Somewhere around October 1995 a discussion was started on the internet about the fact that it was 10 years ago this year that the Suzannes debut album was released. Therefore all members of the mailinglist were asked to send in little stories and tell how, where and when they discovered Suzanne Vega and her music. The following article is a summary of the flood of reactions that followed.

When I first heard Suzanne Vega?

...For me it was a few minutes after midnight, September 25, 1985 -- my 20th birthday -- standing in my dorm room on the third floor of Beam Hall at Penn State
...Somewhere in 1986 when they played Marlene on the Wall on MTV.
....my first Suzanne Vega song was Luka, but I was only twelve at the time...
...the first concious experience happened couple of years later, in November 1987...
...The first time I heard Suzanne Vega's music was by accident way back in my youthful days of 1986 (...) because my dad had nicked my Walkman and he left SV's first two albums in there and I played it on my way to sleep but the sheer brilliance of the music eminating from my headphones made me stay up and listen to the whole 1.5 hours of the tape...
...it was 1986, I was working in a record store, opened the "pretty in pink" soundtrack to play in the store...

...It was in 1989 (...). I entered a coffee shop (...) After about ten minutes, I start hearing a voice singing "I am sitting in the morning at the dinner on the corner..." (...) WOW!! I thought - This "coffee lady" has the most warm, beautiful voice I have EVER heard! I got up and approached her to listen to this "heavenly voice" closer, only to find out (...) she was playing the first track from Solitude Standing on the stereo. I did feel very silly.

...Well, the first time I heard SV I hated the music (...) My brother played it to send himself to sleep, and that really annoyed me because *I* was trying to get to sleep myself, sharing the same room with him. But a few years later I borrowed another brother's SV tape, having found that I liked her music; so thanks to both of those brothers mine I got into the music.

...My first experience was a visual one. It was 1987 and i kept hearing her name mentioned but I didn't know who everyone was talking about. One night, I set the VCR to tape a late night video show to catch the new U2 video and Janet Jackson videos. When I sat down the next day to watch them, (...) I saw this interesting Black and White video with this androgynous face looking very shy and introverted singing. I had to stop and watch. I had to stop and listen. It was the Luka video.

...Around Summer 1986 (...) Driving home near midnight, I happened to catch 'Small Blue Thing'. ...It's 1985. I'm in my final year of high school, attending a miserable, Dickensian hellhole of a South African boarding school. (...) So, it's late at night. I'm hidden under the covers of a hideously uncomfortable bed with a clandestine '60s vintage transistor radio (...) It's a foggy, cold, winter night. That's the first time I heard Marlene on the Wall. (...) About two years later, I'm in America (...) attending college. I start hanging out with a couple of hippies. They introduce me to... well... a lot of things. But among them was a re-introduction to Ms. Vega.

...Probably something like 1989 and it was either Luka or Book of Dreams on the radio. Place Prague, still in Czechoslovakia (...)

... If memory serves, it was way back in '82-'83. Whenever her first album. (...) Anyway, I was in Brady, Texas visiting my girlfriend / first true love. (...) We were laying in each others arms on her parents sofa. I shall leave out the details. The television was on. We had just finished watching a movie on HBO when the video for 'Marlene on the Wall' came on. The first few strums of the acoustic guitar caught my attention. I looked up and saw a fairly attractive woman with a beautiful voice. In fact, I think the only thing I noticed was the blend of voice and guitar. The video played out and I was mesmerized.

My lovers repeated attempts to attract my attention failed. I think she was more concerned that I was watching another woman rather than thinking I was ignoring her.

Ever had one of those times in your life when everything seems perfect? (...) It was bliss. Suzanne in my ears. My lover at my lips and the whole world a distant dream. I was at peace...

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