When Did You Get Into Tori?

[Bliss]

Tori sTori Question: I'm very excited about this thread, because I always find it interesting to hear about how people were introduced to tori, and thus became a full-fledged toriphile. So basically this question is: HOW were you introduced to Tori? What was so great about her that made you like her so much?

Criteria: Please stray from writing a review of a concert you went to - just because it's about you getting into tori, and not about your first tori concert. If it was a concert that introduced you to her, you can write about it too. But I'd like to just leave the "concert reviews" to it's own thread. Maybe I'll make one of those later on.

My Response:

I was introduced to Tori near the end of the year 1999 (or early 2000 - i can't specifically remember). Anyways, I had a friend in Junior High who would e-mail me and write Tori lyrics but she knew I didn't know who she was, so she would say that the lyrics wer really HER poems! I remember the first "poem" I saw was the lyrics to "Cruel." I remember thinking: This stuff is weird. Why is she spelling balloon with all those periods? She also e-mailed me the lyrics to 1000 Oceans one time, also saying it was a poem by her. Now, I'll admit it - when I was younger, I was a little bit guillible, but hey - who would I have known if it was really her poems?

In any case, as far as whether I knew who Tori Amos was - I didn't know until she co-headlined the 5.5 weeks tour with Alanis. I'd seen commercials they'd done together, and I knew who Alanis was (and loved her music) - but I didn't know any of Tori's music.

Alright, so i'm lying in bed late one saturday night watching VH1 and all of a sudden the BTM2 comes on with Tori Amos. I was fascinated, and so I watched - learned about her rape, her relationship with Eric, etc. Then after that - Her Live at the Hard Rock Cafe thing came on. I remember she played "Sugar" and even though I didn't know the title of the song, I always remembered the lyrics "Sweet boy when they find you out, tell me what you think they'll do" because she sang it with such passion. Anyways, I wasn't totally "into" her yet.

So one day I'm browsing the library and I see "To Venus And Back" so I decide to get it and give it a try. I bring it home, put it in the CD player and the moment I heard her sing "Father, I killed my monkey" with that amazing voice and all of that emotion I was so taken with it. I was just intrigued by these weird lyrics - it was unlike any other artist or band i'd ever heard before. The way she writes, the way she sings, the way she plays - it was all so amazing.

So I gave Venus a listen through and remember really only liking Bliss, Concertina, Glory of the 80's, and 1000 Oceans (I thought it was so weird when I found out those were the singles from that album). As far as still orbiting goes, since I hadn't heard the originals it was a little hard to get into - but I loved precious things, cooling, cloud on my tongue - and the way she went "Rabbits, plinkity plinkity plink" before mr. zebra.

So I remember I rented all of her albums from the library, and I mean I can't recall what it was like for EVERY song and album - but I do remember hearing "Cruel" and going "Hey! That's not my friends poem, this is Tori's song!" So I immediately e-mailed her and told her, but the joke was more on me since I was so guillable back then.

Um, so as far as the albums go - Boys For Pele was probably the third one I heard, and the hardest to get into. I remember only liking "Caught A Lite Sneeze" and "Talula" and not caring for the rest. Eventually I got completely into it. All the other albums were pretty easy to get into. I do also remember seeing how Yes, Anastacia was over 9 minutes long when I got Under The Pink and going "Whoa!"

So, you know the drill - once I got into the CDs, I had to get some of the singles. Once I got into those, I had to get The Complete Collection 1991-1998 (Videos), and so on. I remember seeing the videos made me love her so much more because of the amazing way she expresses her words and emotions through visual interpretations of her songs.

After a while I started realizing I couldn't just keep renting her albums from the library so I eventually bought them (or received them as gifts).

Wow. It's really weird going back and looking at things - I mean it's like I feel as though Tori has been such a huge part of my life it's so hard to believe it was only about 2 years ago that it all started. Hmm.

