(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . IVH: The Afghan Whigs / Gentlemen [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-05 Tonight’s selections from The Afghan Whigs’ 1993 album, Gentlemen (released 30 years ago today — Oct. 5, 1993). This diary was first published in March of 2022. Updated with new videos and additional songs. Gentlemen You've probably heard me talk about my adoration for this band. Perhaps you've heard me say that The Afghan Whigs changed my life. That sounds profound and unbelievable, but it's true. At the very least they changed my taste in music forever. Prior to the discovery of this band, my musical taste leaned mostly towards hair-metal, with a healthy dose of Prince and a dab of grunge. I grew up in a rural area about an hour from Cincinnati. And I had absolutely no attachment to or awareness of the "local scene" in Cincinnati until I was in my mid-twenties. Luckily, my best friend, Robbie had moved to the city and had much better musical taste than I did. Whenever we got together we would talk about music and exchange cassettes, CDs and good old mixtapes in hopes of swaying the other's taste. He had been listening to lot of "alternative" music on 97X, this weird radio station in Oxford, Ohio whose signal couldn't quite reach my hometown. I distinctly remember when he would carry on about this band and I'd heard their name mentioned on one of the Cincinnati stations (though they didn't play any of their songs). In the spring of 1994, Robbie insisted that I should see my first Afghan Whigs show. They were playing an arena show in Dayton, Ohio along with The Breeders and Guided by Voices. A week before that show, Robbie and I had one of our regular music exchanges. I gave him my copy of the Type O Negative CD Bloody Kisses. In preparation for the show, he loaned me his copy of Gentlemen. I had never heard anything like it before. Sure, the metal I had enjoyed for so long talked a lot about drinking and sex, but not like this. This was something cerebral, yet darker — something with real depth and disturbingly honest lyrics. — The Current Debonair I'll warn you If cornered I'll scratch my way out of the pen Wired An animal The claustrophobia begins You think I'm scared of girls Well maybe But I'm not afraid of you You wanna scare me Then you'll cling to me No matter what I do Tell you a secret We shared a needle once or twice I loved her She loved me We slept together a couple of times - What Jail Is Like Have I mentioned this is a dark album? . What Jail Is Like Most of the time when I reveal my affinity for the Afghan Whigs, I am met with one of three reactions: People who have never heard of the band, people who love the band, and people who only know the band because Gentlemen‘s “Fountain and Fairfax” was on the My So-Called Life soundtrack album. Considering what a ratings disaster that show was, it’s astonishing how many people owned that soundtrack. — EW Fountain and Fairfax is an intersection in Los Angeles. A church on one corner is well known as a place where the famous (and/or infamous) attend AA meetings. . Fountain and Fairfax . My Curse (ft. Marcy Mays from Scrawl) [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/5/2197600/-IVH-The-Afghan-Whigs-Gentlemen?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/