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How did you learn about Spoon?

(24 posts)

Started 12 years ago by Mr.minionman
Latest reply from makeyrmark

Mr.minionman
(5 Posts)

The first time I heard spoon was in Stranger Than Fiction, where I loved the intro tune (which I found out later to be "Way we get By") so much that I got the soundtrack (the first time I had ever bought a soundtrack), which I was rather disappointed to learn that they did not include the instrumental version of the song. Nevertheless, a few months later I listened to it again, and after deciding that I liked it, I bought "Kill the Moonlight" (first album I've ever bought)which to this day is my favorite spoon album.

Anyway, after awhile of being content with that album, I proceded to get the other albums through illegitamate means,(I intend to buy them as I get the money to do so, and such, bought Transferance when it was released at Starbucks) and since then, I've been an avid fan, using the band as the definition of the kind of music I listen to.

So, what's your story? I'm interested to know how one, besides myself, learns of such an epic, but obscure band.

On a side note, I'm new here: Love Spoon, Video Games (mostly TF2, Indie PC games, and a few others I deem worthy), and good movies.

-Cheers

Posted 12 years ago #
captain_arz
(120 Posts)

My mom was going on and on about this song she kept hearing on the radio but never caught the title of it. One day I was in the car with her and this really catchy song came on and she flipped her lid saying "this is the one, this is the One!" The station didn't mention the title or the band, but when I got home I looked up the radio stations play list and found this weird picture of four guys, one standing way out with his large sunglasses. Underneath the picture said (Spoon- Don't you Evah, from their new album GaGaGaGaGa). That was my first taste of spoon, I was instantly in love with that song, but it took me a long time to get into their other music. There was only three songs I listened to for about a year and it took accidentally running into Britt himself in a doughnut shop in Portland to get me to take any more interest in Spoon. Its now an obsession.

Posted 12 years ago #
pherron
(173 Posts)

Back in 2002 someone on a message board recommended Telephono. I checked it out and thought it was just ok, then I got a free magazine CD with Small Stakes on as Kill The Moonlight was just about to be released. I loved that album and I haven't looked back. I managed to see them in London in November 2002. I've been collecting their stuff ever since.

Posted 12 years ago #
monkfishblues
(250 Posts)

I was watching a YouTube interview of another band - one of those Walk Through a Record Store and Pick Out Recommendations things - and one of the members picked up Gimme Fiction, which had just come out, and declared that Spoon was the band band in America right now. I had read the name Spoon in magazines, back in the late 90s in articles about the mistreatment of bands by the music industry, but I had never gotten around to listening to them until then. So that mention, years later, sparked my interest; a couple of Spoon videos later, I decided to pick up an album or two. Wound up buying Kill the Moonlight and Gimme Fiction first. THE INTERNET!

Posted 12 years ago #
Gabriel
(193 Posts)

Back in 2005 I was my friend's house trying to make music (we were "in a band") and he said, "Hey, listen to this. They're called Spoon." He had been showing me a bunch of bands lately, but I was intrigued by the funny name. Then he turned on "I Turn My Camera On" and I remember thinking that they were some kind of weird indie/hip-hop crossover band and that he sang like that on every song (I thought the "backup singers" were two black men; I was musically ignorant at the time). I was dying to know how a band with that combination of sounds could have any other songs.

Later heard a few songs from Kill the Moonlight, but didn't care much about them.

Later bought Gimme Fiction on a whim, but didn't really get into it.

Saw great reviews of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga a year later and thought, "Wow, this album is getting really good reviews. I should get it." That's the album I became obsessed with, and now I'm here.

Posted 12 years ago #
jp
(106 Posts)

I read a Time magazine review before Gimme Fiction came out. The review was glowing (of course) and they sounded like my kind of band. My daughter was going to UT in Austin at the time, and when she came home for the summer, I asked if she'd ever heard of Spoon. She had, said they were pretty good and had a song or two on her iPod. Just coincidentally, I happened to notice that the band was playing in a small club in Lawrence, KS (about 40 miles from my home) in the next week, so I asked my daughter if she wanted to go...and we did. I enjoyed the band a lot that night, but it wasn't until later that I realized I kept thinking about how much I liked those songs, even though I'd never heard them before. (The one that really stuck in my mind, I found out later, was Small Stakes). I mentioned this to my other daughter's boyfriend, and he burned me a copy of Gimme Fiction and Kill the Moonlight. I took a road trip vacation later that summer and took the CDs along. By the end of the trip, I was hooked. From there, I worked my way back through the catalog and found the further back I went, the more I liked this band! I was a huge music fan in college and my early twenties and loved the whole punk and new wave scenes. Elvis Costello and the Attractions affected me the same way Spoon did. Immediately they were my favorite band. Over the years, I kind of fell out of paying attention to the music scene, but Spoon got me back in again. It's nice to have current, working bands (Wilco, LCD Soundsystem) to look forward to and to root for. Since Gimme Fiction came out, I've seen Spoon 12 times now. Basically, if they're playing within a 3 hour drive, I'm there!

