Page 29 Rolling Stone interview by Chris Mundy
Some of you might remember Tori Amos from the one album she
made with her short-lived mid-80's spandex band, Y Kant Tori
Read. Others might picture her straddling her piano bench
like Debra Winger riding the mechanical bull in Urban
Cowboy. Perhaps you think of her as the rebellious
minister's daugher from North Carolina. Or as the outspoken
nut job who claims to speak to fairies on a regular basis.
If you checked all of the above, you're correct.
Most people, however, know Tori Amos simply as the painfully
personal singer/songwriter whose two albums, Little
Earthquakes and Under the Pink, have dissected her own life
in poignant and frightening detail. One song from Little
Earthquakes, "Me and A Gun," even chronicles her experience
as a rape victim. Whateve you think of Amos, you can rest
assured that she will talk and get people talking.
WHAT DO YOU THINK THE YOUNGER GENERATION HAS THAT THE BABY
BOOMERS DON'T?
Our generation has an incredible amount of realism, yet at
the same time it loves to complain and not really change.
Because, if it does change, then it won't have anything to
complain about. I think our generation loves our pain, and
if you dare fucking take it away from us, we're going to
kill you. We like our pain. And we're packaging it, and
we're selling it.
ARE YOU WORRIED THAT YOU CAN NEVER GET ANY MORE EMOTIONALLY
BARE THAN "ME AND A GUN"?
Well, you gotta figure that when you're firstborn and you
come out of the tummy and there's that moment of life, it's
never going to be quite so dramatic. I know that song is as
bare as you get, but I also know that when you're first
talking about something you never talked about before,
there's a certain power to that.
ON ONE HAND, YOUR SONGS ARE VERY PERSONAL, AND ON HTE OTHER
THERE ARE SONGS LIKE "CORNFLAKE GIRL" OR "THE WAITRESS,"
WHICH POINTS FINGERS. CAN YOU BE A PERSONAL
SINGER/SONGWRITER AND UP ON A SOAPBOX AT THE SAME TIME?
I don't think I preach at people. I think I nail you
against the wall and rip your skin off a little before we
decide if we're going to put salt or ice cream on you.
There is a level of the vampire in me, which is OK. I've
got a really nice shoe collection. And then there's a part
of me that's a part of me that's a nerdy girl who watched
her best friend get the guy she wanted over and over again.
ARE YOU INTERESETED IN PERSONAL POLITICS OR ACTUAL POLITICS?
Everything comes back to the personal. There's no way a
judge, for example, can be objective in a child-molestation
case if he's molesting children himself. There's no way.
I THINK THAT'S AN EXTREME EXAMPLE.
But it's true.
WHAT ROLE SHOULD POP MUSIC PLAY IN TERMS OF PEOPLE'S
AWARENESS OF POLITICAL OR SOCIAL ISSUES?
I don't know about politics, but I know about thinking for
yourself. A lot of people stand in different camps right
now. One of the camps is, "We are fucked, and we have no
choice. We're fucked." I don't agree with that. I think
we're choosing to be fucked, which is different. This ain't
Rwanda. Hellooooooo. Let's not have delusions of grandeur
here. Know what I'm saying?
NOT AT ALL.
Let's say you're a doe in the field, and you hear the call
of the bull elk. I watched those does. I sat in
Yellowstone (National Park) for six hours one day, checking
the whole scene out. There's 18 of them. So you figure
your bull's-eye has gotta be standing up very smartly
because there's 18 to choose from. This is where the whole
female-clawing-at-each-other mentality comes from. So this
bull elk wanted the ones that were running away from him,
not the ones that were pretending to eat the grass. Forget
it. He was going after the ones that really didn't want
him. That says a lot to me.
HMMM. YOU TURN ALL YOUR ANSWERS BACK TO LOVE AND
RELATIONSHIPS. ARE THERE PEOPLE TODAY WRITING GOOD LOVE
SONGS?
I don't know. There are some good hate songs. I think all
the boys that write the screaming stuff would write the best
love songs.
WHY?
Because they have the most to hide. The guys that are in
the most pain are usually the ones with the biggest hearts.
IN TERMS OF THE MUSIC BIZ, HOW MUCH DO YOU FEEL IT NEEDS TO
MARKET PEOPLE MORE AS PERSONALITIES THAN AS MUSICIANS?
I think journalists use it mroe than record companies.
WHAT DO JOURNALISTS HAVE TO GAIN BY YOUR BEING STRANGE?
They're selling copy. Oh, I laugh my head off when some
woman calls me a shivering waif in the forest. I'm like
"OK, sister, you get raped and get ready to get cut up, and
tehn write about it and sing it. And you have the balls to
call me a waif shivering in the forest." That's why I wrote
"Cornflake Girl" and "The Waitress." That to me is a lizard
running around with a pussy. It's not a woman to me. She
ruined her rights as a woman. So what if I sing like the
Little Mermaid?
IF YOU HAD TO IDENTIFY YOURSELF FIRST AND FOREMOST AS A
WOMAN, SONGWRITER, OR PIANO PLAER, WHICH WOULD IT BE?
I can't be a boy with extra holes, right? Well, I guess if
you cut my hands off, I couldn't play the piano anymore, but
I'd still be a women.
ARE YOU SUPRISED WHEN MALE LISTENERS IDENTIFY WITH YOUR
MUSIC?
No. Becuase I'm nailing them left, right and center.
SO WHY SHOULD THEY IDENTIFY?
Because they know what they're up against. They're not
stupid. It's so painful. We just want to go play with
them. We just want to go walk in the rain and have an ice
cream. And if you want to tie me up in there, too, that's
all right, you can get that in there if you need to. But
what is all this freakout stuff from guys as soon as they
get close to something real?
WHAT DO MOST WOMEN WHO GET THE CHANCE TO TALK TO YOU HAVE TO
SAY?
That they've been raped.
DO YOU THINK THERE'S A REAL OUTLET FOR THEM TO DISCUSS IT?
Most of them haven't worked through it. They keep it
inside.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF GANSTA RAP? IS IT TRULY A MIRROR IMAGE
OF SOCIETY?
I haven't listened to enough to make a comment. I've
listened to Ice-T quite a bit. He has a very clear opinion
of women, and I don't necessarily agreee with that, but l7
have a very clear opinion of men. Certain things do appeal
to me more than other things. I'm obsessed with crocodiles
and getting eaten by one.
DOES THIS PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN YOUR DAILY ROUTINE?
Yeah, because when I hear that someone's been eaten by a
crocodile or shark, I just get all gooey. I start
salivating. I'm facinated by it. If I had to get tortured
by a human being or eaten by a crocodile, I'd take the
crocodile any day of the week. The reason is that it's not
personal. You were lunch.