Mario C Likes to Keep it Clean

Alright, I just have to quickly document something that pisses J. Tron 9000 and myself off more than almost anything in this store: people coming in here and complaining about our music. We already lost one customer because he said I acted snidely towards him after he badmouthed Yann Tiersen, the French genius behind the soundtrack to "Amelie." (In actuality, I just acted hastily, wanting him and his awful taste to get out of the store as quickly as possible. He took it to a much more severe place, wrote a letter to Paul, and never came back. Oh well.)

Anyway, so this woman comes in and goes: "How do you listen to this music? It's driving me crazy." Now, sometimes I'll actually side with the customer. If I was playing Aphex Twin or the second DFA compilation I can understand how people would get annoyed or perplexed (because they have). But the album I was listening to was the Beastie Boys' "Hello Nasty," a delicious and entirely accessible dance/rap/pop record.

"Well," I said, "be glad that I don't go into your home and insult your music."

And what's more - "Hello Nasty" was a wild critical and commercial success. I looked up the Rolling Stone review and it gave it FOUR STARS, calling it a "ludicrously fabulous, oftmanic, sometimes mellow twenty-two-song long player." Fuck off, woman.

This is the first Friday when I haven't had to jockey with Kevin for control of the CD player (he mostly likes to listen to really bad AM radio soft jazz and shitty, fluffy rock), and this ho comes in here and starts badmouthing my close, personal friends The Boys. (We met them last fall. Honest.)

I mean, give us a break: we have to stand behind a counter all day and get yelled at and bossed around by our angry Greek boss and most of the general public (some of whom are both angry and Greek). Let us listen to what we want to listen to, shut the fuck up, and let us assist you in a kind and pleasant fashion.