Shake Yo Rump

Okay, I'm having a hard time coming up with a set of topics tonight, so I thought I'd write about an experience from my adolescence. I think I was in 5th grade, nearly 6th, when Nirvana's "Nevermind" broke. Like all other people from my generation who aren't complete wankers, my first impression was, "Wow, I'm a little scared," and my second was, "AYEEE, this is wonderful!" (I don't know if that says anything about Nirvana, really. You could've played the Goo Goo Dolls for us, and we probably would've revered their fat bassist as if he were Elvis v2.0; it's hard not to look good when compared to Nelson/Poison/every other terrible hair band that ended with 'son'.)

At this point, I had just gotten my first CD player. I was listening to more music, but I still wasn't sure what I liked. All I could do was to experiment some with my music purchases, mainly going off of what I heard on the radio. After "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Nirvana put out several more singles, all of which were equally rockin', and I decided that I had to buy Nevermind.

The problem was, I was a little kid without any money. The other problem was that I was a little kid who didn't know anything about musical taste. You see, there was another CD that I wanted to buy, and I knew I wanted to buy it because of this incredible song on the radio. The song was Rumpshaker, by a little band known as Wreckx-N-Effect.

Nirvana or the Rumpshaker band? I only had enough money to buy one. I knew I wouldn't get more money for a while either, so I had to make this purchase count; it had to be something that might eventually serve as the cornerstone of my music collection. It wasn't something I could regret; I wanted to look back on it fondly and say, "With that CD, I started to become the man I am today." Can everyone see where this is going? I bought Rumpshaker, of course.

I knew almost immediately it was a mistake. After the magic of the Rumpshaker song, there really was nothing on there. Meanwhile, my friend Matt had wisely ignored me entirely and chosen the other option. Later on, at school, I remember him going on and on about how great Nevermind was, and how I had to get it. Not one to ever be outdone, I made sure to tell him that he too was missing out, because the Rumpshaker CD was pretty excellent on its own. Wait, not pretty excellent, more like freaking outstanding, a seminal contribution to the field of booty shaking.

Finally, I got some money and I was able to get Nevermind on my own. As everybody knows, it was great. And that, not Rumpshaker, turned out to be the corner of my musical taste, thank God. When I went back to school, I wanted to tell Matt about it, but he got to me first.

"My dad bought me Rumpshaker," he said. "I can't believe you told me to get that!"

In retrospect, I acknowledge my pimpage of Wreckx-N-Effect.
was the wrong thing. At the time though, I couldn't stand being called out like that. (Reference my 'never one to be outdone' comment.)

I came right back at him. "Oh yeah? Well I can't believe you told me to buy Nirvana, I hate those guys!"

Nobody disses Rumpshaker when I'm around.

Posted by Cody at July 13, 2006 7:01 PM