Grade nine was the year that my preferences in music became more my own, and less a blend of what my parents had instilled in me and what the radio and my classmates dictated I should like.  This isn’t to say that the music of those days is no longer a part of my music collection; much of it, especially what I was raised on, is still beloved.  But grade nine was when I branched away from rap and dance into rock and singer-songwriter works.

One of the staple albums of my youth was The Offspring’s Smash.  Even now, I return to that album in angrier moments, finding release in singing along to the songs I still know every word to, even now.  This track was my favourite on the album, capturing perfectly (unbeknownst to myself) the way depression was insinuating its way into my daily life.  I often felt alone, rejected, yet trapped inside my own skin, in those years.  A few years later, when departing this world seemed a welcome thought, it wasn’t so much that I wished to be dead.

I just wanted to get away from me.

Day 246:  Gotta Get Away – The Offspring

Bonus: I once made a Lost fanvid using a song from the same album.  An ode to Charlie!