Pure

When I was a high school sophomore in rural Minnesota, I was often miserable. It's hard to be 16, you know? The best thing in the world back then, besides play practice (oh yeah, I was a nerd), was a radio show on the Duluth station late Sunday nights. It might have been called "The Edge," and it played only the edgiest alternative rock.

Lying in my bed, I'd record the show on my clock radio/tape deck so I could play it all week. In my basement bedroom, I first heard much of the music that I still love: songs by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sugarcubes, Big Audio Dynamite, and the Lightning Seeds.

I've always thought of "Pure" as one of the world's perfect pop songs. That glorious synth hook (by OMD’s Andy McCluskey), sweet, mellow melody, and bubbly chorus epitomize my teenage hopes that someday life would be simpler, cleaner, "fresh and deep as oceans new."

This week a friend of mine gave me a tape, an original composition, that begins with "Pure" as part of an ambient background to some Casiotone notes. If you're wondering whether you can drone out to your nostalgic age-16 faves, the answer is yes. If you're wondering whether my life feels any more fresh and deep than it did in that 1992 basement, it certainly does. If you're wondering how old I am, I guess I gave that away already.