When I was younger, early into my teens — I was exploring the internet and dabbling in my first interactions with digital and graphic design. During that time, I made a fan page called GodIsInTheTv.com and it was a site dedicated to Marilyn Manson — like a fan site.
One day, somebody emailed me, thinking that it was an official Marilyn Manson website and they inquired about where they could grab a VHS copy of God Is In The TV, a compilation of music videos and live performances.
I said, I don’t know and also, I am not affiliated with Marilyn Manson, but this person and I became friends (I wish I still remembered his name because he was somebody that I had a lot in common with) — then, in my little Christian bubble, meeting somebody with an alternative taste in culture was rare, so when you met someone that you clicked with, you wanted to hold onto them.
This person introduced me to his friend, and together we talked about music — Aphex Twin, Morrissey, The Smiths, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails — and on one occasion, we talked about Björk and then Imogen Heap.
Fast forward, I still think of fragments of those conversations — young angsty angry and tense teenagers, coming together digitally to bond over music and common interests.
With Imogen Heap’s recent reissue and twentieth anniversary of her album, Speak for Yourself, I am reminded of both, her brilliance and how perfect that album was and is — and I think about those two early internet friends, both whose names I cannot recall.
Wherever you are, I miss you both.
Christian
