Community Spotlight: Monolith Maniac

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Monolith Maniac
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Community Spotlight: Monolith Maniac

Post by Monolith Maniac »

This is the place to discuss my Community Spotlight article.


In case you missed it in the article, here is the exact clip (ripped from my VHS tape) where I was introduced to Soul Asylum. Runaway Train - Soul Asylum (AL TV Parody)

Here is an enlarged version of my Soul Asylum collection that is shown in the said article.

Image
Last edited by Monolith Maniac on Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

silverlining22
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Post by silverlining22 »

this photo makes me feel disturbingly happy inside :!:

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Monolith Maniac
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Post by Monolith Maniac »

I was going to post this for the "How did you get into Soul Asylum" thread but thought it would be better to post it here. Though the majority of my article states how I got into Soul Asylum, I would really like to mention something that is very important to me which was briefly covered in my article.

I just wanted to basically expand upon on how important that video clip is to me. What appears to be a simple 33 second clip (I spliced the video from 2 simllar segments into one so it's actually 49 seconds on the YouTube video) basically led me to explore many different genres of music, and not just the different genres (punk, rock, etc.) of Soul Asylum. Before ever hearing of Soul Asylum, most of the music I listened to consisted mostly of songs from the 50's and 60's. It seemed that I knew all the songs by heart (no, not Anne and Nancy Wilson's group :wink: ), and I think my time had come to move on and leave that era. I had moved on to listening more of the current airplay hits which mostly included a lot of hard rock, not to mention listening to 80's music which I could probably thank my older brothers and their fiends for (well I could now say I know some songs by Heart... by heart :roll: ).

While I was listening to all the Soul Asylum songs while writing the lyrics for the discography section of this site, I was asking some of the following questions to myself, "What if I never saw that clip? Would I still be listening to 50's and 60's music as much as I used to? Who would my favorite band be now?"

That clip of Runaway Train was the first time I had ever heard anything by Soul Asylum, even their name was new to me. Over the 10 years that have passed, I now have heard Runaway Train numerous times on the radio. But again I wonder, would the song being heard over the radio have given the same effect on me as the video clip... this effect being me here writing this message (on a Soul Asylum fansite that I am moderating nonetheless).

I'm sure you get the picture (or in this case the video) by now and how it holds a special meaning to me. Without it, I don't know if I would have had the awesome experience of listening to Soul Asylum's music, or would have had the pleasure of making friends on the Soul Asylum forums and meeting many of you at the concerts over the years which I have immensely enjoyed.
Jim Metz, Webmaster of EnterTheSoulAsylum.com

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sayeeda
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Post by sayeeda »

Wow..so that's what your collection looks like...impressive. :D

I understand completely what you mean about that clip. It's a turning point, in a way. Had that clip, by chance, not showed when it did, you might not have seen it. Had you not watched the clip at the time you did, you might not have been influenced and led to explore other genres the way you were, and did. You might not have gone in this direction and ended up where you are now.

I say might...because who knows. Maybe listening to the song over the radio would have had the same effect. Then again, maybe not. Though our choices, and their effects, lead us down the paths we take, a dose of fate, or chance, or luck, also does its part. It boggles my mind how things happen the way they do.

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Post by CrazyLittleWoman »

Thanks for the clip. I'd never seen it before. How funny. It definitely puts a new spin on RT for me.

It's hard to say whether you would have gotten into Soul Asylum without seeing that video. The music is strong enough to pull you in on its own, although if it's the humor that got to you, you might have needed different song to draw you in.

The important thing is that you found music that you enjoy and that is meaningful to you.
"Dave Pirner was the coolest motherfucker to wield a low-strung telecaster who isn't called Keith Richards." -- Ginger (Wildhearts)

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Post by pathorses »

CrazyLittleWoman wrote:Thanks for the clip. I'd never seen it before. How funny. It definitely puts a new spin on RT for me.

It's hard to say whether you would have gotten into Soul Asylum without seeing that video. The music is strong enough to pull you in on its own, although if it's the humor that got to you, you might have needed different song to draw you in.

The important thing is that you found music that you enjoy and that is meaningful to you.
The lyrics to RT were ALWAYS the thing for me.....of course, I saw the video but it was the song that I loved. I was going through some really tough shit then and I could SO relate to the line "Somehow I'm neither here nor there"........I'm so glad I don't relate to that anymore!! That song meant (and still means) so, so much to me. It always will, overplayed or not.

Pat

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Monolith Maniac
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Post by Monolith Maniac »

sayeeda wrote:Wow..so that's what your collection looks like...impressive. :D
I had a few other singles and bootlegs lying around which wern't in the picture. I also didn't include all my CD-R's. If I did, it probably would have taken up the whole floor.
CrazyLittleWoman wrote:Thanks for the clip. I'd never seen it before. How funny. It definitely puts a new spin on RT for me.

