Lithium is My Chemical Romance

“Love is like a bomb” – Pour Some Sugar On Me, Def Leppard

In 1958, Scientist developed a cheap H-Bomb using Lithium, atomic #3.  

In 1959, musical humorist, Tom Lehrer, recites the names of all the chemicals known at the time, sung to the tune of the Major-General’s Song from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan.  I could nearly sing the whole song as a kid and recite each chemical with it’s atomic number.  

PRETTY WOMAN QUOTE: 

Old Lady at Opera: Did you like the opera, dear?

Vivian: It was so good, I almost peed my pants

Edward Lewis:  She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance

The character Edward Lewis was named for my grandfather, who started his ministry in Georgia the 1930’s, his middle name was Edward and his grandmother’s maiden name was Lewis.  The character Vivian for Vivian Leigh who starred in A Street Car Named Desire (which inspired Heart Shaped Box) and as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind (which partly was my inspiration for the Goth meets Scarlett look for Amy Lynn Hartzler).  Michael Hutchence’s brother’s name is Rhett.  

My grandfather’s first name was Miles and in Kurt Cobain’s journal under the title Uncertainty wrote “I wish someone could explain to me why exactly I have no desire to learn anymore, why I used to have so much energy, and the need to search for Miles…” 

When Michael Jackson brought Madonna to meet me and talk about the songs, we also discussed her fashion.  I had mentioned after seeing her first music video for “Everybody” I was concerned her fashion did not only match her voice, sound, or dance style, but also did not have national appeal for girls who would want to imitate her.  I was a fan of Prince’s girl group Vanity 6 and the Goth girl at heart loved Billy Idol’s music video for the ’82 White Wedding. 

I told her about an article titled “Boy’s Toy turns out to be a bomb” in Oxford, Alabama and bombs being a “theme” of some sort in my songs.  At first we discussed making a necklace that said Boy Toy.  Instead we decided it would not be large enough and talked about it being a belt.  She agreed to think about it.

Even in the best families bad things happen.  My adopted father had been the one who had hoped for stardom as an artist.  He went to college on a music scholarship playing the drums and had been in a jazz band.  His true wish, which we all thought was silly, had been to become the next Pat Boone.  Over the years he seemed to disappear more and more into a bottle of vodka as reality set in on him and the most he could hope for was to lead the service at church in song.  Most of the members at church did not notice his behavior.  Finally, my parents divorced in the Spring of 1983 before the Def Leppard concert in May. 

While scouring news articles for ideas to write songs I came across one mentioning Lithium as a way to reduce alcohol craving.  I was interested in the study for my dad.       

 All these things inspired the idea for the songs Lithium both performed by Nirvana and by Evanescence.  

I also tended to use the number 3 in songs, actually I liked using numbers in songs, eventually even making up the song “3” performed by Britney Spears.

Yes, I even named the band My Chemical Romance.

Oh! Pretty Woman

In ’82 Van Halen released a cover of Roy Orbison’s song Oh!, Pretty Woman on their Diver Down album.  This is one album my brother had and I loved.  My favorites being the cover of Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) and Hang ‘Em High.  But, my all time favorite cover of Van Halen’s is Ice Cream Man, which Tommy Lee seemed to enjoy whenever I would sing it. 

Joe Elliott started paperwork getting a passport for me in the summer of ’83.  It was unknown to me his intentions, but when I returned from my grandmother’s funeral, my adopted mother’s mother, in Georgia the first of Oct ’83 everyone seemed to be upset about my disappearance. 

I told them of my grandmother’s long battle with Leukemia which she had been in remission with for years.  Joe wanted to do a movie about it, knowing I had also been babysitting off and on during the summer for a little girl in remission from Leukemia.  Kurt Cobain spoke up knowing my cousin had Type 1 Diabetes and worked for Xerox.  Of course, Kurt was a walking Encyclopedia of music and knew that Zerox was an early Adam & The Ants song.  There is actually an early home movie of Kurt trying to tear up a copy machine.   http://youtu.be/NxS_55Ql1Ks  While discussing the idea Joe came up with the title naming it Steel Magnolias released in ’89.

