tori amos

My Tori Story

My Vital Tori Statistics

I guess I first heard of Tori Amos with Silent All These Years a long time ago, but I never really liked the song. I remember seeing the video a few times on VH1 when I was growing up, but, to be honest, I really don't like the song that much. The really interesting thing about the song is that even hearing it a few times and not liking it, I still knew every word to it. But, when you're like 10-11 years old, you don't really see that as a big sign. The next real encounter with her I had was in 1998 when I saw the premiere of the Spark video on MTV's TRL...back then I did watch it and even now I'll flip through it just to see how much I hate today's music. But I really, really, really liked that song and it was such a stark contrast to Silent All These Years, which I don't really like that much. Ok, let's skip ahead a bit more. In 1999 MTV was giving away a free CD for Make a Stand Against Violence. I called up the number to get this CD only for the live alanis track, "Sympathetic Character" but buried in there was "Me and a Gun" which I thought was very interesting, to say the least. I listened to it a little bit and the words there really got to me, so I figured, if the opportunity ever presented itself, I'd buy an album of hers. The thing is, at that time, I really hated, HATED buying CDs and music in general. I had such incredible bouts of buyer's remorse. At any rate, that makes only three Tori songs that I've ever heard in my life by Spring 1999. Later that year, I heard about the Five and a Half weeks tour where Alanis and Tori were going to tour together. Well, I knew I was going just to see Alanis, but I also didn't want to have to sit through a concert where I knew like none of the songs, so I decided I had better buy some CDs of Tori and see how it is. So, early June 1999 I went into the K-Mart and came out with Little Earthquakes and From the choirgirl Hotel. These two were the obvious choice for me since the only songs I had heard before that were from these two albums. I do have to say that my initial judgement of these albums was interesting. I went straight for chorigirl and LE kind of slipped through the cracks for a while. I spent the whole summer listening to them sort of passively. The only other Tori recording I acquainted myself with at this time was "Merman" because it was on the compilation with Alanis' "Baba (live)." I bought no other Tori stuff during this time. Now, September 24, 1999 comes along and I go to my concert. And what songs does Tori perform, but Silent All These Years and Merman, two that I probably knew the best of the lot. You do need to keep in mind that I knew few of the songs though because I only had LE, Choirgirl, and the Kosovar compilation. It was nice to hear the ones I did know though. The thing about this concert was that I was struck by one particular song that I did not know - it turned out to be Sugar...which is good because I went the whole week after the concert going "sugar sugar sugar sugar" because I thought it was so good. This prompted another trip to the K-mart about a week after the concert where I immediately bought To Venus and Back because it was the only record on the shelf that had "Sugar." (I didn't know it was a b-side on a hard to find single yet). I loved Venus immediately and listened to it non-stop for a few months. I then bought Boys for Pele in January 2000 and followed up by getting Under the Pink from cdnow.com in February 2000. The rest is really history now, I bought as many singles as I could during the Spring of 2000 and finished it all off by late June. Then I got my CD Burner in August 2000 and started trading bootlegs. Now, let's jump to November 16-17, 2001, my 2nd and third Tori shows. This time I was truly aware and really enjoyed myself...I was going Oh, My God at every song and it was all just so spectacular! I'm kinda wishing it wasn't over right now, but all good things come to an end. I did get to see Tori solo though, which was truly amazing and awe inspiring, and if you look over in this second column, look at the setlists! They were simply amazing and really hit home to me. I love her more than ever and I just need to say that. I SAW TORI AMOS SOLO! Woo!

My Top Ten Tori Songs Professional Widow Doughnut Song Pretty Good Year Putting the Damage On China Never Seen Blue Little Earthquakes Alamo Flying Dutchman Josephine My Ranking of Tori's Albums Boys for Pele To Venus and Back Under the Pink Little Earthquakes Strange Little Girls Y kant Tori Read From the Choirgirl Hotel Setlist of My First Tori Concert Las Vegas, NV - September 24, 1999 God Sugar Cornflake Girl Riot Poof Bliss Blood Roses Silent All These Years Merman Suede Professional Widow Hotel The Waitress Precious Things Setlist of My Second Tori Concert Los Angeles, CA - November 16, 2001 '97 Bonnie and Clyde Little Amsterdam Take to the Sky Black Dove (January) Not the Red Baron Butterfly Flying Dutchman Daniel Raining Blood Father Lucifer Bells For Her China Me and a Gun Hey Jupiter Jackie's Strength Tear In Your Hand Spring Haze Putting the Damage On Over the Rainbow Setlist of My Third Tori Concert Los Angeles, CA - November 17, 2001 '97 Bonnie and Clyde Juarez Marianne Rattlesnakes Siren Silent All These Years Real Men Merman Space Dog Doughnut Song Bachelorette Playboy Mommy Me and a Gun 1000 Oceans Cooling Cool On Your Island Famous Blue Raincoat Time Pandora's Aquarium