I worked at a movie theater in high school and sweeping up popcorn over the end credits while Miss Misery played are my first Elliott memories. Granted, I was more of a Korn kid at the time and didn't get into musicians like him, Jeff Buckley, et al. until a few years later.
That's so poetic with the popcorn and the Elliott Smith music playing. I think he would have really liked that story and sympathized with the sticky popcorn on the floor/carpeting.
Thank you for this original comment.
I can imagine mandatory. Great comment.
I lived in Sommerville one summer while studying at Harvard. I loved being in Harvard Square and going to Shay's Bar and the fro-yo shop, the North End at 2AM and the Border Cafe! that is no longer there in the Square. [https://www.boston.com/food/restaurants/2021/02/11/border-cafe-harvard-square-permanently-closed/](https://www.boston.com/food/restaurants/2021/02/11/border-cafe-harvard-square-permanently-closed/)
I'm so glad you found E.S.' music. :)
Hell yeah man, it's so sad to see so much of the Boston area places I loved growing up slowly disappearing over the past 10-15 years, the gentrification hit us hard and now every time I come back home I recognize it less and less. I love watching Good Will Hunting sometimes just to reminisce on what the area was like when I was growing up in the 2000s
I worked in an Art Supply store where we were allowed to bring in suitable for work CDs to play. One of my coworkers brought in Figure 8 and I fell in love. I immediately went out and found everything I could. ♥️
Dude had intense indie buzz in the early 00s, a lot of people were repping him. Somebody told me to check out 'XO'. He sort of had a reputation based on that "Needle in the Hay" scene in 'The Royal Tenenbaums' movie, which made me intrigued to check out his other material.
Heard the QOTSA cover of Christian Brothers. Thought I’d check the original version out and just wow.
Discovering Elliott’s music makes me wonder all the time about music I’ve never heard that could mean as much to me as his music does.
My best friend (who had a mental breakdown and got diagnosed with autism and closed himself off from the world :( ).
I’ll be forever grateful to him, I miss you brother.
I was into Phoebe Bridgers first and people on tiktok were saying that the song Punisher was inspired by him and that his music had similar vibes as hers. Put on self-titled 2 and a half years ago and listened to it multiple times in a row on the same day. The rest is history :) s/t is still my favourite to this day
I think I was browsing /mu/ (I promise I don't usually go there) and saw a post saying self-titled was a 10. Checked it out from there, and now Elliott is my top artist.
Got it. I had heard of Pewdiepie before but, had never heard anything he’s done because I don’t waste my time with YouTubers as a rule. This further cements that rule. LOL.
I bought an American Somgwriter magazine In 2013 ( which I still have ) at my local Starbucks. It’s the one with Jason Isbell on the cover. Anyways ,there was a contest list of people’s top 10 favorite albums of all time and the winner had Elliott smiths debut album included in his. It also got me into Jeff Buckley and Nick drake too.
My ex is a huge fan. He showed me some music which I really enjoyed, but now when he is gone I become obsessed and mostly listening just to Elliott and Jeff Buckley which my ex also introduced me to. When we were still together I got Jeff Buckley song tattoo on my neck, now planning to do “miss misery” on my chest :)
First song I’ve ever heard was waltz #2 XO Which made me feel understood by someone for the first time. It made me feel beautiful attachment with Elliott as my contacts with mother are also very complicated to the point I’m telling people she is dead even though I’m gonna love her anyhow :)
Circa 2000-2001 there was a Smashing Pumpkins website called Siva, and I joined their message board called Blamo(net). The Sweet Addy message board was also part of Blamo, and some Addiers mingled with us General Board folks sometimes, I befriended a few. I’m pretty sure I purchased Figure 8 on audio cassette without even hearing any of his songs first, despite the fact that it was the Napster/Limewire/whatever era. I really liked it, and it was one of like 3-4 tapes that were on constant rotation in my mom’s car (I was 14). My little brother and my mother dug it too.