My adopted father’s mother, Isabel, a redhead herself, once owned a  beauty shop named Belle’s House of Beauty in Texas.   The picture is of my brother getting his first haircut.  This is where they got the idea for the beauty shop in Steel Magnolias and also name the character Belle Marmillion.

Tom Cruise would go on to adopt a little girl with Nicole Kidman and name her Isabella.

Kurt Cobain later would talk about how Nirvana would practice above a beauty shop in the early years.  My grandmother’s birthday, February 24, also happened to be the day Kurt and Courtney got married in 1992.

(My grandmother’s Social Security Card application)

 Michael Jackson knew I loved the tv show Beauty and the Beast which ran from 1987 to 1990 starring “Linda Carroll” Hamilton (Courtney Love’s mother’s name is supposedly Linda Carroll) as Belle and Ron Perlman as the Beast Vincent.  Linda Hamilton is the ex-wife of film director James Cameron (this is important and will post about the development of Titanic later).  Disney put into production the development of Belle about this time and released the animated Beauty and the Beast in 1991. 

Sometime during all of this the actor Eric Roberts found out what was going on and invited to Alabama to meet me.  His motive was in looking for scripts for his sister, Julia, another redhead. 

Plans for a trip were rescheduled for the weekend before Halloween which fell on a Monday.  I didn’t know this would mean skipping a day of school.  They dressed me in a brunette wig and large sunglasses and we left on Joe’s private plane.  We arrived in Dublin and Joe took off through customs and the airport ahead of us being mobbed by paparazzi.  I heard Kurt ask if Joe had let them know he was arriving.  Joe gave a quick interview distracting them while we finished in customs then climbed into a Range Rover.  We climbed into the Range Rover parked behind his.

The home was large, but not quite what one would call a mansion by today’s standards.  It had a mortar and rock facade in a very European style.  Joe met us at the door and came up behind me putting his hands over my eyes leading me through the front hall into the main living area.  When he took his hands away I was staring at green rolling hills through a window that spanned the length of the room.  The window was made up of panes of beveled glass which obscured the view some.  I gasped as a white hairy beast rounded one of the green mounds charging toward the home.  At first I thought it was a horse.  A few seconds later this mud covered behemoth was sitting on the white marble in front of me.  This is when I realized it wasn’t a horse at all but a dog, a Great Pyrenees actually.

Development of the script for the ’90 movie Pretty Woman was well under way on this trip and changes were being made.  Joe decided to use Lauren Bacall’s dress in the 1944 film adaption of Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not as inspiration for the “hooker dress”.

Born on the Fourth of July !Because baby you’re a firework!

“I am your living dead. I am your Memorial Day on wheels. I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy.  Your John Wayne come home.  Your Fourth of July firecracker exploding in the grave.” –  Former U.S. Marine Sergeant Ron Kovic, July 16, 1976

I really have nothing to say about the ’89 movie Born on the Fourth of July inspired by the life of former U.S. Marine Sergeant and activist Ron Kovic, except that it is a brilliant movie beautifully portrayed by my friend Tom Cruise.

The articles about Kovic did inspired me to write the song “Firework” portrayed by another of my alter egos Katy Perry.  She was given the stage name for singer, songwriter and music producer Linda Perry who claims to have written songs for artists which I actually wrote.

 This is a part of the article which I quoted above and inspired the song Firework and also Living Dead Girl performed by Rob Zombie.  His stagename “Zombie” comes from Michael Jackson’s zombies in the music video for Thriller and Rob for my dad’s name Robert.

The story behind the song Dragula released in ’98 and performed by Zombie is actually true except that I had already used “monsters” in the song Imaginary.  For some reason I started watching reruns of The Munsters, I was still just a kid.  I did suggest the jesters in the music video because of Motley Crue and for Jester call name in Top Gun.  