And pherron, from your post do you mean that 2002 was the first time you've seen the band, or the only time you've seen them? I hope its not the latter. That's a long time to wait between shows.

jp

Posted 12 years ago #
pherron
(173 Posts)

And pherron, from your post do you mean that 2002 was the first time you've seen the band, or the only time you've seen them? I hope its not the latter. That's a long time to wait between shows.

No, not the only time, the first time I saw them. I've seen them every time they play London since then, though they don't make it here so often. In fact after 2002 I had to wait 3 years, but they played here twice in 2005. I've seen them twice this year too as well as 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Posted 12 years ago #
TastyPrawn
(87 Posts)

It was February 2001, and I was listening to the radio intently because they promised they would play the new single from Spacehog that afternoon, and I really liked Spacehog. Right before they played the new Spacehog single they played a song I had never heard by a band that didn't sound familiar. It was awesome and I immediately loved it. But the radio never said what it was... I kept listening to that station for the next few weeks and never heard it again. The bad part was that I didn't listen to the lyrics so I couldn't go on the internet and search for the lyrics or make a "Hey, I heard a song with these lyrics... What is it?!"-post on my favorite music boards.

About a month or so later, I was at the library at Southwest Texas State University (now just known as Texas State University) working on a research paper. I needed a break, so I went down to the book store to get a snack and browse the magazines. CMJ had a picture of Daft Punk on the cover. I knew Daft Punk was currently making a series of music videos with Leiji Matsumoto, the creator of my favorite anime Galaxy Express 999, so I bought the magazine in hopes that there would be some pictures from those music videos.

I went back to the library and I put the CD that came with the issue into my portable CD player. Guess what the second track was? The song that I had heard on the radio about a month before! I pulled out the magazine to look at the track listing: Track 2, Spoon - "Lines in the Suit" It also said they were from Austin. Cool! I live in Austin! Shortly thereafter, I bought Soft Effects, and then Love Ways, and then Telephono from Waterloo Records. The order I bought them was solely based upon the price of the CD: I didn't have much money, so I bought the cheapest first. For Christmas that year, I got A Series of Sneaks and Girls Can Tell from my parents (along with a few more CDs from local groups), and I thought that was awesome. After that, I've either pre-ordered all new Spoon albums or gone out and bought them on the release date.

I can't believe that was almost 10 years ago now...

Posted 12 years ago #
devilsdishes
(88 Posts)

Spring of 2001. I had one of those friends who's like an indie rock oracle; he always knew about the good stuff before the rest of us could catch on. So I asked him one night, "anything new I should go buy?" and he recommended Girls Can Tell. I'd never even heard of Spoon before that, but I went out and bought the record and after the first 2 minutes of "Everything Hits at Once" I was in love. I don't have that friend anymore, but - hey - I still have Spoon.

Posted 12 years ago #
Gabriel
(193 Posts)

"I don't have that friend anymore, but - hey - I still have Spoon."

Same here. My friend who introduced me to Spoon (as well as Modest Mouse, my favorite band) is someone I practically never see anymore. He had a pretty ridiculous impact on me, musically and otherwise.

Posted 12 years ago #
TheWayWeGetBy
(23 Posts)

Same as the Op, through the movie "Stranger than Fiction".

Posted 12 years ago #
Tyler Darling
(706 Posts)

I used to subscribe to Guitar Player Magazine. There was an issue in 2005 with Paul McCartney on the cover. In the same article they iinterviewed Britt, and had a piece on the new album at the time "Gimme Fiction". It sounded like a very cool album, and he had a great quote talking about the Beatles. So I knew I liked Britt as a person already. The next week I bought the album. I liked it, but never got super into it. So I casually listened to the album.

In 2006-08 I'd always TiVo the late night shows just to watch the music acts perform. I saw Spoon's performance of "The Underdog" on Letterman, and it reinvigorated my interest. Then I went to the store and bought Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. After that worked way my back from Telephono, saw them live, and that's how they became my favorite band.

