Why is it that I'm always realizing so late that I've been ignoring/misappreciating/willfully missing out on an amazing band for years and years? Or that sometimes an artist I know I should enjoy/understand/gain enlightenment from but never had before suddenly starts to make sense?

I was 19 before I finally grokked XTC. I didn't get Joni Mitchell until I was about 25. I ignored Radiohead until 2002. Bob Dylan didn't really click for me until I was 32. Two years ago I finally listened to Spoon and I haven't stopped yet. Last year it was Matthew Herbert, I guess. Now I don't get what it was that I was missing all that time for all those acts, beyond maybe some fuzzy sense of "maturity", whatever the heck that means. And I still don't get Pavement.

In any case, I'm beginning to suspect that 2007 will be the year that I realize that HOLY WOW SLEATER-KINNEY WHY HAVE I IGNORED YOU? And, of course, just this past year they went on indefinite hiatus.