My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything

To be completely honest, I find teenage life boring without any sort of physical or emotional drama. Maybe that's a bad thing, but speaking as some sort of "writer", stuff like that is fantastic material for stories and poems. The media is fascinated with the fast-paced, dangerous, back-seat lifestyle most teenagers live today, as movies filled with it are pumped out every couple of months and every eyeliner wearing cutie seems to get a hit single that deals with "teenage love", whether it's in a bitter way or not. Yet, I personally find that these cuties are doing a somewhat poor job. While they've got the lyrics down (as seen by every forum signature/extremely huge page on this site), the music is formulaic and, most of all, just not sexy. So how does a band manage to incorporate memories of that fast and easy teenage romance through lyrics and music?

My Bloody Valentine has the answer.

Released in 1988, My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything is often overshadowed by its predecessor, Loveless, which is widely considered the best album of the shoegazing genre. Regardless, Isn't Anything is a remarkable, beautiful piece of work that captures teenage romance by means of distorted guitars, thick bass lines, frenzied drum work, and barely audible vocals.

The opening track, "Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)", starts off with a dancey drum beat and a catchy bass line, followed by Kevin Shields' soft and seductive vocals.

Soft as snow, but warm inside.
Penetrate, you cannot hide.

Their intention is already clear, and becomes more apparent as the seemingly out-of-tune and loud guitars begin to drown out Shields' voice as they become more and more sexual, like the desires of the body drowning out the pleas of one's conscious.

The album continues with its fast-paced, erotic tone, taking noises that would be assumed as ugly (guitars that sound as if they were put through multiple distortion effects) and turning them into gorgeous melodies and hooks. My Bloody Valentine slows down the pace for "No More Sorry", placing Shields in an ocean of synth melodies as he pleads:

Whatever you do,
don't call Daddy.

The album just plain works beautifully. Nothing seems fake. These songs were written by people who experienced what their songs are about and the music proves this effortlessly.

Isn't Anything is a must-have album. It shamelessly bears every teenage fantasy and emotion, even including the ones that don't make any sense.

It's beautiful, it's sexy, it's us.

Or maybe I'm just a slut connecting with other sluts.