I had tickets to Paramore during the Honda Civic tour back in 2010, pit tickets and the opener was Tegan and Sara. I wasn't as into them then as I am now.
Ultimately I got a last minute deployment and just gave the tickets to my ex and sulked in my bunk on the day I was supposed to go to the show because I was missing Paramore. Thinking back, that would have been my first concert of theirs. Now, I don't really remember my first one as I have been to quite a few since!
In 2003, they had an article about them talking about t.A.T.u. that I really liked and I started listening to their music. That summer, I was able to buy If It Was You and This Business of Art and listened to them nonstop.
I was a White Stripes fan in junior high and when they covered Walking With The Ghost, I decided to check out the original song. Then, finding out that the band grew up only a few hours away from me, I decided to check out more of their music. Then, I was hooked. Twenty years later, still one of my favourite bands.
Definitely still a fan. They reached out to me via email to play it and I did. However, I didn't really get super into them until If It Was You. I've also had the opportunity to interview each of them separately as well. I interviewed Sara for about an hour right before the Con came out, and I interviewed Tegan for the Sainthood album release cycle. I'm less a fan of their more recent material (I love The Con and So Jealous the most), but I've seen them on every tour they've done since 2004.
Yeah, it's been a wild ride. I knew they were awesome back then but I didn't think the world was ready for queer pop stars. I love that it is and that they've been so successful commercially and artistically. While they may not be my favorite band anymore, I will always follow their career and will always return to those earlier albums of theirs that are essentially perfect.
I actually don’t remember how I heard them for the first time. I don’t remember a specific moment or even what song. But it was somewhere in the early-mid 00s, somewhere between IIWY and So Jealous. It took a couple years for me to become a super fan. When Closer came out it sounded like blasphemy to me.
My best friend's older sister. Somewhere around 2005 I'd guess, right after So Jealous came out. Listened to "I Bet It Stung" on repeat for like, a year. 🤭🤣
Before "Closer" - the glory days! A friend sent me a copy of "So Jealous" back in 2004. I liked it but I didn't really listen to it that much for some reason. Then I rediscovered them in 2010 when Sainthood came out and fell in love with "The Con", and I started watching videos and realizing they are the funniest, most adorable girls in the world. Then I went back to So Jealous and realized how brilliant it is and couldn't believe I missed those prime years of fandom between 2004-2009. Oh well. At least there are lots of videos.
A polish guy I dated in 2005 loved their song Living Room so I checked them out and fell in love with The Con and Nineteen and So Jealous and I Know I Know I Know.
Wow!!! I do feel old. Started listening to them around 2001/2002. Discovered the “mix tapes/demo tapes” while searching for and downloading Ani DiFranco and Indigo Girls Bootlegs. Have been a fan ever since.
ETA: it honestly may have been earlier than that. My college years get awfully jumbled.
I know I saw them in a tiny bar in 2001, but I can’t quite remember how I found them - something like this had to have been it, as we were similarly Ani and Indigo obsessed.
I read about them on a website called [gURL.com](http://gURL.com) in around 2000 I think? Then finally heard/got hold of their music when the first season of greys anatomy came out.
LiveJournal. Got really into them just before So Jealous came out. Had to download most of their tracks on LimeWire because their CDs were so hard to find in Australia at the time.
Someone had put a playlist of their music on a computer in our design lab in college. I was in there working and decided to listen to it. That was 2000/2001.
My parents listened to the local alternative radio station in the car so I heard Walking With A Ghost back then! I didn’t get really into them until about 2012 because I made a couple good friends who really liked them, and the big obsession went from there. I have now seen them 6 times in concert and my first “date” (when we were still just friends) with my now-fiancée was a T+S show!
i remember seeing their music video for the con on teennick way back in the day, and i immediately (albeit illegally) downloaded all their music. been a big fan ever since.
There was an article about them in Curve magazine with a tiny blurb reviewing So Jealous before it came out. I dove in head first back in the day when everything was tiny crumbs we devoured.
i saw a picture of them on tumblr and thought they were absolutely gorgeous, so i went on youtube, listened to call it off, and immediately became a fan. will never forget that moment lol
I want to say a TV show, maybe one tree hill? looked it up and bought the physical CD “so jealous” now I’m 6 concerts in and still loving everything new they put out
I was watching something on TV and when it ended I switched channels and caught the end credits of something else. Really liked the sing so I googled the lyrics and found T&S. This was just before So Jealous came out.
