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This is one of the many sad stories of rock & roll. Just one of the many, however.
September 8, 1995, Florida.
Four hopeful young men happily travel down Highway 95, 50 miles south of Savannah, Georgia. In their van are the instruments needed for the concert scheduled for that same evening. Accompanying them are three shady figures from Sony, a generally obtuse and biased major, but who - strangely - sniffs the deal.
"From these four, wagonloads of dollars will come" is written in the celestial records of the last words heard before death.
The four, Vigliatura (21 years), White (23), Griego (28) and Tooke (23) were coming from the recording sessions of "Example," the classic right album at the right time. The grunge outburst was at its peak, hordes of kids awakened from the slumber of the '80s launched themselves hungrily to devour the latest carcass, in the typical frenzy of those who know the monster is about to make its last tail flick, panting spirits in search of the final moan, queuing for the last photo with the dying animal. The end of Cobain and the increasing quality of Pearl Jam's albums would accentuate it all, and R.E.M.'s "Monster" seems to achieve success beyond expectations.
In cinema, on television, in evolved clubs, death hovers like a specter and - it is known - death always brings consensus.
"Thanks to this album we will become famous, and we will fulfill our dreams" is still written - immediately after - in the celestial records of the last words spoken before death.
The dreams of young Vigliatura were very simple: to create an album narrated as a fairy tale, a great passion he had followed since childhood. "I think music should be like a book of fairy tales, that everyone can tell." Poor boy, too naive for the music business in which he became entangled and which - in the end - inevitably swallowed him.
A work of many facets, "Example" compresses within its lines immortal passions such as punk ("Superstar"), pop reminiscent of R.E.M. ("Mighty K.C."), large doses of the very trendy grunge (the Nirvana-like "Long live the king," the obsessive "8:02"), splashes of alt.rock ("Orangeworker") and lots of childish passion thrown into just under 50 minutes of guitars strolling through the dusty roads of the American South.
"It's like a kind of novella where each chapter expresses something different" - it is written in the not-so-celestial records of the official website.
That day, Vigliatura and company, accompanied by the 3 harpies sent by Sony, told themselves - and the world - the last story: the van swerves near Savannah, the vehicle overturns, spins on itself, then over and over, and what remains are a few wrecks from which officers soon arrive to extract alive only Griego and the 3 Sony harpies. Vigliatura, White, and Bender will die on the spot, along with their dreams, writing the final word to the fairy tale of life, after just one album and a thousand shattered hopes.
They were to play at C.B.G.B.'s, in New York, one of the most famous clubs in the world.
"Why the name 'For Squirrels'? You know, I love to think of my music as music for the squirrels, I love watching them and playing for them, it's all so pure."
Poor kids, it's not true that in fairy tales you always live happily ever after. Sometimes - simply - you live too little.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
03 Superstar (03:20)
Here I come with a little bit of help
Here I come with a little bit of help
Here I come with a little bit of help
Here I come with a little bit of�
Over you with a little bit of help
Over you with a little bit of help
Over you with a little bit of help
Over you with a little bit of�
Here comes the superstar
Here comes the superstar
Here comes the superstar, yeah oh yea
I found out with a little bit of help
I found out with a little bit of help
I found out with a little bit of help
I found out with a little bit of�
Coming down with a little bit of help
Coming down with a little bit of help
Coming down with a little bit of help
Coming down with a little bit of�
Here comes the superstar
Here comes the superstar
Here comes the superstar, yeah oh yea
It's all I want, it's all I need
It's all I see, it's all I breathe
It's all I want, it's all I need
It's all I eat, it's all I breathe
It's what I am, it's what I know
It's what I feel, it's what I bleed
Oh
Here comes the superstar
Here comes the superstar
Here comes the superstar, yeah
Here comes the superstar
Here comes the superstar
Get on the devil�s back, get on the devil�s back
Get on, on the devil�s back
Gouge my eyes with a little bit of help
Gouge my eyes with a little bit of help
Gouge my eyes with a little bit of help
Gouge my eyes with a little bit of�
I won't die with a little of help
I won't die with a little of help
I won't die with a little of help
I won't die with a little of�
Star
04 Mighty K.C. (05:39)
She lies in a bedpan
With her name scrawled on her back
It sure sounds funny
When you say his name like that
He lies in an empty room
With his hair burnt to the back
It sure sounds funny
When you say his name like that
Ship me off to the morgue
I'm ready to be buried
Alone way down in my bed, bed
And I'm alone without the sun
Ship me off to the morgue
I'm ready to be buried
Alone way down in my bed, bed
And I'm alone without the sun
Please just take one
And by the grace of God go I
Into the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
And if we gather, if we fall
Over the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600
Oh they're found dead, dead
And I am numb from watching TV
100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600
Oh they're just there, there
And I am numb from watching TV
Please don't break me
And by the grace of God go I
Into the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
And if we gather, if we fall
Over the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
Please just take one
And by the grace of God go I
Into the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
And if we gather, if we fall
Over the great unknown
Things are gonna change in our favor
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