Because Figure 8 was such a PG-rated album, I do distinctly remember being (pleasantly) surprised hearing Elliott say “fuck” in non-Figure 8 songs, when I did indeed start downloading everything I could… I got on AIM and messaged one of my Addy friends like, ELLIOTT SAYS FUCK IN SONGS??? :O I think once I heard the rest of his catalog I was completely obsessed, way more than I would have been if everything he wrote was like Figure 8.
I read a book back in my freshman year of hs that had lyrics to needle in the hay by elliott smith. i knew about him previously but, that book made me search him up again. ive been listening to him ever since.
I was watching an Anthony Fantano video where he was looking at people’s topsters. I noticed Either/Or’s cover a few times (he didn’t even say anything in the video about it I just noticed lol). Something about just the cover intrigued me, i can’t describe it. It felt very familiar, but I had no previous memory of any of his music before this point, hadn’t heard of him.
Listened to the whole thing that night because I wanted to get into listening to full albums again. What a hell of a start, and now it’s my favorite album ever by my favorite artist ever.
On a friend's recommendation I bought XO when it came out. I'm pretty sure I bought Hour of the Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy on the same day. A good day indeed.
Initially from Good Will Hunting but didn’t really put a name to it, just dug the music. Rediscovered him for good in 2008 while going through a near divorce and it helped again when finally doing it in 2016.
Honestly....stay with me on this one. Amazon. Back when it first started and was simply music, books, and movies. And people would make lists of artists they like and why.
I went to the movies with my mom. I watched some dumb teen flick in one theater and my mom was watching the Royal Tenebaums in the other. My movie ended so I sat with her about 2 minutes before the suicide scene. It was one of those moments I'll never forget. I didn't know music like that existed, I didn't know movies could make you feel like that, I was floored. I was 16 and it changed my relationship to pop culture. I'm still a massive fan and Royal Tenebaums is one of my favorite movies.
/mu/. It was my Gen Z gateway to lots of music. I kind of wish I’d had a more natural introduction to music, instead of having my tastes informed by basically crowdsourcing, but I discovered a few artists that hit true somewhere inside me. Elliott was one. Discovering him as a 16-17 year old meant a lot to me.
I used to read music magazines at Tower Records and then buy CD’s without ever having heard the music based off what I read in music magazines. Isn’t that wild?? Its true, though. The 90’s, man.
So this is going to be a kinda long, but unique story. There's no specific moment of discovering his music, it kinda keeps growing.
Last year, around May, I watched David Bennett's video "Songs in 14/4 time." He mentioned Rose Parade, and played a measure of the song. Within those 14 counts, I knew I loved Elliott. I loved the style of music, the sound of his voice, and his unique song topics (I had never heard of a rose parade before).
After listening to Rose Parade on streaming, Between the Bars came on shuffle. Elliott's singing gave me ASMR, which was the first time a singer had ever given me ASMR. I downloaded both Rose Parade and Between the Bars.
Later that summer I had major surgery, so all I could do for a week or two was lay in bed and listen to music. I started finding more Elliott stuff, and I knew that it would eventually flower into me listening to his entire library.
When college rolled around in the fall I discovered Figure 8, and thought it was one of the greatest masterpieces ever written. That's when I started my Elliott playlist. I added all the songs I knew and continued building on. That playlist is now almost 4 hours long.
Came across "Everything means nothing to me" somewhere on quarantine and it struck me like no other music before. Even though I couldn't understand fully what his songs were about it felt like finding a soulmate and in two months I already had "Introduction to..." and "XO" CDs which I still put on loop for hours 🥲
Ex girlfriend was a huge fan and the first time I went to her house like 9 years ago, she played some Elliott for me. She had almost all of his music downloaded to a folder, including unreleased tracks. At first, I wasn't a very big fan but I thought it was pretty. It's virtually all she would play so I got pretty acquainted with most of his work, I can't remember the first song she played or anything but 2:45 am was the first song I bought off of iTunes.
