Long Hard Fall Out of Fame

OK, time to vent. Some time ago, and not THAT long ago, my favorite artist was Tori Amos. She was the goddess. Musically, amazing, and she had a dark side which I could really relate to. Seemingly innocent on the outside, but there was so much going on on the inside.

In fact, I loved her so much that I had built a Web site devoted to her in college (The Kilauea Caldera), and my girlfriend at the time was extremely jealous (for whatever reason). But, there was no better artist out there in my mind.

A few years ago, I was happily on my way to Best Buy to buy her new CD. The previous CD was called "Strange Little Girls" and was strictly a cover CD. By far the most powerful song on it had been '97 Bonnie and Clyde," a cover of Eminem, no less. It was a good album, but it wasn't Tori music. That was going to change that day.

But more than that changed! I bought the CD (ironically enough, my ex was with me at the time and she bought the same CD) and when I got back to the office I was shocked to learn what so many fans were about to:

Tori Amos is happy.

Yes, she got married. Yes, she had the baby she's always wanted (listen to "From the Choirgirl Hotel" for some pain and torture on that). Yes, she was happy. But, I never expected the musical shift that occurred.

Needless to say, I wasn't happy with the album. I've declined on "Tales of a Librarian" as it's a Best Of of tracks I already own. And now, I will skip on "The Beekeeper," which is the first original CD released since that day.

I've just previewed "Sweet the Sting" and well, the track title speaks for itself.



This is TORI FRICKIN' AMOS for gosh sakes! Author of such lyrics as:

* "And I've shaved every place where you've been boy..."

* "I wanna smash the faces;Of those beautiful boys; Those Christian boys; So you can make me cum, that doesn't make you Jesus"

* "It was me. And a gun. And a man on my back. And I sang 'holy holy' as he buttoned down his pants."

* "You say you packed my things and divided what was mine; You're off to the mountain top; I say her skinny legs could use sun"

* "Right on time you get closer and closer; Call my name but there’s no way in; Use that fame: Rent your wife and kids today. Maybe she will maybe she will"

* "So you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. What’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Boy you best pray that I bleed real soon. How's that thought for you?"

In fact, she is the reason that Trent Reznor named his famous album, "Pretty Hate Machine," what it is. Yes, Tori IS the pretty hate machine! Get it now??

But, now I have all this misplaced anger, so these days I've had to abandon the Tori Amos bandwagon. My favorite artists these days are Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, PJ Harvey, and Liz Phair. Heck, I'm even close to losing Liz, too. :-)

But, I guess I wish Tori luck. She's moving into a phase where she's between her old legion of hardcore fans, and an older generation of fans that may not be able to relate to her "faerie" style. I wish her the best.