Dead Ends and Girlfriends – “Pictures”

One of my favorite records of the mid 90’s was Home Grown’s “That’s Business.”  I fucking LOVED that band and that record.  In a strange twist of fate, Allister actually wound up on the same record label as Home Grown and toured with them quite a bit.  We became great friends and even stole their guitar tech, merch guy, and sound guy.  They were notorious for being raunchy, hardcore partiers and they certainly lived up to the billing.    “That’s Business” was a ska-punk collection of catchy, tongue-in-cheek, satirical songs that dripped with witty sarcasm and teenage angst.  It epitomized my idea of songwriting at the time.  When I wrote “Pictures,” I distinctly remember thinking that I’d lyrically like to model a song from “That’s Business.”  And, for better or for worse, that’s what I did.

As a teenager, the topic of sex is never far from the mind.  It’s a never-ending deluge of urges and emotions that are new, scary, and exciting.  Most of my friends were veterans of the teenage sex scene before I had so much as made out with a girl.  So, I thought at the time, what better way to blow off some steam than to write a self-deprecating song about not getting laid.  I think everyone worries about what their first time will be like.  Will it feel good?  Will it hurt? Will I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing?  Maybe all of those, maybe none of them.  I was certainly no different.  By the time I wrote this song though, I think I just wanted it to be over.  I just wanted to get laid.  But hey, when you really boil it down, isn’t that what we’re still all in this game for anyways?

One last thing… I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite part of the song.  Since the extent of our collective guitar playing abilities were three note power chords, we had our producer, Ro Sahebi, shred a rad guitar solo during the bridge.  It still makes me want to play air guitar every time I hear it.