Amanda Hocking

I wrote a whole blog and just deleted it. It was a bit of an industry post, but you know what? I don’t want to write an industry post.

My shoulder is feeling better (thanks everybody for your well wishes). I do think I’m going to see about getting a massage or something this week, because it’s still sore and weird. I also ordered one of those back support things that pulls your shoulders back. I think I slouch too much when I write.

Anyway, my back was feeling good enough so I could some of the writing done that I needed to get done. So yay to that!

But mostly what I want to talk about is how neat Daniel Johns is. Every few months, I remember how much I enjoy Daniel Johns and Silverchair, and I start getting really antsy for a new album. If you caught my Top Ten Albums of 2000 Through 2010 list, then you saw that Silverchair’s Young Modern is #1 album on my list.

Look, America, I get it. It’s confusing at first. Frogstomp was all grungy, and it was these three pretty kids that look like a cross between Hanson and Nirvana. And then they had Freak Show, which musically was along the same lines, but when Neon Ballroom came out, it started changing. But expect these pretty grunge boys, and Young Modern comes out, it’s on a completely different level.

When I downloaded Young Modern, I instantly thought it was a mistake. That did not sound like Silverchair. But it was. Once you get past that it’s Silverchair, and you get past that’s it not completely what you expected it to be, you realize that it’s something even better.

After I got it, I had to set Young Modern away for awhile. I was like, “No. I don’t enjoy this.” But I was wrong. For some reason, I listened to the album again a few months later, and I’ve been in love ever since. I just think it’s totally and completely brilliant, and the most underrated album in America in the last decade.

Sometimes, when I listen to it, and realize that most people in the US don’t listen to it or haven’t even heard of it, I think I really need to move to Australia. And that’s not drastic at all. The album is so good I would be completely justified in moving across the world to live where the album is appreciated.

According to what Wikipedia told me that Daniel Johns said, they were working on their next album in late 2009. Now, I don’t want to rush the process (not that I think I am, because I sincerely doubt Daniel Johns reads my blog), but I am ready for a new album. Beyond ready. 

Also, I am a massive fan of Daniel Johns, but my fandom is very complicated. I can’t even explain it. But all my feelings about him are positive, even if I don’t understand them. They feel all tied up in other emotions and nostalgia for something that I don’t even know what it is.

Anyway – the moral is: Silverchair should come out with a new album. You should all go buy and listen to Young Modern. Daniel Johns is really pretty.

(I unexpectedly find his new scruffed up black-eyed look more attractive than his effeminate pretty look.)

Here’s “Straight Lines” by Silverchair for your listening/viewing pleasure (hey, if my mom is reading this, this is the song that’s been your ringtone on my phone for the past four years.)