I remember when we first got an internet connection at home. I was in 10th grade, I think, so that must have been almost 8 years ago now. The computer (we had only one) was at that time on the 1st floor landing, near the stairs. My dad sat down one morning to connect and we all stopped in our various stages of tooth-brushing and shoes-polishing to watch. Lo and behold, the line was busy.
The line remained busy, in both a literal and a figurative sense, for the next few years. All through school, we had dial-up internet. For some reason, there were only a limited number of telephone lines connecting the college campus (where we live) and the hospital campus (where the internet servers are), and this meant getting on the net was quite a job. It could easily take an hour or so, with the modem on auto-redial.
Now, even with superfast always-on broadband, where a song downloads in no more than 2 minutes (at home, not in Delhi), it's not easy to forget how much the internet has changed since it first began.
I was reminded of this while downloading the Manic Street Preachers' latest hit, Autumnsong. (Talk about a beautiful name.) Because the Manics (as Wikipedia tells me they're called - wouldn't the Preachers be a better moniker?) also created the first song I ever downloaded off the old Triple W - 1998's You Stole The Sun From My Heart. There was no Limewire then (although I did use WinMX for naughty chat sessions and the occasional song download), and I don't recall where I got that song from. Perhaps mp3.com, before they became commercial sell-outs. Anyway, it took me the better part of the day to download it. Hurrah for 28k modems!
At the time, I knew nothing about the band. I just thought it was a decent song. I still know nothing about the band, but the Preachers (screw you, Wik) moved back into my field of radar recently when I heard their song If You Tolerate This, Your Children Will Be Next** -- which, oddly, was the number 1 hit from the same album as You Stole the Sun. (1998's This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours.)
Your Love Alone Is Not Enough caught my attention on internet radio, but I could barely believe the RJ when he said the track was by the Manic Street Preachers (feat. Nina Persson in a Cardigan).
And Autumnsong (from 2007's Send Away The Tigers, along with Your Love Alone) has a great riff and a simple but effective chord sequence. It sounds like the sort of song that'll get old rather quickly, but right now it's pushing my buttons rather well.
So, in chronological order:
If, like me, you never download all the listed songs, take If You Tolerate This and Autumnsong.
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** A great song. It's in the Guinness book for the number one single with the longest name without brackets. It's also the only MSP track to ever be released as a single in the United States. Go Wiki.
