-off friend, Trent). The Slipknot remix never did much for me, but then again rock remixes rarely do; it feels like a cluttered, less enjoyable version of the song. There's also a remix of The Love Song, which is much more twisted from the original (or how I remember the original being). It's certainly not a record that I consider highly in my collection, but I guess as a representation of a time and a place, it's nice to have.

Like many people, I went a great number of years without listening to Marilyn Manson – why would I? I didn't check out any of his albums post-Holywood and wasn't ever that aware of what he was up to. Then, in 2015, I was in San Francisco with work on the same week that the Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson tour was passing through town (or, at least, the bowl in Concord, a very suburban district about an hour out of SF). By even better coincidence, the night of the show was the only night when there weren't work social plans, so I had to go. I listened to a few MM songs on my iPod on the flight over (although, for reasons unknown, only a few songs had made it onto the device) and enjoyed them more than I expected. I suspect it was 100% nostalgia – they're not good songs, but I did listen to them a lot in my teens.

Anyway, the show was strange – almost entirely seated with pricing bands of seating meaning that there were empty seats at the back of each section (because it wasn't sold out). Additionally, Manson played in the light, which just doesn't work and a load of people who were there to see him left before the Pumpkins, meaning it was even emptier. Billy Corgan played a few bars of the American national anthem and some guy yelled at me for not standing up – the irony of the fact he'd sat through Marilyn Manson's set with an upside down US flag on the stage wasn't lost on me. Manson played some songs I knew, which was nice, and a lot I didn't. It was similar to that Reading show in some ways, particularly in that it felt like more stage-show than substance. Also, he looked old, which really makes it even harder to take him seriously. But I wonder if we were never supposed to?

Format: 12", picture dsic
Tracks: 3
Cost: £4 new
Bought: Tower Records, Southampton
When: 01/03/01
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong - Live Recordings

I was pretty late to the party when it came to Radiohead. Towards the end of the 90's everyone at school was reaching an age where they were getting into music and a lot of people were getting very obsessed by Radiohead. I don't remember having very strong opinions on them either way for quite a long while - I knew and enjoyed Karma Police and a few other songs from OK Computer. People started going crazy when Kid A came out and it took me nearly a year to actually listen to it.

The turning point for me was a well-timed concert. It was the summer after GCSEs and I was on holiday with my family visiting my uncle who was living in Boston at the time. He was going to see Radiohead whilst we were there and asked if my sister and I would be interested in going. We'd both started going to gigs and were really excited to see a show in the US. Radiohead were playing outside at a horseracing stadium/track. It was probably the biggest concert I'd been to at that point (excluding Reading Festival), or it at least felt that way. I remember being blown away by the new songs from Kid A; there was something mesmerising in how loud and intense it all was. Songs like The National Anthem and Idioteque are just mean to be played loudly.

After that trip I bought a copy of Kid A, then this live album, then filled out the rest of the back-catalogue. I was very excited to hear these live versions in the hope they'd remind me of that time first time I saw, which they do. I've seen Radiohead countless times since and they always impress me, even though I'm not such a huge fan of all of their records. This record always takes me back to that first time. I'm sure I would have got into Radiohead eventually, but I love that it was a chance-concert that converted me.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeve
Tracks: 8
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Tower Records, Southampton
When: 07/06/02
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Nine Inch Nails - Things Falling Apart

Nine Inch Nails announced lots of very exciting things last night (a new song, album details and tour dates - sadly the only UK ones are at Reading and Leeds, and I really don't fancy that). Anyway, I thought I'd write about another of their albums, and the only other LP of theirs I have at the moment is Things Falling Apart - the remix album of songs from The Fragile. I'd certainly like to one day have all the Nine Inch Nails albums on vinyl, but that may have to wait until I've got a little more disposable cash.

Things Falling Apart has nearly universally terrible reviews on the internet (0.4/10 must be one of the lowest scores Pitchfork has ever given, not that paying attention to Pitchfork scores or reviews is something anyone should do), but I wasn't aware of that for the first 12 years I owned this album, and only know now because I opened the Wikipedia page on it. I never thought of it as a terrible album. I mean, it's a remix album, what the hell were these people thinking? I don't think anyone bought this record thinking it was going to be ground-breaking. I certainly didn't, and I was only 16 at the time. I only owned The Downward Spiral and £9 seemed like a good price to hear some more Nine Inch Nails (I hadn't even heard The Fragile then, and it was strange finally hearing the originals after being so used to the remixes). There's some truth in the fact that no one needs three versions of Starfuckers Inc. on an LP, and some of the remixes aren't that exciting, but I didn't mind then and I don't really now.