[Angie812]

i heard of tori amos when she was promoting from the choirgirl hotel. i remember seeing her on mtv. and she was talking to john norris, and i remember making a joke about sarah mclachlan (not a mean one) but a funny joke and i was like...who is this? i heard a clip of spark and then january girl and i was like!!!! woooww! it was so great!
and i went and brought the album (mind u i had no idea of her music) and it was the best investment i ever made ;D ;D[/color]

[♣Miranda♣]

Me and Tori go way back. lol
When I was 10 years old in the 5th grade, I met this girl and we became total best friends. Eventually, I started hanging out at her house a lot and we would stay up til the wee hours of the morning doing jigsaw puzzles. Anyway, she had an older sister who was into Tori and she used to hang out with us and make us listen to her CD's.

The first Tori song I ever heard was "Crucify" and I was completely blown away. The year I turned 10 was also the year I began questioning my religion , so that song just hit me like a ton of bricks. Then I heard "Silent All These Years" and I was hooked.

When I turned 11, things were kinda bad for me. My parents were fighting all the time and talking about getting divorced and I was depressed, although I didn't know that at the time. Tori's music saved me when I thought I couldn't take it anymore. In junior high school, I wrote the lyrics to "Pretty Good Year" over all my book covers.

So anyway, 8 years later, Tori is still my favorite artist and her music and words still help me through the darkest times in my life.

[MrLight]

September 11th, 2002: my new friend got me to download "Silent All These Years", the rest is history! At first I was half doing it to get in good with her, sharing her interests and whatnot, but then we found out she was already taken, and so Tori became her own special thang

[Daemeon]

I first heard her when the played the crucify video on the T.V. like in 1993 or something. I liked the song but didn't pay much attenention to Tori at the time, I just thought she was another one hit wonder female artist on MTV. I actually got into her when my girlfriend at the time popped the CD into our player while I was driving. It was Little Earthquakes and I really liked it, which was kind of Ironic because I was a total metalhead at the time. But I do appreciate good musicianship. Anyways I went out and bought album. The weird thing is up until this March, the only albums I owned from Tori were LE and Choirgirl Hotel. I started listening to her again when I saw the Strange Little Girl video and decided to complete my Tori CD collection.

[Pinkdesaster]

i got into tori when i first heard cornflake girl, i liked the red hair she´s having in the vid, but the first cd i bought two years later, it was Under the Pink... from then on the whole thing couldn´t be stopped... i bought all the other cds

my wish for the next year is to see her live

[♣Miranda♣]

Pinkdesaster said:

my wish for the next year is to see her live

I hope your wish comes true!

[Pinkdesaster]

thank you i´m thinking positive for the next year: it will surely come true

[undeniabledilemma]

I got into Tori in July 2001. I had a friend who was mad obsessed and one day while listening to the radio I heard them say "new Tori Amos song after the break" so I figured I'd listen to see what she was always fussing about. It was Strange Little Girls and I loved it. I taped it off the radio and listened to it over and over.

I downloaded some songs right before SLG came out but didn't have much of an opportunity to listen to them because I got the new album and was obsessed with it. Since SLG was my first album, no matter how many people dislike it it will always hold a place in my heart. I then when out and bought the rest of her albums in reverse order (TVAB then FTCH, etc..).

[DaturaFae]

I had heard Tori during her "Little Earthquakes" Era, but I was not totally hooked at that point. Somehow the release of "Cornflake Girl" is what caught the attention of my ears and I was hooked -- I had to hear more. That's what I would call my "Tori discovery" period.

Then "Boys for Pele" came along and I was a confirmed fan. For my birthday, I saw her in Boston of 1998 on her "Plugged Tour" (promoting ChoirGirl) and I learned that she is even more incredible when you hear/see her live.

