Stub Stories #9

SOUL ASYLUM

1990. I have no recollection of who I went with to this show so I'll say it was my roommate at the time Steve Judge. We drove from Raleigh to Chapel Hill to see Soul Asylum. (Just for reference, this was 2 years before their big hit "Runaway Train".) Arriving in Chapel Hill early I wandered around Franklin St. I ended up in Record Exchange. It has always been easy for me to kill time in record store. 

While searching through the used CD's I noticed that Dave Pirner, the dreadlocked singer of Soul Asylum, and his guitarist were next to me. So I said that I was a fan and I was going to see them that night and I asked if they would be playing the "P-9" from a 1989 EP. It was a favorite song at the time and the only song off the EP that they made a video for, as far as I know. Dave and his guitarist looked at each other, chuckled, and walked away. No answer. Just a condescending chuckle. This was a critical moment in my Soul Asylum relationship. The moment it ended.

I saw Soul Asylum that night at the Cat's Cradle even though I was ready to go home after my encounter with them at the Record Exchange. I don't remember anything about the show. It probably sucked. I just remember that they didn't play "P-9" and that was the night I completely lost interest in Soul Asylum. A couple years later they rocketed to fame with their lame song "Runaway Train" and I didn't care. Dave Pirner dated Winona Ryder and I didn't care. They turned out to be a one hit wonder and I didn't care. 

Just last week I was thinking about the song "P-9". I hadn't heard it in years. I looked it up on youtube and found the video. It is still a good song. I guess I am over the fact that they are assholes and I can listen to them again. Check out the video.