Hüsker Dü - Metal Circus

When I was 11 turning 12, my big sister, Mandy, gave me a cassette for my birthday, 'cus my Mom made her buy me a present at the record store at the mall. There was a cassette store, didn’t have [vinyl] albums, and she gave her five bucks.

I had already learned about Pussy Galore from her, and other shit - but anyway, she gave me a cassette of Metal Circus, and she said in her Southern accent: ‘I heard this was pretty good, happy birthday’. 

I loved that fucking record, that tape, so much. It was my 12th birthday, and everything was great, it was madness. All these impossible sounds were making sense, this abstraction was making sense, in a panicked, superfluid way. It was a great feeling. I felt really alive. It was intense, incredible.