Ann Arbor-native musician Andrew WK bares his teenage soul

Raised in Ann Arbor, musician Andrew WK rose to fame with his 2001 hit "Party Hard." But, before he was the big rockstar in the dirty white jeans and the greasy long hair, he was a teenager in Ann Arbor. A teenager with a crush. A teenager with a restraining order against him because of a song. He talks about it in the Guardian.

Excerpt:

I was in high school in the 1990s, in a town called Ann Arbor in Michigan. I had a crush on a girl and was deeply and passionately fixated on her. She had a baby face, a 14-tooth smile, large eyes, a crowned forehead, an oversized brow and a tender style. She consumed me with both lust and hatred – lust, because I was truly drawn to her beauty and soft skin, and hatred because she rarely spoke to me, wouldn't look at me much and never gave me a chance to show her my deep affections. I used to call her house just to listen to her say, "Hello?" Then I'd hang up, terrified and shaking with nervous ecstasy.

In our senior year of high school, when I was 17, we were required to make a final project which was presented to the head of the school and graded as our final exam. This was when my crush was at its absolute height. I decided to write a song dedicated to her and submit it as my final project for graduation. The song was My Destiny. I've never recorded another song like it, and now – listening to it after all these years – I can see why.

Read the entire article here.
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