It's hard to say whether you would have gotten into Soul Asylum without seeing that video. The music is strong enough to pull you in on its own, although if it's the humor that got to you, you might have needed different song to draw you in.
Yeah, as I said above, I don't know if I'd still be listening to just the same genre of music today which I was listening to at the time. I was going into my Freshman year of high school at the time I saw the video clip, and many things change during those years... and music for me was one of them. I'd like to think of the video clip at least as a "guide" that brought me to listening to different types of music.

It's still hard to say if I would know of Soul Asylum even without the clip. I started listening to the "today's hits" stations about early 1997 (shortly aftre seeing the clip). I don't think I heard Runaway Train on the radio until early 1999. I had heard I Will Still Be Laughing before RT on the radio only because Candy From A Stranger had come out. When I heard "Laughing" playing on the radio the DJ would usually mention the Runaway Train music video.

I know it wasn't the humor (as you asked/mentioned) in the video clip that may have got to me because I didn't didn't understand the clip's humor. I found various clips on the web of it months later, but I still hadn't seen the original full video yet (remember it's still pre-youtube days). It took me until August of 1999 to see the full video after downloading it off of Napster which probably took 20 hours (on dial-up). I was tempted that year if I didn't see the video I was going to make my own one for my broadcasting class that year. Well, it didn't happen that year, but I made one next year since I already had an idea of what I was going to do.

I'm sure many of you have seen this, but yes... it was made by me :roll:. It stars my friend. We were all required to use the school's cameras. They were probably 15 years old and were shot to shit. The zoom sucked (as you can see in the video) and they weighed about 15 lbs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj1iWy9wesg

I actually got a second place award on it out of about 500 videos that were made by other students in the surrounding districts.

Anyways, if I had to say, it was definitely the music, and not the humor in the clip that opened up a doorway for me to music in a very good way.
Jim Metz, Webmaster of EnterTheSoulAsylum.com

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Post by crawl »

Awwe! what a great clip and story... Nice where the Karma wheel can take you isn't. Every thing happens for a reason. What if's are really what should never be's.

Reminds me of my daughter storming out of the house "Fine, I'll just go live in the garage then." Legendary in my house! and then her younger brother looked at me ( I think 4ys.) and said don't worry mom she'll be back. Of course she was only about 7. So I already knew that and he was being so reassuring... worried about me and how I was feeling. Recently, I have been having that same grade lecture at my house.

Unfortunately as we all know, they don't all come back. Which makes the effort of RT and videos, so much more important.

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Post by sayeeda »

Too true crawl! How old are they now? Hmmm...worries aplenty...but keep in mind that down the line you will find the amazing feeling of relief when they'll not only be grown up, in age, but have sense enough to know what's best for them and will do exactly that. Took me a while to really get to that point and I can't begin to tell you how relieved my parents were by then.

Sorry about all that rhyme. I competed in a poetry slam last night and I've still got these lines in my mind. :wink:

Yeah, the music is not just catchy but gets under and stays there. Leads one to try to find similar styles and genres that may have the same effect...and in that search...a whole new world of music opens up.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Mr. Lith Maniac, I'm that girl from Texas who was trying to help you find the full-video. I'd found a few clips, no clue now where, but nothing complete.

I too remember hearing "Laughing" quite a lot on the radio, and telling you about it. But it was Houston, and so I wasn't too surprised that it played so frequently. Plus, yep, it was just around the time "Candy" came out.

I'll amend my previous exclamatory comment to "So, that's your collection. Impressive, but I thought it would be bigger." :P I remember you telling me about it, but had no idea of its size until the pic.

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Monolith Maniac
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Post by Monolith Maniac »

sayeeda wrote:In case you haven't figured it out yet, Mr. Lith Maniac, I'm that girl from Texas who was trying to help you find the full-video. I'd found a few clips, no clue now where, but nothing complete.

I'll amend my previous exclamatory comment to "So, that's your collection. Impressive, but I thought it would be bigger." :P I remember you telling me about it, but had no idea of its size until the pic.
Oh, so that was you! I definitely remember. :D Thanks for helping me look. I remember there were two 30 second clips that were available around 1998. One I do recall was from MTV's website and the other might have been from VH1's.

From looking my pic above the only things missing from what I own(besides about 20 CD-R's and some live cassettes) are Cartoon, Somebody To Shove, and Sweet Relief II. There's always the time where I want to buy some of those singles (Tied To The Tracks, Sometime To Return, etc.) but then I say, "Do I really need another copy of these songs on another format?" I think it's just the thought of having them. Though if if I did own them, it would make my collection look bigger/more impressive, right? :wink:
Jim Metz, Webmaster of EnterTheSoulAsylum.com

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