The late nineties and early ohs presented us with many progressive bands that had a similar feel to their angst-ridden sound. Not that that’s a bad thing; there’s something comforting in commonality. There are several songs on this year’s countdown by bands in this genre.The Verve Pipe is known for their one-hit wonder called the Freshman. It garnered a ton of airplay in 1996 and 97. But the song I love by this obscure band is called La La. It wasn’t even released as a single, so finding a video for it was impossible. And I actually had never heard this song until I started working at Cablevision. We were testing out a music partner called Rhapsody, so my account was complimentary as long as I provided feedback from a beta tester standpoint. I came upon La La quite randomly. Lead singer Brian Vander Ark’s voice is distinct and raspy-sweet, and the song starts out quiet but soon erupts with a beautiful rock melody with harmonies reminiscent of the ones I loved by the band Ambrosia from the seventies. I love pretty much everything about this song and I am glad I discovered it. It brings me a sense of roots, of both longing and belonging. Today is November 5th and it would have been my 17th anniversary at Cablevision. This song and that date will forever be tethered.
From the historical writing archive. Original date: November 6, 2018. Recovered from local source material; editorial review is still in progress.