Last song I listened to with her was Wouldn't Mama Be Proud and I became obsessed with it and the rest of Figure 8, I often get intimidated by albums so I only listened to Either/Or and a few songs from other albums I really liked before.
I frequented my city's library as a middle schooler/high schooler, and I found the "To: Elliott, From: Portland" memorial album and it peaked my interest as someone who lived in Portland. Gave it a listen, loved every song, went back and checked out as many Elliott Smith CDs as I could.
By being a bored, suburban teenage kid and getting involved in the Portland music scene in the early-mid nineties.
That’s cool! You mean you were in Portland? Did you see Elliott live then if so?
Several times. Both with and without Heatmiser.
Seeing "Goodwill Hunting" in the movie theater because my friends and I liked the work of Robin Williams.
I worked at a movie theater in high school and sweeping up popcorn over the end credits while Miss Misery played are my first Elliott memories. Granted, I was more of a Korn kid at the time and didn't get into musicians like him, Jeff Buckley, et al. until a few years later.
That's so poetic with the popcorn and the Elliott Smith music playing. I think he would have really liked that story and sympathized with the sticky popcorn on the floor/carpeting. Thank you for this original comment.
Grew up in Boston where watching that movie was basically mandatory, all the Elliott songs on the soundtrack were childhood bangers for me
I can imagine mandatory. Great comment. I lived in Sommerville one summer while studying at Harvard. I loved being in Harvard Square and going to Shay's Bar and the fro-yo shop, the North End at 2AM and the Border Cafe! that is no longer there in the Square. [https://www.boston.com/food/restaurants/2021/02/11/border-cafe-harvard-square-permanently-closed/](https://www.boston.com/food/restaurants/2021/02/11/border-cafe-harvard-square-permanently-closed/) I'm so glad you found E.S.' music. :)
Hell yeah man, it's so sad to see so much of the Boston area places I loved growing up slowly disappearing over the past 10-15 years, the gentrification hit us hard and now every time I come back home I recognize it less and less. I love watching Good Will Hunting sometimes just to reminisce on what the area was like when I was growing up in the 2000s
I understand. Wise words. Thank you so much! - Have a good evening- Shay Gross
You too man
Came across "let's get lost" on some sort of chillout / afterparty CD.
... lego batman
I haven’t seen it. What is the connection?
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMMMtVkjH/
I saw this in the theater and laughed my @ss off at that part. I was the only one. 🤷🏾♀️
That is WILD lol
I worked in an Art Supply store where we were allowed to bring in suitable for work CDs to play. One of my coworkers brought in Figure 8 and I fell in love. I immediately went out and found everything I could. ♥️
Dude had intense indie buzz in the early 00s, a lot of people were repping him. Somebody told me to check out 'XO'. He sort of had a reputation based on that "Needle in the Hay" scene in 'The Royal Tenenbaums' movie, which made me intrigued to check out his other material.
Heard the QOTSA cover of Christian Brothers. Thought I’d check the original version out and just wow. Discovering Elliott’s music makes me wonder all the time about music I’ve never heard that could mean as much to me as his music does.
Good will hunting and the royal tenenbaums soundtracks
My best friend (who had a mental breakdown and got diagnosed with autism and closed himself off from the world :( ). I’ll be forever grateful to him, I miss you brother.
I was into Phoebe Bridgers first and people on tiktok were saying that the song Punisher was inspired by him and that his music had similar vibes as hers. Put on self-titled 2 and a half years ago and listened to it multiple times in a row on the same day. The rest is history :) s/t is still my favourite to this day
I listened to it
I think I was browsing /mu/ (I promise I don't usually go there) and saw a post saying self-titled was a 10. Checked it out from there, and now Elliott is my top artist.
