Given that I’m referencing UNDER THE PINK instead of LITTLE EARTHQUAKES, that definitely sets a specific range of time as to when I was introduced to Tori. (Although I do remember vividly recall seeing the ‘Crucify’ video on MTV.)
So, first, the preamble: my best friend and I were infatuated with Tori Amos in our youth, to the point where we were endlessly watching bootleg live VHS recordings.
It just so happened Tori had booked an appearance for her UNDER THE PINK tour at what was essentially a high school theater in Burlington, Vermont, my nighttime home, and my English teacher? Inexplicably, he was working security and he knew I was a fan — I’ll note he was one of the best teachers ever as he was the kind of teacher that intuited what you were into and he’d press all of the works youreally needed to read to you — and he said: “I can get you backstage if you want!”
Obviously, I was elated and very excited.
“There are too many stars and not enough sky…”
We attended the show and loved the music and the performance, but were soured by the crowd patter, which were refrains of prior shows we’d already watched via our bootleg tapes. Consequently, we opted not to go backstage, which might have been a mistake — she is an exacting performer who knows what her audience wants — but we were so disheartened to see the routine of touring and dealing with fans that we didn’t want to put her through more of it.
My teacher did ask me later as to why we didn’t show up and I explained it through a lot of vagaries and white lies. I certainly appreciated his effort but simply: I didn’t want to deal with artifice and I spoke around that.
I will note: I still have the t-shirt from that tour. I rarely wore it, as it’s a white t-shirt and I was a gothling, but I hope I’ll never have to find another home for it.
Nonetheless: UNDER THE PINK is one hell of an album, from start to finish. There’s not a bad song in the bunch; it’s all carefully calibrated emotional catharsis. There are more electronics and strings swelling here and there than with LITTLE EARTHQUAKES — she certainly has a far larger budget and it definitely does not consist of the stripped-down piano barebones of LITTLE EARTHQUAKES — but it’s always in service to the work, as opposed to simply being ornamental.
Tori is not subtle; so many of her songs are overtly about abuse and trauma and coping and religion, but all of that was catnip to troubled teens like myself, and still soothes to this day.
There is a newly remastered version of UNDER THE PINK which, honestly, I think is a bit too clean, but it’s still a great version. Highlights include: ‘God’, ‘Icicle’, and of course ‘Cornflake Girl’ and ‘The Waitress’.
One last note: I do love LITTLE EARTHQUAKES as well as quite a bit of post-UNDER THE PINK work, but UNDER THE PINK resonates the most for me.
“I BELIEVE IN PEACE. I BELIEVE IN PEACE, BITCH!”