How David Gray Saved The Day

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How David Gray Saved The Day
by Nick Law - January 14, 2009

The music of David Gray will always have a special place in my heart. I was away from home for pretty much the first time in my life for my freshman year of college. Not even a week into the first quarter, I woke up for my Tuesday English class to some horrific news. My clock radio was calling it a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. At first, all I heard were the words “terrorist attack” and “World Trade Center”. I instantly thought of the failed attempt in 1993 and assumed that everyone was most likely safe. When I turned on the TV, however, I immediately knew I was wrong.

Like many Americans, I was bombarded for weeks by the media with countless images of the planes flying into the towers and buildings collapsing. One day, I finally decided that enough was enough and I turned over to MTV. At the time, MTV wasn’t exactly known for playing music anymore, but at this particular time in history it wasn’t like they were going to be playing an Osbournes marathon.

I turned to the station right at the end of an MTV news brief. Kurt Loder was looking as old as ever and I wondered for a minute if I’d be able to find any sort of an escape on TV. Just then, I was delighted to find that MTV was indeed playing music videos and in the lower left hand corner of the screen, just next to an image of an American flag and a heart, were the words David Gray, “Babylon”, White Ladder 2000.

I had never heard the song before and I knew I’d never forget it after. There were many songs similar in genre that followed, but being that this was the first I’d seen and heard, I knew that it was special. In a time that pre-dated iPods and DVRs, it felt good to be able to listen to something on TV for a while that wasn’t a horrific nightmare. It was like suffering from a horrible disease and being able to somehow forget about it just for a while.

I decided to learn more about the music of David Gray after that day, so I headed up to the local used record store and picked up a copy of White Ladder. The album was already a smash hit in Gray’s native United Kingdom and was starting to make waves in the United States with hit singles such as “Babylon” and “Sail Away”.

What I discovered was pure gold. A rare album that doesn’t let up from start to finish. There’s literally no bad track on the entire disc.

After listening to the entire CD, I knew right away that I had a new favorite artist. I’ve continue to follow David Gray’s career since then and, although no work of his can compare to White Ladder, he’s had a few notable singles ever since.

I listen to my iPod on shuffle mode quite frequently and to this day if “Babylon” comes on I don’t dare hit the skip button. I’m still that grateful to have heard some new music that day.

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