I unabashedly fell in love with Metric before they even had a record out. Back in 2001, I found myself humming a jingle from a Polaroid commercial and my girlfriend asked who it was and I didn’t know and despite searching the web like crazy I simply couldn’t find out.

So she called Polaroid.

They referred her to the Ad agency and after a few phone calls they told her it was Metric. She then called the label that was supposed to be putting out the record and they sent a promo cd which she gave to me as a gift. Inspired by her gumption, I posted on my old blog (circa ’01) about her efforts. For months I was the top result in Google for searches like “Grow up and blow away” and “polaroid commercial.” I got a whole lot of requests for mp3s of the tracks on that promo cd. That commercial was infectious and portentous.

A few months later I got an email from Emily Haines. Yes, Emily from Metric. It was short and basically thanked me for the support. She probably found me via Google. She asked for my address and a few weeks (months?) later I received a package. A burned CD of demos with a hand drawn cover. This was probably after their deal with the initial record label (Restless) fell apart but before they got picked up for Old World, Underground, which they were in the process of recording and wasn’t actually their debut record, though I think it was marketed as such. (more at Wikipedia, if you care)

In any case, long story short, I’ve got a soft spot for Metric. I wasn’t as keen on Live It Out as Old World and GUBA, but I’m enjoying Fantasies.