Untold Demons

I unearthed the very first song I wrote in 1986 and flinched at all the clueless chord progressions my 14-year-old self used. But I could sense some potential behind a few of the ideas. So I reworked it extensively and brought out more of the subliminal inspiration that went into: mid-'80s Heart.

I had originally written it on piano, but people told me it sounded more suitable on guitar. The lyrics are new, but I wanted to use the original title of the song. Didn't want to throw everything out ...

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posted by NemesisVex (4 comments total)

This is a great idea, NemesisVex. It's funny that the core idea is from 1986 because I thought its Green Day-ish catchiness places it a least a decade later (although that may be due to the reworking).
posted by umbú at 1:30 AM on March 4

Green Day? Interesting -- never crossed my mind. I really did play up the Heart angle when I reworked it. You can practically sing "What About Love" and "Alone" to the chorus of this song.
posted by NemesisVex at 8:00 PM on March 4

I hope that reference wasn't annoying to you. I should really be more careful about free associating that way, because I know that people don't always appreciate such utterly subjective comparisons.

You're a brave man to revisit your first song. I just found a tape with one of my first band's tunes from eighth/ninth grade. It was called "Water Running Down" and it was about the world going down the toilet. Extremely cringeworthy. This holds up much, much better, believe me. Thanks for posting.
posted by umbú at 3:42 AM on March 5

Can't say I'm familiar with Green Day save for the big radio hits from 1994, so the comparison actually intrigues me.

Oh, the original is just awful. I salvaged the chords of the verse and a portion of the chorus, but the bridges, lyrics and melody are new. I wonder if I can get away with calling it "reworked". But it's an interesting exercise to get through that impulse to cringe. It really was more difficult than I expected.
posted by NemesisVex at 9:15 PM on March 5