“Dead I am the sky, watching angels cry”

“Angels cry” was a reference to the ’98 movie City of Angels which I wrote the song Uninvited performed by Alanis Morrissette.  I will talk about the inspiration behind the movie and the song later.

“Dead I am the pool, spreading from the fool”

The pool is a reference to Def Leppard’s ’81 album cover for High ‘n’ Dry.  Kurt Cobain used this as inspiration for Nirvana’s ’91 album cover for Nevermind.  The fool is a reference to Def Leppard’s song Foolin released on their ’83 album of Pyromania.

Broken Origin

The idea for the duet Broken came directly from the lyrics of one of my favorite Def Leppard’s songs, Bringin’ On Heartbreak.

Gypsy, sittin’ lookin’ pretty
The broken rose with laughin’ eyes
You’re a mystery, always runnin’ wild
Like a child without a home
You’re always searching, searching for a feeling
That it’s easy come and easy go  –  Bringin’ On The Heartbreak, Def Leppard

Even in the lyrics for Broken I make mention of another Def Leppard song, Photograph.

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain  –  Broken, Evanescence

This was not the only time I made reference to Def Leppard’s song Bringin’ On The Heartbreak, but also when I wrote Mystify for INXS

All veils and misty
Streets of blue
Almond looks
That chill divine
Some silken moment
Goes on forever
And we’re leaving broken hearts behind

Evanescence 2003 Mystery EP takes it’s name from lyrics in Def Leppard’s Bringin On The Heartbreak.  The EP  also takes it’s name from The Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii, Italy.

In 1978, The Pompeii exhibit was touring the U.S.  My parents took me to the exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art when I was 10 years old. 

(The article to the right is a review of the exhibit in Chicago before it left for Dallas).

 I was fascinated by the exhibit and fell in love with the frescos in The Villa of Mysteries.  One particular fresco inspired Kurt Cobain’s winged mannequin on the In Utero tour.

The Firm

Top Gun was not the only movie that started being developed in ’83, but so was the ’93 movie The Firm.  I know, everyone believes it was a book published in ’91 by the Southern author John Grisham first and then was turned into a movie.   (Does anyone know bandmembers who say they are from Arkansas like Grisham? Evanescence sound familiar?)

Tom Cruise dropped his surname Mapother once he became a professional actor.  As some might not know, artists keep their press clippings.  

Some articles about a “credit attorney” from the Louisville, Kentucky firm Mapother & Mapother in a trial taking place in Washington (Kurt Cobain mentioned reading about it) kept popping up while searching for Mapother.  I even remember Tom saying he was related to them.  This may or may not be true. 

On The Firm movie soundtrack another connection to me and to Kurt Cobain was a song titled Never mind written by Harlen Howard and performed by Nanci Griffith 

The title to the book and film came from lyrics in Billy Squier’s song The Stroke, “You put your right hand out give a firm hand-shake”

Once the book/movie started taking shape I wrote the song Shakin’ Hands for my pet project Nickelback.

“Well she ain’t no Cinderella
When she’s getting undressed
‘Cause she rocks it like the naughty wicked witch of the west”

What inspired the lyrics happened to be when I met Michael Hutchence and INXS they told me Australia was called “Oz” for short.  I had also seen Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow in the ’78 film The Wiz.  It was about someone, but it was a man/artist and none I have mentioned in this particular post.  Actually, I take that back.  I watched and listened to how Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and others treated women which appalled me.  Some of the lyrics in my songs sound sexist, but it was actually me throwing their actions and even words back in their faces.  

I became pretty good at reversing sexes in songs too, except for one song I wrote for one of my alter ego’s, Rihanna, and they left the mistake in when she recorded it.  The song was S.O.S.

Rihanna was given the name for one of my favorite Stevie Nick’s song Rhiannon.  When writing for Rihanna I was listening to a lot of Bob Marley/Reggae at the time and was also inspired by early ’80s INXS New Wave/Ska sound.

