In 1986, my sister and I were brought to a memorable extended family gathering with relatives we hadn't seen in years. This wasn't just a social visit, though. My mom's Uncle Stanley was a senior executive at IBM, and she was convinced that if we showed enough enthusiasm for computers, we might score a free PC.
In the end, I didn't succeed in figuring out which guy at the gathering was Uncle Stanley (although fortunately my sister did and a shiny new PC did indeed arrive at our house soon after). In hindsight, though, I actually made better use of my time that night by hanging out with Anna, a distant cousin about a year older than me. We clicked immediately, especially over music.
What I didn't realize at the time was that Anna was way cooler than me. While I was name-dropping Top 40 pop bands, she was talking about The Smiths. I'd never heard of them, and kept asking if she meant The Smithereens.
I didn't actually get into The Smiths until the summer of 1994, when I was recovering from a breakup and spent four weeks doing nothing but jigsaw puzzles and listening to their greatest hits — basically the most Smiths-core activity imaginable.
Looking now at my top songs from 1986, I can't help but wonder what might've happened if I'd taken Anna's advice and bought "The Queen Is Dead" back then.