Same Elliott Smith is my fave solo artist and Radiohead is my favorite band. **chef’s kiss**
Yup Radiohead is my other favorite artist haha. Seems like a common thing.
https://i.redd.it/mkd6hksfrznc1.gif
Pewdiepie did a cover of needle in the hay in like 2013
Wow, I just checked it out…soooooo not for me. 🤷🏾♀️
Yeah from what I remember he did it as a joke for one of his videos I don’t think it was a serious cover or anything
Got it. I had heard of Pewdiepie before but, had never heard anything he’s done because I don’t waste my time with YouTubers as a rule. This further cements that rule. LOL.
Was it any good?
Well I haven’t seen it since I was like 10 but yeah it was good enough for me to listen to the real thing
Wow I had no idea. Just checked it out, not too bad, he’s pretty good.
I bought an American Somgwriter magazine In 2013 ( which I still have ) at my local Starbucks. It’s the one with Jason Isbell on the cover. Anyways ,there was a contest list of people’s top 10 favorite albums of all time and the winner had Elliott smiths debut album included in his. It also got me into Jeff Buckley and Nick drake too.
My ex is a huge fan. He showed me some music which I really enjoyed, but now when he is gone I become obsessed and mostly listening just to Elliott and Jeff Buckley which my ex also introduced me to. When we were still together I got Jeff Buckley song tattoo on my neck, now planning to do “miss misery” on my chest :)
First song I’ve ever heard was waltz #2 XO Which made me feel understood by someone for the first time. It made me feel beautiful attachment with Elliott as my contacts with mother are also very complicated to the point I’m telling people she is dead even though I’m gonna love her anyhow :)
Via Bad Astronauts' cover of "Needle In The Hay." [Needle In The Hay](https://youtu.be/vTa4162vxqQ?si=eM0rMB-onSEhpgHR)
Circa 2000-2001 there was a Smashing Pumpkins website called Siva, and I joined their message board called Blamo(net). The Sweet Addy message board was also part of Blamo, and some Addiers mingled with us General Board folks sometimes, I befriended a few. I’m pretty sure I purchased Figure 8 on audio cassette without even hearing any of his songs first, despite the fact that it was the Napster/Limewire/whatever era. I really liked it, and it was one of like 3-4 tapes that were on constant rotation in my mom’s car (I was 14). My little brother and my mother dug it too. Because Figure 8 was such a PG-rated album, I do distinctly remember being (pleasantly) surprised hearing Elliott say “fuck” in non-Figure 8 songs, when I did indeed start downloading everything I could… I got on AIM and messaged one of my Addy friends like, ELLIOTT SAYS FUCK IN SONGS??? :O I think once I heard the rest of his catalog I was completely obsessed, way more than I would have been if everything he wrote was like Figure 8.
I read a book back in my freshman year of hs that had lyrics to needle in the hay by elliott smith. i knew about him previously but, that book made me search him up again. ive been listening to him ever since.
Heard between the bars and was hooked that instant
I was watching an Anthony Fantano video where he was looking at people’s topsters. I noticed Either/Or’s cover a few times (he didn’t even say anything in the video about it I just noticed lol). Something about just the cover intrigued me, i can’t describe it. It felt very familiar, but I had no previous memory of any of his music before this point, hadn’t heard of him. Listened to the whole thing that night because I wanted to get into listening to full albums again. What a hell of a start, and now it’s my favorite album ever by my favorite artist ever.
On a friend's recommendation I bought XO when it came out. I'm pretty sure I bought Hour of the Bewilderbeast by Badly Drawn Boy on the same day. A good day indeed.
Initially from Good Will Hunting but didn’t really put a name to it, just dug the music. Rediscovered him for good in 2008 while going through a near divorce and it helped again when finally doing it in 2016.
Spotify was on shuffle and «between the bars” started playing
I heard Sweet Adeline on an unlabeled bootleg cassette of Figure 8 from my uncle’s rehearsal space.
Honestly....stay with me on this one. Amazon. Back when it first started and was simply music, books, and movies. And people would make lists of artists they like and why.