Posted 12 years ago #
31starbright
(161 Posts)

iTunes kept telling me to listen to Spoon based on the other bands I listened to- I remember the Gimme Fiction album kept popping up but I ignored it. It wasn't until some time before the Austin City Limits Festival in 2007 when my friend that I was going with to the festival highly suggested that I listen to Spoon. She told me to listen to "The Ghost of You Lingers," and I was sold. Then after seeing them perform at ACL, I was hooked and I've been hooked ever since.

My friend that got me into Spoon casually likes them and it took me a while to find friends who are crazy about them as I am (i.e. going to as many Spoon concerts as I can afford without going broke).

Renee @ http://fuckyeahspoon.tumblr.com

Posted 12 years ago #
Tyler Darling
(706 Posts)

Everyone died here. But I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Excited for 2011!!

Posted 12 years ago #
q_pid
(33 Posts)

Heh, sorry I lost my password to this board and forgot to come back for a little while.

Anyways, [although there is no relation at all] I was on Pandora one day and hit a random mix for the song "15 Step" by Radiohead, and it gave me "I Turn My Camera On" by Spoon. I was like, who are these guys??? They sound nothing like Radiohead, but this is still some good shit. I ended up downloading Gimme Fiction and I really liked it, but then when I got Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, I was SOLD! Ever since then, I can't get enough of that Spoony Spoon Goodness!! I've gotten all their records from GCT-Ga, and I saw them live at Forecastle last year. I am so looking forward to seeing them again!!

Posted 12 years ago #
Proler
(20 Posts)

In the game Rocksmith, there´s Me and the Bean. And I´ve learnt about the band in Scott Pilgrim, where the author reccomends Transference and Waiting for the Kid to Come Out.

Posted 8 years ago #
MorganBell
(44 Posts)

I also have one of these friends that I would consider a music guru. The dude has turned me on to half of what I listen to, if not more. So, back in 2005 after Gimmie Fiction comes out he hands me burned copies of Gimmie Fiction and Girls Can Tell. Oddly enough, it was Britt's vocals on "Me and the Bean" that sold me. Hearing the grit in his vocals as he sang the "whoa's" on the wordless chorus, pitch perfectly, and full of emotion, made the hairs on my arms stand on end. I payed attention after that. It's also a testament to the free exchange of music that was happening back then. Maybe it's just because I'm a music fan, but a lot of bands I heard for free back then I spend a lot of money supporting now a days. At this point, if I ever get an album for free, and I'm feelin the music, I'll pick up another album of theirs. It's always a gateway drug for me...

Posted 8 years ago #
robbroncs
(10 Posts)

during college in '99 Bruce at CD world in Paramus NJ was playing A Series of Sneaks. I purchased it immediately. game changer

Posted 7 years ago #
iamthekey
(81 Posts)

Internet radio back in... 2002, maybe 2003. 'Everything Hits at Once'.

Posted 7 years ago #
KPHIL71
(2 Posts)

1996 saw them open for GBV on the Bee Thousand tour

Posted 6 years ago #
corcoranm
(4 Posts)

Summer 2001. I had my first apartment in college. There was a video on MTV2 that I caught several times but it never had the usual Artist/Song/Album info at the beginning or end. Months later, I made a mix CD of songs I had liked from a website called Epitonic. It included "Lines in the Suit". My band and I kazaa'd everything we could find. Bought what we could find at Atomic Records as well. Two years later I learned that the video I had been seeing was "Everything Hits at Once".

First show was fall '02, in MPLS with Har Mar and John Vandersice.

Posted 6 years ago #
Rise84
(18 Posts)

2007.. I wish it was sooner! I was flipping through satellite radio stations on my tv and The Underdog came on. I was fascinated by the variety of instrumentation, and simple structure. So I dug deeper into the Spoon catalog and became permanently fixed ever since.

Posted 6 years ago #
devilsdishes
(88 Posts)

Revisiting this thread and remembering that I saw Britt do a solo acoustic opening for Cat Power at Irving Plaza in November of 2000, before I had even heard Girls Can Tell. Goddamn. Ever wish you could go back in time and shake yourself and shout "Pay closer attention to this, dummy!"?

Posted 6 years ago #
makeyrmark
(16 Posts)

I think Fitted Shirt was first Spoon song that I ever heard. This was in 2003-2004 when I was in high school. Was fascinated by a song about an article of clothing. And the drums and guitar riff sounded amazing. Soon purchased KTML and GCT on CD, but accidentally ordered an extra copy of KTML instead of GCT online off my cheap Nokia cellphone. Ended up giving the extra copy to my friend. At my first Spoon concert at Stubb's in '04-'05, the Clientele -- a band that I also recently fell in love with -- opened for them. That show remains one of the best shows I've ever been to.

Posted 6 years ago #

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