Wendy and Lisa [Official Site]

This may be the wrong place to say this, but it's true.

I used to be depressed a lot. It never reached truly debilitating levels, but it wasn't pleasant. My normal way of coping was to wallow in self-pity and misery for a few days, cry along to some of my favourite ballads, and then get back on with it.

Now, as far back as I can remember I've been a Wendy & Lisa fan. My sister's the one to thank for this, as I grew up with her listening to their albums (and I remember her having to get Eroica on CD because there seemed to be a problem with every copy of the vinyl she got!) and I've always liked the songs melodically.

As an awkward teen (what's that? Fat, gay and too smart for my own good? Yep - NERD!) I started finding more music for myself, and got into punk and metal and industrial and everything else that teenagers do. But I also found a copy of Fruit At The Bottom in my local second hand record store, and bought my own copy. I remembered what I loved about this album from before. The title track was always on my walkman on the bus to school. It was my total "yeah, woo! Today is a good day!" song.

A few months later, I found copies of Wendy & Lisa, Eroica and the remix album in a radio station vinyl clearout. Upon listening to them again, I started seeing things in the songs I'd never noticed before. I started thinking "wow, that's an awesome riff" or "that's a killer bass line". However, it was when listening to the first album through again that "The Life" came on and I almost started crying. It was one of my awkward stages, and that song just showed me that I'm not the only one who gets overwhelmed by stuff. It was a major cathartic point for me. And kept me sane.

A few years later, I'm in my last year of high school. I start having bad depressive moments again, this time about being in the closet and potentially dying a sad, broken virgin. Emo teen-tastic. So I put Eroica on, as "Strung Out" was always a favourite track, so I put on Side 1. Rainbow Lake, Strung Out, classics. Mother Of Pearl kicks in and a shiver goes down my spine. That song sounded like nothing I'd heard (and still doesn't!) and kinda knocked me out a bit. Then the opening notes of Don't Try To Tell Me kick in, and I'm reading the lyric sheet and biting my lip trying not to cry. I'm still not sure whether it was from me imagining myself going through the silent treatment, or just from the fact that even having a broken heart was better than having never used it. Something pretentious and embarassingly selfish like that, anyway. But, just after my navel-gazing, then comes on Crack In The Pavement. For me it was like "The Morning Fog" at the end of Kate Bush's "Hounds Of Love". It was basically a message saying y'know, life's full of ups and downs, but it's the little things we notice most, and we should focus on the good ones! And frankly, side 2 of that LP is full of the good things in life. Turn Me Inside Out and Skeleton Key are two of the most fantastically funky songs ever created.

Girl Bros. I only got a few years ago, once I'd cheered up a bit, so I can't really say it's pulled me out of my pits of despair. But it is seriously one of the most played albums on my MP3 player, and it's very very rare that I'll find an album that has no weak spots. And "I Will" became my going to work anthem. It's still one of my favourite inspirational songs, and never fails to cheer me up.

White Flags is still being "absorbed", as it were. It's an album that takes time to show itself. Again, the more I listen, the more I notice, the more I hear from each song, the more it shows its identity to me. I wouldn't have it any other way. All my favourite albums have an immediate favourite song, and then the other tracks open up gradually.

Wow, kinda went off track a lot there, and I do apologise for the ridiculous length of this post, but since W&L are probably the most important recording artists to me personally, I felt I should share.

Anyone else get through bad times thanks to Wendy & Lisa?