You may be asking yourself why I referred to Rihanna as my alter ego.  I considered all the artists I wrote for, except the established artists, my alter egos.  All of the songs were written and perfected well before the artist who performed them was found or discovered.  Some where even groom, such as Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.  The artists and the songs were all very much a personality and you will even find my strange sense of humor in some.

Snow White Queen Origin

“Who will be the king and queen of the outcast teens? – Kurt Cobain

The British rock band Queen had a lot of influence on me in my everyday life as well as while writing songs.  It was a love of their songs which inspired me to want to write songs for them.  While watching a sneak peak of Top Gun before it’s release in ’86, I was inspired by the song Danger Zone performed by Kenny Login’s to write the song One Vision released by Queen in November ’85. 

The title and lyrically it was inspired by the first song Michael Hutchence and INXS performed for me in Jun ’83, The One Thing, from their ’82 Shabooh Shoobah album.  INXS also let me see the videos from some of their other performances.  In Melbourne a fan’s t-shirt caught my attention.  It was the symbol for yin and yang.  Feeling completely ignorant, sheltered, of other religions or beliefs from around the world I made it something of a project to learn more.  I also took an interest in Buddhism.  I realized the song would be controversial but what I felt is that the main message of any religion should be that of peace and love.        

In ’74 Queen released a song named White Queen (as it began), and I learned of the ’79 raid on the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise’s proclaimed religion, called Operation Snow White.   These were inspirations for me to make up the song Snow White Queen performed by Evanescence.

Lyrically I was inspired by Billy Squier.

 Stoplight, lock the door.

Don’t look back.

Undress in the dark,

And hide from you,

All of you.

Stoplight is from Billy Squier’s Lonely Is The Night, “Red lights, green lights, stop and go jive“, which I also used in lyrics for Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar On Me “Listen! red light, yellow light, green-a-light go”

I also used Billy Squier’s “In The Dark” in the lyrics for Snow White Queen.

Imaginary Origin

I linger in the doorway

Of alarm clock screaming

Monsters calling my name

Let me stay

Where the wind will whisper to me

Where the raindrops, as they’re falling, tell a story

Like most American children I grew up watching Sesame Street with my favorite character being the supposed imaginary friend of Big Bird, Mr. Snuffleupagus.  In 1985, 20/20 and 60 Minutes aired a graphic piece about pedophiles and sexually abused children.  Because of this, the writers of Sesame Street decided to finally introduce Snuffy to the main human cast feeling that children might keep quiet about being abused if they felt adults would not believe them.

I had called Kurt Cobain my imaginary friend and would introduce him as John to friends (while he was still unknown).  I would often find things missed placed in my room and not realize Kurt had moved it or even taken it.  It was years before I found out he kept a hair barrette I wore as a little girl with him.  He was also known to change my alarm so I would be late getting up for school.  Most of the time he would just let himself into the house on days he was in town.  I sometimes would walk in finding him feeding my cat or giving her milk.  If you haven’t noticed we both had a thing about cats, naming his Spina Bifida.  When I told him I thought of him as my imaginary friend, he told me I was his and gave me the name Boddah.  Later making the tape of him sounding like a little boy calling for his friend Boddah and then addressing his suicide note to me.

I’ve had some WOW! moments in my life.  One would be hanging with Robert Downey, Jr. while he read lines for a movie and later pitching the idea for him to play the role as Ironman’s Tony Stark.  Another would be Michael Jackson bringing Elizabeth Taylor to meet me.  It was during a time that Richard Burton, her ex-husband, had been very ill.  She kept in touch with him and talked about him a lot that day, reminiscing about their love affair and his affairs.  Unfortunately, Burton passed away August 5, 1984. 

Taylor had starred along with Paul Newman in the ’58 movie Cat On A Hot Tin Roof based on another play by Tennessee Williams (A Street Car Named Desire inspiring Heart Shaped Box, see earlier post).  I told Taylor that Kurt Cobain reminded me a lot of a young Paul Newman in looks.  Kurt didn’t always play the part of the grunge rocker and was actually a very goodlooking guy.

