The summer of 1994...my friends and I were driving along the hills surrounding historic Ellicott City late at night, enjoying the windows rolled down and the feeling that usually comes with having a weekend and few things to worry about. Our fearless leader was driving just a tad too fast and blaring his van stereo as usual when a song I had never heard before came on the radio....synchronized beats and raw energy and lyrics about "f$*cking like an animal."
I asked one of my pals what the song was and she told me right away. "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. The guy singing was someone named Trent Razor and words like 'isolation' and 'absence of faith' and 'my whole existence is flawed' filtered out to me amidst all the carnal rage of the music. I loved it almost immediately, even though it was more harsh than the stuff I was regularly listening to at the time. But it felt wild and more honest than most anything I'd heard that summer.
To this day I think about that summer night whenever I hear Nine Inch Nails and I wonder how sixteen years have gone by and carefree times with old friends on summer nights is harder to come now that we're all on different paths. Somehow...summer seems more connected to songs that leave you open and ready for anything...
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