Letters from the Equator

Soo Yin, this is in response to your May post. Ugh, I’m late.

Intergalactic, by the Beastie Boys was the most audible song on the airwaves. The amount of times “intergalactic” is prominently remembered as a member of the English lexicon was second only to the word, “planetary”, which also occurs shortly after “intergalactic”.

Which brings me to my closest memories of 1998 - absolute transition:

1. finally found a girl
2. left for the US to study
3. became a believer of Christ

I don’t claim the Beastie Boys to have anything to do with it. Semisonic’s “Closing Time” might, especially since I saw them perform at the Granada on Mass St., Lawrence (I had no idea Dan Wilson liked to swish his butt around so much on stage).

But “Zoot Soot Riot” (Cherry Poppin Daddies) was definitely a mark in my then punk-ska-esque interests at the time. Which brings me to my next observation about ska - it was the 60s, and then it was over.

Nostalgia was most pronounced by none other than Sarah Mclachlan’s “Adia“. Other less popular notables in my mp3 collection were “Shimmer” (Fuel), “Brick” (Ben Folds Five), and “Flagpole Sitta” (Harvey Danger).

For some odd reason, I didn’t have any Fatboy Slim. But maybe it’s because I heard “Rockafella Skank” on every radio station, TV ad, bar, restaurant, MTV channel, and mamak stall.

1998 was Fatboy Slim vs. the Beastie Boys. At the end of it, nobody cared. But that was a big year for me.

Categorized as life