At this point, no one could even pay me to stop listening! ;D

[Natasha~]

1998..drama class...why do i feel like i've answered this question a million times already? Go here to read my tori sTori: www.yesanastasia.com/stori.html
xoxo

[riotproofer]

i think it was sometime in summer 2001. i was into shirley manson (garbage) in a big way. i idolized her. and i was reading an article where she mentioned tori amos. and it was weird because all these tori amos related things happened. like i saw tori's picture and an article about her rape in a magazine. then i happend to come across her single "carnival" to download. i thought it was a great song, but when i listened to her newest album (at the time it was venus) at cdnow i wasn't impressed. i guess they just picked odd clips. but luckily, later i found little earthquakes rather cheap at this store and i had just heard "crucify" and decided to give tori another chance. i am so thankful that i did. shortly after i bought to venus and back, and then strange liittle girl came out. then i got choirgirl hotel, boys for pele, under the pink, and scarlett's walk. i love tori! i have gone through a lot of phases, from sarah mclachlan to shirley manson, but i think tori's music will always speak to me.

[LipGlossArsonist]

I was hit hard by Tori when I was 9/10 years old. (1996) My brother had come across the Little Earthquakes VHS (which is now mine ) and both he and I had been playing piano for years. Very Tori-esque. Anyway, he popped the video in and Silent all these Years comes on. I loved it. I was so hooked by the end of that video. And now over the last 6 and a half years I have accumulated 32 Tori cds, 3 videos (+2 videos of taped shows), and 5 posters.

Tori has gotten me through so much in my life. Though I'd say the things she really pulled me through was the depression. Near the end of last February there was a suicide attempt that landed me in a hospital for a total of a week. I just couldn't find the 'light' at the end of the tunnel, you know? But after making it out of the hospital (being allowed to leave a place where you can't even go to the bathroom without asking permission is incredibly liberating, I assure you) I started listening to Winter over and over all the time. The line that hit me over and over again was "When you gonna make up your mind? When you gonna love you as much as I do?" And it was just like, "Hey! People see the beauty in you. It does exist. Allow yourself to see it." And in tie, I started to. It's been 9 months since I got out of that hospital. And there hasn't been a day now yet where I've even flirted with the thought of "Oh, I'd be better off dead." -- I found a lovely new boyfriend who doesn't emotionally or physically hurt me, too. (Yep, I was stuck in one of those, too. Go figure. Reasons why younger girls shouldn't worry about men at all.)

Yep, I'm happy now, and Tori helped to get me here.
;D

[P a t r i c k]

My cousin introduced me to Tori in 1996 with Boys for Pele and Under the Pink. I thought she was a little weird and maybe even scary, but after a few listens I fell in love instantly!

[jester42]

i had just gotten really into nine inch nails in junior high 1994-1995, i read an interview in Spin magazine with Trent Reznor and he mentioned his relationship with tori and said that her cd stayed in his car cd player all the time and he talked about Past the Mission. So i borrowed Under the Pink from a guy in my class, but i only listened to Past the Mission. about a year later, i heard Caught a Lite Sneeze on the radio and immediately went out and bought boys for pele. tori came to little rock on the dew drop inn tour and i was all set to go, but i was 15 and stupid and got myself grounded... that is the one punishment that i will remember forever and i don't even remember what i did. anyway, i did get to see tori in 1998 and have seen her on every tour since then.

[♥Mary♥]

I was in college when Little Earthquakes came out. My roommate bought the CASSETTE TAPE! (LOL, that tells you how old I am!) and we listened to it in our apartment while we studied & just hung out. I loved Tori from what I could see in the videos & her music just immediately went straight to my heart. When I got to "know" her & her story, etc, I just loved her even more. It wasn't until I was married a couple years later & Under the Pink came out that I bought my own Tori stuff (all CD's, thank-you! ).....my husband actually gave them to me for my birthday & I was thrilled. Her songs have carried me thru so much over the years. Now I have all the albums, and several singles, plus lots of downloads. I love that my kids are growing up with her music in the same way that I grew up with the Beatles & the Rolling Stones....I knew every album, every song, every lyric b/c my parents listened to them. My kids (they are 4 & 8) know all Tori's songs & they love me to sing her stuff to them, especially at bedtime. It warms my heart that I've been adoring Tori's music since the 'end' of my childhood & at the same time my children were introduced to Tori while still in my womb, at the beginning of their childhood. Even last week Tori was in LA & she did a quick interview on the local station here & played 4 songs.....we all sat around the living room listening to it & my daughter loved how Tori talked about Tash's 'pink' Christmas party & all the little details. We heard her sing "Little Drummer Boy" live on the radio & we cried! And last week when my husband & I went to see Tori's concert, he knew every single song.....that's a long way from the 5 1/2 weeks tour a few years ago when all he knew was "Precious Things"!!! He said he's definitely become as big of a fan as I am. He takes her cd's to work & listens to them in his office (he is an attorney working in a large office, so this really amuses me! ) So around here, Tori is a family affair!

