12. MisfitsCollection I
I went to university after attending residential school, having been born and raised in Nunavut. It was then that I started understanding what happens to minorities during the colonial process. Suddenly, a stark reality hit me – Inuit and indigenous people had been seriously mistreated by the government in order to take land and resources. I went down to university and no-one knew anybody who had committed suicide, whereas back home everyone was touched by suicide. The people at college were thriving and didn’t have the same socio-economic difficulties and the majority of them were white. And, I became fucking pissed off. I didn’t know quite why, as I was pretty young. I was so angry at the situation. I would listen to this album a lot. While I was listening to it I once trashed a car. I took a shit on the hood of a car. I was a dick – a little rowdy punk. For the first time, I was able to express part of myself. I almost don’t want to talk about the album as it reminds me of a time of my life when I didn’t have control of my anger. I was getting in a lot of fist fights. I am strong believer in justice and was always sticking up for underdogs. I remember trying to fight a guy was hadn’t been making his child support payments! I was angry at everyone – I remember kicking over someone’s tarot cards, because I hated hippies! I was just being a little shit. The cadence of this Misfits album just sparked something in me. The Motörhead and AC/DC albums make me feel powerful, but Misfits’ album just made me feel really stabby at that time in my life. Thankfully that was a long, long time ago. That’s not in any way indicative of who I am today. I am bit ashamed. I now listen to this album when I am on the treadmill and it makes me sprint. It’s good for exercise now, whereas before it was good for lancing the boil of my anger.