I suppose part of the reason I'm so indifferent to this albums perceived awfulness and strangely sentimental about a largely forgettable NIN remix album is that this LP is the first LP I ever bought. I had a few 7"s at the time (the first of which was this Manic Street Preachers record) and a whole bunch of cds (75, to be exact) but no other LPs. Sadly, my first five LPs were mostly very embarrassing indeed (more on that in the future, unfortunately) but did include White Pony by the Deftones, and it's nice to think that 16-year-old-me had some taste! I almost certainly played this record loads on my parents hi-fi, and even more when I got my first turntable for my birthday that year (it was one of those little compact ones where 12" records would hang over the edge. I even took it with me to Australia, but sold it before I came home; I'd clearly acquired a lot of stuff in that year). I vaguely remember enjoying the song 10 Miles High as a teenager and it's still one of the better songs now. Maybe that's because it's a b-side rather than a remix.

Of course, if I do end up buying the NIN back-catalogue on vinyl, I'll be quite glad I bought this 12 years ago, because somehow I doubt 28-year-old-me will be so pleased about spending his money on this, and even less tolerant of the music on it.

Format: double 12"

Tracks: 10

Cost: £9 new

Bought: Tower Records, Southampton

When: 06/04/01

Colour: Black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Deftones - White Pony

White Pony was one of the first truly great albums I bought and remains a favourite to this day. My sister introduced me to the Deftones, having bought a copy of Adrenaline on holiday one year, and the release of their third album was big news amongst my friends and I. Hugh and I pre-ordered our limited edition cds (with the bonus track The Boy's Republic and the cd-rom game of Deftones Pac Man) and went to MVC straight after school on the day it came out to pick up our copies. When I was 15 the internet was a very new thing, and if you wanted new music you had to borrow it from your friends or save up and buy the cd yourself; the pool of music available to us was much smaller back then and so we devoured any music we could get our hands on. Naturally then, we played to White Pony to death and listened to those songs in a way I don't have the time to do any more.

It doesn't surprise me that I still love this album, as I remember thinking there was something very special about these songs from the off and somehow both the similarities and the differences to Adrenaline and Around the Fur are what makes it great. Songs like Teenager, Passenger, and Change (in the House of Flies) were so unexpected given the back-catalogue but so brilliantly done you'd be tempted to believe Deftones had never been called a "nu-metal" band. And those songs in turn made the incredibly heavy Elite look out-of-place. There's quite a mix of styles on White Pony and Feiticeira, Knife Prty and Korea couldn't have nailed it better. I think I instantly fell in love with Passenger (Maynard James Keenan's vocal work perfectly with Chino's) and slow build-up/celebration of Pink Maggit, although I could never pick a favourite from these eleven.

A year and a half later I found this double vinyl in Tower Records in Southampton. I'd gone in for a record fair before work, but was early so checked out the high-street record stores beforehand. Tower was pretty expensive in my memory, so £11 for this was definitely a bargain. I didn't have very many records at all by that point, so not only was White Pony one of the first cds I owned, it was also one of the first LPs. It looks great on the gatefold sleeve, and the variation on the cover-art is nice too.

Twelve years later, and I'm still a big fan of the Deftones. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen them but still remember the excitement of the first time - Docklands Arena on the 24th of March 2001 - the first gig I ever went to in London. They had a handful of backdrops that fell as the set went on, and I was so excited when Change started and the previously plain-black backing was lit up with hundreds of little lights that looked like stars. I bought the new album (on cd) on Saturday and I've listened to it a bunch of times today. I've not fallen in love with any of their later albums as much as I did with White Pony. I always kinda hoped they'd write another one like it, but they haven't and now I quite like that; all their albums are great, but White Pony stands out as a classic.



Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Tower Records, Southampton
When: 29/12/01
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no