I was in 8th grade when it came out. I remember it like it was yesterday. I couldn’t wait to open it. It seemed as if it weighed twelve pounds and was made from solid platinum. The 2-cd set of Guns n’ Roses Use Your Illusion box set was the biggest thing in my life at the time.
I just assumed that it was the biggest thing in everyone’s life. I lived and breathed Use Your Illusion….the blue one, Number II. There were many fights to be had over which cd was better- the blue one or the red one. Number I or Number II. That is how important it was, it was worth fighting over.
Last week, when I saw the artwork come across my Spotify, I drifted away. I went back to a time in my life where energy flowed freely and containing it was my biggest obstacle. I used to get so geared up about things that I could sense a trip to the principal’s office was on its way. Time took care of that.
On some level, I grew out of excitement. I let myself give up adrenaline-filled surges in the name of maturity. I was taught to “calm-down”, things weren’t that big of a deal. I needed to “get ahold of myself”. And here I am, 43 years old and wondering why I don’t allow myself to be moved by things the way that a box set of cd’s used to move me thirteen years ago.
Fuck that.
Keeping calm and containing excitement for the sake of maturity is a bad exchange.
*Side-note- November Rain was on Illusion I, the weaker of the two, but Slash’s guitar solo about seven minutes in will change your life.