The Chameleons UK are more than just a band to me.

I once used “Second Skin” as a user name on a dating site. The Chameleons are criminally unknown, so anyone else who loves them was bound to get me.

I never got any hits.

I finally realized how it looked if you didn’t know the song. Girls probably thought I wanted to wear their skin like Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.

I didn’t realize till later, but I kind of tested my wife before we got serious. I had shared “As High As You Can Go” with a girl I was crushing on and she texted back, “IDK if I like that.”

I lied to myself for a while cuz she was cute, but I knew it was never gonna work.

My compromise position was my future soulmate had to at least like the Chameleons. I played “As High As You Can Go” for my future wife and she loved it. Score!

Why such a big deal?

I discovered them during a rough time in my life. Editing a newspaper is hard anywhere, but I was a real fish out of water. I wasn’t used to East Texas and had few friends. Dating was out of the question. I didn’t belong, but I didn’t know how to leave. 

Luckily my boss introduced me to postpunk (think punk, but more artful). He had been a college DJ. I was mostly a hard rock guy, so this was strange stuff to me. 

Until it completely transformed my taste in music.

When I heard The Chameleons I was sold. Lush, beautiful, passionate, intricate, hard-hitting, entrancing, thought-provoking… I played them non-stop as I drove to interviews and delivered papers.

That was a short period in my life, but postpunk became my new musical home base.

I still have times like today, where I need my Chameleons fix. And my wife loves them too, so I don’t have to use earbuds. Score again!

#Chameleons, #Postpunk, #Journalism, #Newspapers