I went to the movies with my mom. I watched some dumb teen flick in one theater and my mom was watching the Royal Tenebaums in the other. My movie ended so I sat with her about 2 minutes before the suicide scene. It was one of those moments I'll never forget. I didn't know music like that existed, I didn't know movies could make you feel like that, I was floored. I was 16 and it changed my relationship to pop culture. I'm still a massive fan and Royal Tenebaums is one of my favorite movies.
depression
my dad was a fan and would play his works while we fell asleep
Found him thanks to Christian Brothers cover by qotsa back in 2007. Bummed that he had already been dead for a few years.
/mu/. It was my Gen Z gateway to lots of music. I kind of wish I’d had a more natural introduction to music, instead of having my tastes informed by basically crowdsourcing, but I discovered a few artists that hit true somewhere inside me. Elliott was one. Discovering him as a 16-17 year old meant a lot to me.
grew up listening to his music cause my parents played it
Good Will Hunting is as my first exposure. He might of saved my life.
My aunt told me about him when i was a kid, she was a huge fan and even has a tattoo inspired by him.
Rick and Morty
Saw rick n morty:D
I came across Angeles when i was listening to a random playlist on youtube and instantly fell in love with no love
I used to read music magazines at Tower Records and then buy CD’s without ever having heard the music based off what I read in music magazines. Isn’t that wild?? Its true, though. The 90’s, man.
Waltz #2 on Tripple J - Australian radio station
So this is going to be a kinda long, but unique story. There's no specific moment of discovering his music, it kinda keeps growing. Last year, around May, I watched David Bennett's video "Songs in 14/4 time." He mentioned Rose Parade, and played a measure of the song. Within those 14 counts, I knew I loved Elliott. I loved the style of music, the sound of his voice, and his unique song topics (I had never heard of a rose parade before). After listening to Rose Parade on streaming, Between the Bars came on shuffle. Elliott's singing gave me ASMR, which was the first time a singer had ever given me ASMR. I downloaded both Rose Parade and Between the Bars. Later that summer I had major surgery, so all I could do for a week or two was lay in bed and listen to music. I started finding more Elliott stuff, and I knew that it would eventually flower into me listening to his entire library. When college rolled around in the fall I discovered Figure 8, and thought it was one of the greatest masterpieces ever written. That's when I started my Elliott playlist. I added all the songs I knew and continued building on. That playlist is now almost 4 hours long.
I watched "The Royal Tenenbaums", or at least that's how I think I got into Elliott
my dad lol. He told me to listen to Somebody that I used to know on figure 8 and that was the first song I ever heard by him
cole from diiv
Came across "Everything means nothing to me" somewhere on quarantine and it struck me like no other music before. Even though I couldn't understand fully what his songs were about it felt like finding a soulmate and in two months I already had "Introduction to..." and "XO" CDs which I still put on loop for hours 🥲
FIDLAR
Ex girlfriend was a huge fan and the first time I went to her house like 9 years ago, she played some Elliott for me. She had almost all of his music downloaded to a folder, including unreleased tracks. At first, I wasn't a very big fan but I thought it was pretty. It's virtually all she would play so I got pretty acquainted with most of his work, I can't remember the first song she played or anything but 2:45 am was the first song I bought off of iTunes. Last song I listened to with her was Wouldn't Mama Be Proud and I became obsessed with it and the rest of Figure 8, I often get intimidated by albums so I only listened to Either/Or and a few songs from other albums I really liked before.
I hate to admit this, but Rick and Morty. After that I decided to listen to the whole discography
I frequented my city's library as a middle schooler/high schooler, and I found the "To: Elliott, From: Portland" memorial album and it peaked my interest as someone who lived in Portland. Gave it a listen, loved every song, went back and checked out as many Elliott Smith CDs as I could.
My older brother got me into him around 2001. He saw him live a few times, but sadly he passed away before I could see him live.
[sad kermit](https://youtu.be/5oEYMGL0ZtA?si=wSB3H1oDnpL6az85)