gonna make you, make you, make you notice

i was thinking about doing a personal music reflective project that would explore my raised on mtv adolescence, and the songs and videos that impacted my life.

sure, there was radio, and i was definitely a kroq girl. and it was records and music magazines that i spent all my allowance, babysitting earnings, and lunch money on. that all considered, mtv and music videos were enormous to me growing up, and were formative in my connections of the visual arts to music, and in the way i craft stories (and films) in my mind when i listen to a song.

perhaps some of you that may be reading this would consider adding their thoughts to the videos/songs i choose to write about; or, even better, may take on a similar project in their own writing spaces.

here is my first shot at it:

brass in pocket (i'm special) was released in 1979, but it was not until 1981 that i first noticed it during the summer my family got cable (and the summer that mtv started). chrissie hynde was different than any other woman in rock i'd noticed. she had this incredible voice that i could actually sing to (as i always hovered in the alto side of the choir); she had this approachable sensuality (not that i could define it at 13 years old), and she had this relatable mix of vulnerability and confidence.

confidence was such a seemingly unattainable thing at that age. especially growing up in southern california, land of the blonde waifs from all that orange county wealth when you are a brunette girl with a penchant for thrift shop clothes and kohl eyeliner, brought up by a struggling newly single mom.

i vividly remember singing this, with my hairbrush microphone, in my bedroom - over and over again.

and that feeling, when the boys (the actual rest of the pretenders) leave the restaurant with their girls, and chrissie watches longingly from the window.

when the guys sing special while holding up the menus, that still makes me laugh and roll my eyes a little. and chrissie's waitress uniform? i think i may have found my halloween costume.

cause i'm gonna make you see
there's nobody else here
no one like me
i'm special
so special
i gotta have some of your attention
give it to me

brass in pocket ~ the pretenders