Nobody ever looks at my CD shelves, except me. We don't get a lot of visitors here at Top Ten Towers, and those we do get are usually Louise's friends or family. The CD shelves are upstairs in the spare room, out of the way, not that the majority of our visitors would be remotely interested in them.
A couple of weeks back, Sam started to show an interest. Initially he was impressed that the albums are alphabetised by artist - this appealed to the part of his brain that likes making lists and putting things in order. (Fortunately, he hasn't yet spotted that not all the discographies are in the correct chronological order... they used to be, but a half-dozen house moves over the past couple of decades has messed that up... it's on my To Do list).
Then... be still, my beating heart... he started to pull individual CDs off the shelf and play his favourite tracks. I'm saving the first of his choices till the end of this post, but over the weekend he found a copy of Queen's Greatest Hits and decided to play that while we were having tea. I don't think I've been as proud since he uttered his first words (which were "Spider-Man", in case you were wondering).
Now those of you who sit firmly in the Queen-are-rubbish camp, just hold your tongues. Sam's choice is significant for a number of reasons. Primarily because it was that same album (a much older copy, on vinyl), that I first pulled out of my sister's record collection when I was about Sam's age, slipping it onto her turntable while she was at work then sitting back to enjoy and explore. There's probably much that can be written about how Queen (like the Beatles, or the Beach Boys, or Motown, or Taylor Swift) are a good gateway drug when it comes to discovering music... I mean, you're not going to start with Bog Shed, are you? But for me, this was an incredibly powerful piece of symmetry. It almost brought me to tears.
Of course, Sam knows most of the tracks on Queen's Greatest Hits (ditto the singles collections of all the artists mentioned above) due to their inclusion on the 150+ in-car CDs I've slowly been indoctrinating him with over the past ten years... but there's a big difference between listening to what your dad puts on and choosing a record for yourself. This is a rite of passage moment.
And if you're not impressed by Sam's Queen selection... well, that's why I saved the best to last. The first song he chose for himself is the one below. Not a big hit, instead one that only reached #53 in 1997, by a band most of the people who wouldn't even take a second glance at my CD shelves only really know for one song... and it's certainly not this one.
Grander than Castles, Cathedrals or stars
Electric Guitars!
Riots in airports - everywhere that we go
Mascara meltdown - hysteria-a-go-go
Electric Guitars!
'Nuff said.