[veela]

It was 1992, I was 12. I was taking dance lessons with my sister and a girl in our class brought the "Little Earthquakes" tape (yes, cassette) over so they could make a ballet dance up to "Mother." At the time, I only listened to poppy, radio music and this was completely unlike anything I ever listened to - and I LOVED it.

My sister ended up buying the tape and I listened to it all the time, but only the first 3 songs because I loved them so much I couldn't get past them! Eventually, I listened to the whole thing and realized that it was all wonderful. I was pretty much hooked from that point on and bought every cd as it came out and so far I've seen her in concert 4 times, (it'll be 5 after NY in March!) and am a complete toriphile.... she's by far my favorite artist, she speaks to me like no other musician or poet and she's helped me through some horrible times in my life. Tori rocks my world.

[¤†¤ ßlï§s¥ ߀||åM¥ ¤†¤]

I actually got into Tori when i saw her video for Spark (in 1998) but then i only liked the song, i wasn't as obsessed as today. So the real era when i became a Tori fan was the Scarlet's Walk era.
It was almost 12 weeks ago!, i still remember i run from the military service (i said i'd take a test on school but lied and instead of taking the test i went to my home). So i turned my pc on and there was nobody to chat with on my msn so I went to a website with streamvideos just to see what new stuff they had. One of the links said something like "A Sorta Fairytale is the new and breakthrough Tori Amos music video", so i thought: ok Tori has fame of being good, let's see what she did this time. Then i started watching the video and was like: WTF?? This is the best video i've seen! and the song, the chorus when she says "like a good book i can't put this day back" was stuck in my head all day long. So of course i felt i was falling in love with the song and went to download it from WinMx, fortunately i found it. I spent the whole saturday playing ONLY THAT SONG over and over. Then sunday I remembered I had heard some years ago the song "Spark" along with the other 2 singles from "From The Choirgirl Hotel". I went into mIRC and looked for songs from that album, there was a user with the full album in mp3 so i downloaded all the songs except "playboy mummy". After 4 years of their release, Spark, Jackie's Strength and specially Raspberry Swirl, started to sound like something i wouldn't like to stop listening sooo.... next day i went to the CD store and bought "From The Choirgirl Hotel", later Scarlet's Walk LE, then Venus, Under The Pink, Little Earthquakes along with Boys For Pele and finally Strange Little Girls.
As you can see my obsession with this wonderful pianist, singer, song-writer and specially woman, has been growing up with time, and today, almost 12 weeks after "A Sorta Fairytale" started this magical charm, I still love Tori, maybe more than yesterday. I've been investigating some interesting things about her life, and must confess i'm impressed with her.
Next saturday is my birthday! and the best part is that i'll celebrate both, my bday and the week #12 since I became a real fan of my beloved redhair diva!, the only woman who has gotten me out of my depression with her songs, and sometimes was my companion in hard moments (yeah, all these happened in the hardest weeks of my life, but that's another story).

Blah, forgive the grammar errors, and hope someone reads this whole post!. This is the story of how this little boy became a fan of the most talented and beautiful singer of the whole world (of course, the real diva TORI AMOS! ;D).

[♥Mary♥]

**boosting to the top for Squishy & anyone else!**