“One of those no-neck monsters hit me with some ice cream” – Maggie The Cat

Not only did I use “monsters” in the lyrics for Imaginary, but it inspired songwriter Draco Rosa’s “Maggie’s Dream” and my artist Lady Gaga calling fans “monsters”.  Draco and I worked on songs for Ricky Martin and others together.

Using different flowers in songs was inspired by the Swiss band Krokus having been on the Rock Till You Drop tour with Def Leppard.  Joe Elliott claims his birthday as August 1st, being the same day in 1981 MTV came online.  This would make his birthflower a Poppy.  Kurt used the image of paper poppy flowers in Nirvana’s Heart Shaped Box music video.

 “And watch my purple sky fly over me (flowers)”

This was to draw a direct connection to the song Purple Rain, which I wrote for Prince.

I would go on to make up the song Paper Sun which was released on Def Leppard’s ’99 Euphoria album. 

The lyrics to Paper Sun,  “Is the anger inside of you A gift from father to son” was inspired by the ’87 movie Like Father Like Son, as well as the British band Queen’s ’74 song “Father to Son”. 

Several times in the song Paper Sun I reference another song I wrote, Coming Undone performed by another band I founded named Korn.

Keep holdin’ on when
My brain’s tickin’ like a bomb

The bomb was taken from Pour Some Sugar On Me “Love is like a bomb”

 Guess the black thoughts have
Come again to get me
Sweet bitter words

Sweet bitter words is for 3 song I wrote, one being Sweet Sacrifice, an early song I wrote for INXS named Bitter Tears, and the other being Bittersweet Symphony performed by The Verve.

Unlike nothing I have heard
Sing along mocking bird
You don’t affect me

To Kill A Mockingbird, is a Southern Gothic novel written by Alabama native Harper Lee.

I made reference to my song Change performed by The Deftones, but Kurt Cobain made reference to the lyrics in Bittersweet Symphony “I am here in my mold” in his lyrics for Mexican Seafood.

 “To a fungus mold is my injection”

Sweet Sacrifice Origin

I’ve written about the origins of Evanescence in an earlier post, but here are just a few words about the songs.

Sweet Sacrifice and the duet Broken were two of the first songs I made up at 15 and told them the artist I wanted to perform it would be called Amy Lee.   

The title to Sweet Sacrifice was to tie into Pour Some Sugar On Me which I wrote with Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and to Sugar Walls which was performed by Sheena Easton. 

Sweet Sacrifice 

It’s true, we’re all a little insane.

But it’s so clear,

Now that I’m unchained.

I used what I knew at the time which was making reference to albums my brother had and I would listen to while he was not home.  His collection of albums included Aerosmith, Van Halen, Billy Squier, and ELO.  ‘The definition of Aerosmith’s Toys In the Attic (meaning insanity) influenced the first line, where Van Halen’s Unchained is mentioned in the third.

The line “Blow me away” from Sweet Sacrifice I used in another song performed by the Deftones named Change when I was 15 or 16 (’83 or ’84).  The title for Change was taken from David Bowie’s Changes, but the song itself was inspired by the ’46 movie The Big Sleep starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Martha Vickers as Carmen (pictured). 

“Vivian is spoiled, exacting, smart and quite ruthless. Carmen is a child who likes to pull wings off flies. Neither of them has anymore moral sense than a cat. Neither have I. No Sternwood ever had.”– General Sternwood

Another line from The Big Sleep inspired the song Something In Your Mouth performed by Nickelback.

“If I did, she’d just suck her thumb and look coy. (about Martha Vicker’s character Carmen)”-General Sternwood

Years later Kurt Cobain decided to cover the band Flipper’s ’84 song “Sacrifice” and Def Leppard members wrote the line“A whole lotta somethin’ you can’t sacrifice” for the ’87 song Women.

