Periodically, we put on music after dinner and dance as a family. Last night, we danced to LCD Soundsystem and halfway through, I was reminded of this fantastic song from The Rentals called “Waiting” off their album Return of the Rentals. Yes, those are affiliate links, just testing…)
I bought the song and played it for the family. It’s unusual that i can trump Heather in songs from the mid-90s, especially of the indie genre. But this one trumped her. She made up for it by dancing like a fool.
Backstory: As part of my escape from Provo, Utah, I went from an okay job working at a consulting firm to the dream job (before the dream job I have now). I was an art director, production hack, photographer, etc. etc. for an indie music mag in Salt Lake City. I took a massive pay cut to work this job, figuring that the experience I gained would help my career prospects longer term. I was right. However, those three years were tough. I tried to make up for it by finding joy in working with some of the most talented photographers, designers and writers.
Luckily, I shared our office with my good friend and editor, Sam. Both Sam and the music director for the radio station (friend Sean) had and still have excellent taste in music. One morning I came in and Sam had this song cranked as loudly as possible. I think we listened to it 1700 times that day. Enough that I didn’t have to buy the album.
The Rockford Files synth intro is one of the catchiest lines from the 1990s. Period. And that catchy line only happens twice in the song; the intro and the outro. You keep waiting for it waiting waiting waiting and then you hear it again and the song ends. Perfect.
