"How I Fell In Love With:" Scritti Politti
I saw Scritti Politti live for the first time last night. In fact, it was their first North American show ever. 
Back when I was a kid, my family and my mom's sister's family lived very near each other and we would always have separate family vacations in the summer time. We would go to Wyoming or Colorado or South Dakota or somewhere not too far away but at that age still felt like very exotic places. The thing I hated the most about these vacations was being away from my cousins. I was always wishing we could go on vacations together. Anyway, it was 1988 and my cousins were away on their vacation. I took it upon myself to watch MTV and compile a report for my cousin Travis on any new bands coming up while he was gone; as if he was really that concerned. I took my self-imposed task very seriously and, upon his arrival told him about two bands I had seen. The first was Erasure with a video called "Chains of Love." The second was Scritti Politti with a video for "Boom! There She Was." While Travis politely listened and then dismissed the information, I ended up buying both bands' albums shortly thereafter. I picked up Erasure's "The Innocents" at a music store nearby on cassette tape. I later ordered Scritti's "Provision" from my BMG music club, on Vinyl! It's hard to imagine now that they used to actually mail out 12" vinyl albums in those music clubs. I remember my copy was slightly bent from shipping.
Of course the first thought I had upon listened to "Provision" was that Green's voice was a little... weird. A little too girly and high-pitched and I feared that if I listened to this band that my friends (and my dad) might get worried about me. Of course those were generally the bands that I ended up liking the most, but in 1988 I was only 11 years old. I did end up filming a video for "Overnight" with my little sister using my parents camcorder.
And then, I found a copy of "Cupid & Psyche '85" at K-Mart in Great Bend, Kansas. The picture of the slab of meat with a cloth draped over it freaked me out. "The Word Girl" freaked me out too. In fact, the whole thing was just a little too weird for me. I put the tape in a box and for the most part, forgot about Scritti Politti for the next six years or so.
In 1995, the internet had blown up to the point of being easily accessible even in Hays, Kansas. I was a freshman at Fort Hays State University and there was a computer lab in Tomanek Hall, a brand new science building on campus. The lab was full of shiny new iMac computers (the original model with the clear, colored plastic monitors) and all of them were connected to the internet. To use the lab, you didn't really have to have any valid reason, just a student ID card. Needless to say I spent countless hours in there exploring the new frontier, looking up all the bands I used to research on microfilm in the library back when in junior high.
One of the bands I decided to do a search on was Scritti Politti, having some fond memories of them back in '88. I discovered there was a lot about the band that I didn't know, and that there were still a lot of fans around and there were a couple of internet sites that brought them together. I joined a mailing list and started communicating with other fans. I went to my parent's house and dug out my "Cupid & Psyche" cassette. This time when I listened to it, I was amazed and in awe of it. I loved every song on the album and I found myself listening to it non-stop.
A couple years later and, through the internet, I found out that Scritti Politti was working on a new album. I followed the progress the entire way until finally my local record store called me to tell me my Japanese Import of "Anomie and Bonhomie" had arrived! I was very excited by the release of this album and despite the fact that it was heavy on rap (one of my least favorite musical genres), I still loved almost every song on the album and just fell in love with it.
To make a long story short, I continued to follow the band although by the early 2000's there seemed to be nothing more to follow and I believed Scritti was over for good. However, searching the net again in 2005 I was very surprised to hear the Rough Trade would be releasing a new Scritti album the next year... And now here I am, having finally seen the band live and telling you the story of How I Fell In Love with Scritti Politti!
Back when I was a kid, my family and my mom's sister's family lived very near each other and we would always have separate family vacations in the summer time. We would go to Wyoming or Colorado or South Dakota or somewhere not too far away but at that age still felt like very exotic places. The thing I hated the most about these vacations was being away from my cousins. I was always wishing we could go on vacations together. Anyway, it was 1988 and my cousins were away on their vacation. I took it upon myself to watch MTV and compile a report for my cousin Travis on any new bands coming up while he was gone; as if he was really that concerned. I took my self-imposed task very seriously and, upon his arrival told him about two bands I had seen. The first was Erasure with a video called "Chains of Love." The second was Scritti Politti with a video for "Boom! There She Was." While Travis politely listened and then dismissed the information, I ended up buying both bands' albums shortly thereafter. I picked up Erasure's "The Innocents" at a music store nearby on cassette tape. I later ordered Scritti's "Provision" from my BMG music club, on Vinyl! It's hard to imagine now that they used to actually mail out 12" vinyl albums in those music clubs. I remember my copy was slightly bent from shipping.
Of course the first thought I had upon listened to "Provision" was that Green's voice was a little... weird. A little too girly and high-pitched and I feared that if I listened to this band that my friends (and my dad) might get worried about me. Of course those were generally the bands that I ended up liking the most, but in 1988 I was only 11 years old. I did end up filming a video for "Overnight" with my little sister using my parents camcorder.
And then, I found a copy of "Cupid & Psyche '85" at K-Mart in Great Bend, Kansas. The picture of the slab of meat with a cloth draped over it freaked me out. "The Word Girl" freaked me out too. In fact, the whole thing was just a little too weird for me. I put the tape in a box and for the most part, forgot about Scritti Politti for the next six years or so.In 1995, the internet had blown up to the point of being easily accessible even in Hays, Kansas. I was a freshman at Fort Hays State University and there was a computer lab in Tomanek Hall, a brand new science building on campus. The lab was full of shiny new iMac computers (the original model with the clear, colored plastic monitors) and all of them were connected to the internet. To use the lab, you didn't really have to have any valid reason, just a student ID card. Needless to say I spent countless hours in there exploring the new frontier, looking up all the bands I used to research on microfilm in the library back when in junior high.
One of the bands I decided to do a search on was Scritti Politti, having some fond memories of them back in '88. I discovered there was a lot about the band that I didn't know, and that there were still a lot of fans around and there were a couple of internet sites that brought them together. I joined a mailing list and started communicating with other fans. I went to my parent's house and dug out my "Cupid & Psyche" cassette. This time when I listened to it, I was amazed and in awe of it. I loved every song on the album and I found myself listening to it non-stop.
A couple years later and, through the internet, I found out that Scritti Politti was working on a new album. I followed the progress the entire way until finally my local record store called me to tell me my Japanese Import of "Anomie and Bonhomie" had arrived! I was very excited by the release of this album and despite the fact that it was heavy on rap (one of my least favorite musical genres), I still loved almost every song on the album and just fell in love with it.
To make a long story short, I continued to follow the band although by the early 2000's there seemed to be nothing more to follow and I believed Scritti was over for good. However, searching the net again in 2005 I was very surprised to hear the Rough Trade would be releasing a new Scritti album the next year... And now here I am, having finally seen the band live and telling you the story of How I Fell In Love with Scritti Politti!
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