6. Tori AmosLittle Earthquakes
In high school, yet again, my friend Jacob showed me the CD. He asked me if I’d heard it and I hadn’t. "What kind of music does she make?" I asked him. "Is it country?" And he told me that everybody said that and that I should just listen to it. So, Björk came first for me, but Tori Amos became an obsession. I ended up buying all the live videos, all the songbooks, all the imports, all the B-sides – everything I could get my hands on. I think I still know how to draw Tori Amos without actually looking at a picture of Tori Amos. I used to draw her all the time because not only did I think she was unbelievably, ridiculously talented, I also thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She has the most amazing singing voice. I connected to a lot of what she was saying; I wasn’t as angsty as she was in a lot of her songs. I liked her hippy-dippy, loopy, cosmic vibe – I thought it was funny and magical. It was transportive and took me somewhere else.
She played Tulsa in ’97 and it’s the only thing I’ve ever slept outside for – I slept outside all night in 40-degree weather for front-row tickets. I was first in line. So, I was pretty hardcore back in the day! And the B-sides were all so good. Remember ‘Butterfly’? No? Oh that’s amazing. [sings] "And is it right, butterfly? They like you better framed and dried." [laughs] Remember? No? YouTube it. She did it on some scary late-night American talk show, I think.