The idea for the 2006 The Open Door album started with an 1844 photograph at The Getty Museum of the same name by William Henry Fox Talbot http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=71564

The change I wanted to make for the design of the album cover came in wanting it to show the image of Amy Lynn Hartzler walking out the door from the inside.

Courtney Love Kills Never Never Land – pt 2

She’s only fifteen
She’s the reason-the reason that I can’t sleep
You say illegal
I say legal’s never been my scene, oh yeah
I try like hell but I’m out of control 

“All In The Name of” Performed by Motley Crue

I was running late getting ready the day I met Tommy Lee of Motley Crue.  He asked Kurt what the problem had been.  I laughed and told him I had been watching Rocky & Bullwinkle.   He then gave me the nickname Bullwinkle.  This is where William Gray, formerly of Evanescence,  got the nickname Rocky. 

I am mentioned as Bullwinkle on the first page of Motley Crue’s trashy book “The Dirt”. 

Once he became famous, Kurt Cobain started wearing a t-shirt with Natasha Fatale, from Rocky & Bullwinkle.

February of ’83 Motley Crue, INXS, and Oingo Boingo all performed at the US Fest in California. 

Oingo Boingo had worked on the soundtrack along with Billy Squier for Fast Times at Ridgemont high which starred Sean Penn (Tom Cruise’s ’81 Taps co-star in Taps).  Inspired by Adam & The Ants and INXS sound and sitting between Michael Hutchence and Adam Ant, I came up with the songs for Oingo Boingo’s ’85 Deadman’s Party album.  Which inspired the movie Weird Science.  In fact, Marco Pirroni became a little upset when I started singing Deadman’s Party.  I told him, “No One Lives Forever” and immediately made up the song.

INXS through part of ’83 had been touring with Adam & The Ants.  Most know that the man responsible for The Sex Pistols success, Malcolm McLaren, was also manager for Adam & The Ants.  As I’ve mentioned before, Stuart Goddard known as Adam Ant is the one who wanted me to read news articles for ideas to write songs.  Inspiring movies along the way. 

After meeting, Kurt and I had been talking about the Sex Pistol’s band member Johnny Rotten when he got the idea for the movie which became (Love Kills) Sid & Nancy.   Ideas for the movie were being mapped out as early as ’83.  The band Queen then released a song in ’84 titled Love Kills.

The Clash’s Joe Strummer performed the title track for the ’86 movie titled “Love Kills” which is in direct relation to me.

Walking out of England thinking of you were king taking on this world

On that bus that goes through Mexico a killer love finds a sweet Mexican girl

But in Mississippi we rushed into the room

Down in Dixie you were crying for dope

Down in Alabama they like home cooked fare yea

So we are going to strap you to the fryin’ chair yea

In 1983 the first inmate to be electrocuted by the State of Alabama after the United States reinstituted the death penalty in 1976 was John Louis Evans.

(Adam Ant friend of   Michael Jackson)

Courtney Love Kills Never Never Land – pt 1

Oh where are you going

And where have you been?

To the land of Never Never

And back again!

(The article is about Michael Jackson deciding to publicly visit my hometown in ’84.)

“While sitting between Kurt Cobain and Michael Jackson talking about building a new theme park, it was Kurt who gave him the idea to call it Neverland.”

Michael Jackson was brought in to meet me in ’83.  I spent a day hanging out with friends that summer who introduced me to the Thriller album.  Once Joe Elliott found out he sent the word to Jackson’s handlers about me.  The meetings were all very clandestine with one of his brothers actually meeting to give his approval.   

At first, MJ and I would talk about shows that I had seen him on, like Donny and Marie.  He wanted to know what I thought about his music.  I love all kinds of music, but am a die-hard Rock fan at heart.  You could say that it was MJ’s influence which led me deeper into pop and rap music. 

