The stanza from the previous post should drop a hint

I am, am, in love, in love with Taken By Cars. The last time I hunted, stalked MTV and MYX (yes, even MYX) for a video is with Madonna's Ray of Light.

I am such a stalker that hours ago, I played my first YouTube video. In the same breath, I played my first MySpace song. Correctly guessed: it's the band's hypnotic song Uh Oh.

I played the video and danced to the song too many times and with an earplug (Tatay was watching TV and the computer is a sneeze away) my right ear is starting to numb.

At first, I was a reluctant fan, owing to my ignorant 'issues' with what my roommate Jamie and I derisively refer to as 'Ateneo Rock.' (Laced in this mini-debate is the lament as to why UP Rock is so, well, Kamikazee.)

I would normally air my usual input - the former has better influences (possibly more hip, more sophisticated). Hell, they probably have more money to buy the CDs - wait, nobody buys CDs anymore. I don't know anymore. All I know is, me by myself, my days of religiously buying Spin magazine and taking a risk with bands whose CDs I buy because the cover art is weird enough, will never get to hear of bands such as The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, etc. if not for music snobs like Paolo.

I was more adventurous with my music back in the day. Bought more song magazines, er, songhits, more tapes and CDs, more music magazines (Rolling Stone, Spin), watched more gigs, was more fervent a fan (was never a groupie).

Somehow, things ebbed and eventually stopped, then died. (Or was it ebbed, died and stopped? Stopped, ebbed and died?)

Oh, well.

I'll say it again. And make a pact with myself - I'll get to see a gig of theirs before...for now I'll say 'before they disband.'

It's like my Chicken Joy syndrome. I'll consume and consume something/someone over and over and over and over, until it's all pulp, chewed out of their relevance and taste, devoid of history and memory. Then it'll no longer be something that surprises when chanced upon at the odd hour. Yes, when it's no longer a drug. You don't remember why you loved it in the first place.