During my drive to Orange County last Thursday I was faced with the daunting task of figuring out what exactly it was I wanted to listen to. After several minutes of struggling I finally came upon Animal Collective's latest LP
Merriweather Post Pavilion. The album released late in January 2009, leaked via the internet weeks earlier, and featured songs the band had been playing live since 2007. In other words, everyone in the world of music snobbery had anticipated
Merriweather Post Pavilion and had expected it to be good. Before my drive I had listened to the album only a handful of times. I liked it and thought it was excellent, but it was not until I sat in my blue Honda barreling up Interstate 5 at over 80 MPH with the music pumping through the car speakers that I really paid the right amount attention to the album and what I discovered shocked me.
Merriweather Post Pavilion was neither good nor excellent. It is one of the best albums of my lifetime.
The purpose of this trek to my home county of Orange was to attend and be a part of my best friend's wedding which took place this past Saturday. I had the honor of being a best man to the groom which also meant I had the privilege of giving a toast in front of the large group of people who came to celebrate this occasion with the happy couple. While my speech was very well received, it was the words of the Maid of Honor that stuck with me more than any others.
"When Gigi [the bride] and I were young," the Maid of Honor said smiling while at the same time trying her best to hold back the tears. "She would always talk about this man she was going to marry." The Maid of Honor then listed off the seemingly impossible characteristics of this man the bride in her youth yearned to find. She continued, "I asked Gigi, 'Where in the world are you going to find this man and does he have a brother?'" The crowd gave a roar of laughter before the Maid of Honor explained that the bride had indeed found that impossible man in the groom, not before assuring her significant other that she no longer is looking for the brother. That the sentiment of the Maid of Honor’s toast induced a storm of reflection within me was no surprise.
“You two would never work,” a friend said to me recently about myself and a girl I, once upon a time, was very interested in. “You’re too similar in a bad way. You both set impossibly high standards that nobody could ever live up to.” This was not the first time my friend criticized me for my “impossibly high standards” and he is not the first person to do so. Even I have given myself a hard time for this. However, I have come to the conclusion that having such high expectations isn’t necessarily a path towards unfulfillment, and the pros of having impossible standards definitely outweigh the cons of settling for something that does not exactly fit your desires.
When bands and artists have expectations thrust upon them by fans and critics the chance that they produce failure rises exponentially (Rivers Cuomo?), but there are those who not only live up to these raised expectations, they exceed them. Animal Collective killed the expectations with
Merriweather Post Pavilion. This only happens when the bands own standards are just as impossibly high or higher than everyone else’s. MPP wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is if Animal Collective went into recording with the mindset that they had to be “realistic” about the goals they wanted to set for this album. Animal Collective wanted to make the best album they could possibly make. They took the time to master their songs, and when they did they put them together and formed what will be number one on all those crazy best of lists at the end of the year.
There’s no reason not to have this same mindset in any aspect of your life, especially in regards to a romantic partner. Gigi had ridiculous expectations regarding the man she would ultimately marry. Those expectations were met, and, in the opinion of one of the guy‘s best friends (and I‘m willing to bet in her opinion too), exceeded. If she hadn’t been so picky she’d most likely end up settling for someone with whom she’d never truly be happy, but that’s not the case. She found her man, because impossible standards are possible.
This past weekend, in discovering the absolute excellence of
Merriweather Post Pavilion and in hearing a touching toast from a beautiful bride’s maid of honor, I was given the reassurance that my friend is wrong to criticize me, because greatness comes from raising expectations, and we should always only want the great.
Before I go I want to make one more quick tie between
Merriweather Post Pavilion and my friends’ wedding.
MPP is considered by most to be the more mature side of Animal Collective in sound, and especially with lyrics such as, “I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status. I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls.” Much of the themes of MPP touch on prioritizing the more important things in life such as taking care of ones family.
When the groom was finally able to kiss the bride this past Saturday afternoon I was reminded of what marriage means to me. I have always seen it as another step to getting old, and, well, it is.
MPP and my friends’ marriage all point to the inevitableness that is growing old, but both do so in a way that is not as scary as it was before. Because if getting old sounds as kick ass as
Merriweather Post Pavilion sounds, if it puts that certain smile on my face that would not leave my friends on their wedding day, then why the hell not? Maybe it is time to get a little old. I’m ready.
Standout
Merriweather Post Pavilion Tracks: All of them, but if you’re going to be like that:
My Girls
Guys Eyes
Brother Sport
oh just listen to the whole thing.
NOTE: This is unedited. Forgive me.Labels: Animal Collective, expectations, marriage, Merriweather Post Pavilion, relationships, wedding