From an early age, I not only wanted to be a classical pianist, but also a gymnast and dancer.  MJ and I would sometimes have dance offs just for fun.  He would watch me for the sole purpose of trying to pick up a new dance move.  For the record, I never had any formal training in dance other than a brief stint as a cheerleader on a drill team like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, but it was for a pee wee football team named the Rockets.  Yep, this inspired the song by Def Leppard called Rocket.

We talked about the singing school I attended in Dallas, Texas during the summers from the time I was four years old.  As a reward the whole group of kids were taken on a trip to Six Flags over Dallas at the end for a day.  MJ’s face brightened and you could see the wheels turning as I talked about it.  Kurt Cobain was pretty much my constant companion, he too could see the wheels turning.

Once the idea formed for an adventure park, Kurt told MJ about a place in Tacoma, Washington named Never Never Land he would visit as a child.     http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/page.php?id=241

(The park in Tacoma was demolished in 2010.)

MJ wanted animals at his park too.  Not sure why a chimp, but he was so little when MJ first brought him to meet me.  He told me he named him Bubbles for the stripper named Bubbles Cash who inspired the current day Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.  Somewhere along the way Bubbles name was used in the song Joe Elliott and I had started working on after we first met named Pour Some Sugar On Me. 

Take a bottle, shake it up
Break the bubble, break it up

PSSOM took it’s name from the very core of our southern lifestyle from putting so much sugar in our iced tea you can stand a spoon up in it, the SEC Sugar Bowl hosted in New Orleans where I have family, to our sugar white sands along the Gulf Coast.

My mother is the quintessential southern lady hailing from a small town in Georgia.  There is even a pageant for Miss Georgia Peach which a cousin of mine won the title.  To the right is my parents car on their wedding day.  So, this was added to the lyrics for PSSOM

 You got the peaches, I got the cream

Kurt Cobain made reference to this song in the Nirvana song Mexican Seafood.

Ah, the itchy flakes

It is inflaming

To the gels and creams

Kurt also made reference to Michael Jackson’s Pepsi commercial incident where MJ’s hair caught fire in his published journal on the page titled Uncertainty.  “Jesus its hot!  My lashes and brows are curling up and melting emiting the worst smell of burnt hair”

Even Michael Hutchence of INXS had influence not only on the song PSSOM, but also making reference to knowing MJ by covering Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood’s hit song “Jackson” along with his backup singer New Zealander Jenny Morris.

Hutch’s influence on the song came in the form of me reading a press release about the band.  Next to the article was a title that caught my eye about the television show Highway to Heaven being preachy (which also helped to inspire the song Papa Don’t Preach).  The reason it was important is because my mom always put saccharine in orange juice.

 Sweet to taste, saccharine

(There is actually another story behind all the crotch grabbing, MJ in the Bad music video and Hutchence here, but I will save it for later.)

Kurt Cobain made reference to saccharine in his journal on the page titled Sexually Transmitted Diseases, “Saccharine Trust – Peace Frog”.  Actually, the reference was two-fold as the drummer for Saccharine Trust, Earl Liberty, joined the band Circle Jerks who were friends of Tommy Lee of Motley Crue and Kurt wanted to talk to them about working on the soundtrack for the movie about The Sex Pistols.  This movie turned into ’86 (Love Kills) Sid & Nancy.   The original title to the movie (Love Kills) took its name from Michael Hutchence’s contributions to Freedom Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1982) – “Speed Kills”, “Forest Theme” (with Don Walker of Cold Chisel) and from my name, Amy, which means beLOVEd or to Love.  Not to mention we had already been working on the song named Love Bites, after I bit the heck out of Kurt’s arm one day.

The actress which would have a small role in Sid & Nancy started hanging around in late ’84.  Kurt came across an obituary with the name Courtney Love.  Before the credits were written for the movie he had her take the stage name.  There were a couple of reasons, the obituary was dated 2 days after my birthday, Jan 12th, which later was a day Kurt & Courtney said they met in ’89 at the Satyricon nightclub in Portland.