Do you remember the first album you bought? Back when you were young, pirating music off the internet wasn’t an option, and the 10 dollars you saved up for that album seemed like a small fortune?

I do. Vibrantly.

I was raised rather sheltered, and secular music was both magical and contraband material. My first CD seemed like a huge move in the name of defiance and coming into young-adulthood.

My first album was Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album. Racey, no? Completely scandalous.

I was probably in 7th grade when I bought it. I still attended Christian School at that point, and I remember sneaking listening to the radio, taping music from it, and listening to the cassettes on my walkman on car rides and hikes. The bands that I enjoyed the most from those slices of radio heaven were Matchbox Twenty, Savage Garden, and Third Eye Blind.

One day, when my family was at Wal*Mart, I decided to go crazy and buy an album. I tracked down Third Eye Blind and remember being scared of the album art. It looked kind of … evil. It didn’t bother me, but if my parents stumbled across it I’d be hosed. I couldn’t play that off as contemporary Christian.

I bought it anyway. I was such a rebel. *cough*

I managed to sneak it out of the store without detection. Next we went to Ames, and I brought it in with me. I wanted to open it up and look at it, and I figured I could ditch my parents and get a quick look.

Except Wal*mart’s anti-theft device set off Ames’ alarm. I was busted. The store didn’t care. I had my receipt, they just came and turned off the system. But my parents now knew of the album, and one look at the case and they were skeptical. My father said he’d have to look through it later to see if it was appropriate.

From what I had heard on the radio, I promised him it was. Songs about how drugs aren’t the answer and stuff.

In the store I broke it out and started at the beginning, reading the lyrics. I was terrified. The first song said ‘goddamn’ about 10 times. Semi-Charmed Life had a line about ‘those little red panties’ passing the test. That was edited out of the radio version.

Worse yet. One song mentioned people ‘Jesus couldn’t save’. I was fucked. My parents would kill me, and even worse, take my album away.

Somehow they spaced it all out. Somehow they forgot all about it. I wasn’t about to mention it.

Thank congress the non-instrumental version of “Slow Motion” didn’t make it to the album. Reading about gun violence and various forms of drug abuse including cutting Coke with Draino just to make someone bleed probably would have been enough to make me admit the folly of the CD and beg forgiveness. Oh yes, I was that big a rebel.

That was the only album I owned for months. I listened to it endlessly. For the next 7 or 8 years, it still was in my top five list of albums.

I am so incredibly and undeniably biased about the album that I’m not sure I can talk about it without gushing. I love it. Everything from the poppy and way overplayed Semi-Charmed Life to slower beautiful songs like Motorcycle Drive By are perfect. The album covers it all.

The album is to me the perfect incarnation of post-grunge. I don’t really like grunge, but that 90’s alternative post-grunge scene was perfect, with this album being it’s pinnacle.

While Semi-Charmed Life may have been what got in me in the proverbial door, don’t expect that obscene catchiness from the rest of the album. That’s not a bad thing. If the entire album were like Semi-Charmed Life i think i would have been burnt out on the album about a decade ago.

The album manages to pair the despair of grunge with catchy harmonies and perfectly played ‘arena rock’. The songs are far from happy, with Semi-Charmed Life, perhaps the catchiest song of the 1990s, about a methanphetamine addiction. With instrumentation seemingly meant for much tamer topics, i’m sure more than a few people were shocked when they finally looked up the lyrics.

What to Expect?

A mixture of Pop harmonies, Rock instrumentation, and Grunge influences to both music and vocals.

What to Take Away?

There’s a reason why Third Eye Blind has such a cult following, even this far down the line. If you’re only familiar with their Radio Singles, I recommend hitting Youtube to see if perhaps acquiring the album would be up your alley.

What Drink to Pair it with?

Some manner of Stout. Perhaps a Lefthand Milk Stout. Dark, just a little heavy, but sweet enough to keep coming back for more.

Favorite Song?

Either the non-instrumental version of “Slow Motion”, or “Motorcycle Drive By”.