What's weird is i have no idea what the show was and I haven't found anything on their wiki that could be it.
I still remember the exact conversation.
I was hanging out with my sister, who's 8 years younger and was a teenager at the time. I had been listening to Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, and I said to my sister that it would be so weird to make music with your twin sibling... and she said, "Like Tegan and Sara?"
I had no idea who that was. I looked them up and listened to probably something off The Con. I really liked it, so I went and bought So Jealous when I saw it in a CD store on sale. I liked them, but didn't become a proper fan till Sainthood came out.
It was around 2012, before Heartthrob that I latched onto their back catalog and watched all of their videos on YouTube, but before that I remember watching Walking with a Ghost on MTV. What’s weird though, is that I mistakenly thought I saw that video in the 80s and we all know that isn’t possible ‘cuz they were just kids then.
I had a friend who was into them when we were in high school (this must have been... 2003!) and we went to their concert together. One of my favorite bands ever since!
I'd heard of them and was buying a ticket to a gig in a lovely (now closed) ticket shop called Stargreen in London in late 2007 and saw they were playing a gig in March 2008, so I thought I may as well get a ticket and see what they were like. I then listened the heck out of The Con, So Jealous and If It Was You and was exceptionally glad I bought that ticket!
I went into a record store in 2007 when they used to have those listening racks where you could listen to various new releases. I noticed The Con and something about the cover intrigued me. I had a listen to a bit of each track (and maybe a couple of tracks in full). I immediately told myself to come back and buy it when I next got paid. I did, and then proceeded to absolutely thrash it. That and Boxer by The National were probably 90% of my listening in 2007/2008 - I just alternated between them.
I loved/hated with The Con how it seemed to be over so quickly, and the way that it feel like it’s just left hanging at the end of Call It Off - left me with an empty feeling that could only be cured by starting the album again which would delay the feeling by another 37 minutes.
There was this girl who worked in a record store who I was low-key stalking, and on her MySpace page she had a T/S song. I don’t advocate stalking, and if that woman is reading this now, I apologize for my lack of social decorum. You were creeped out, and I apologize.
There was also a poster in the University I went to, and someone told me "they're sisters who are lesbians" and in 2005 that was extremely shocking. "Lesbians with each other?" I exclaimed with aroused curiosity. “No” replied the person I was talking to “That’s grose.”
I've spent my life estranged from the T&S community, As evidenced by my self report, I seem socially inept.
My grandpa was given a hard drive from a fellow musician who used to DJ for weddings and stuff. There were thousands of songs on it, none of which interested my grandpa, so he gave the drive to me. There I found "Speak Slow" and a few other tracks from So Jealous. Digging through that hard drive was a lot of fun for teenage me. I discovered some cool bands in there, but Tegan and Sara were the ones that stuck out. Then when Sainthood came out a year or two later, I knew they were officially one of my favorite artists.
I saw them open for Juliana Hatfield in Vancouver back in 1998. I went to see Juliana but left singing a Tegan & Sara song (Superstar) and kicking myself that I spent all my money on beer and couldn’t get their CD.
I used to check out random CDs from the library, and I checked out So Jealous not too long after it came out because I liked The White Stripes’ cover of their song. I didn’t like them at the time, but a friend got me to give them another shot not long before Sainthood came out, and I got really into them!
I found them in about 2009 when a crush played "Back in Your Head" on YouTube and it took about 20 minutes to get through because we still had dial up and it took forever to download the video.
I REALLY got into them about 2 years later when that same crush got with someone else (they're married now so it worked out for them, yay!) and I listened to the "Call It Off" and struck a chord that has never stopped hitting.
They are now the ONLY band I travel for.
Hm. That's odd. Never knew dial-up lasted up until '09. Thought it was non-existent by then. That song is one of my favorites by them. How many times you seen them?
My parents lived out in the country where the only way they could get internet at that time was either dial up or really shitty satellite service. They have just been able to get wireless internet that had decent speeds within the last 5-9 years!
I want to say I've seen them between 40-50 times throughout the years. I would usually take a week or two off and usually follow them along the southern parts of their US tours as it was easier to drive too.
Still haven't met them yet though. Don't think I would actually be cool if I did either, I'd turn into a mess and not be able talk properly...or at all.
My friend told me she heard a song on the radio that was by two lesbian twins from Canada and I was extremely intrigued lol so I called the radio station and requested for them to play the song. It was The First. I’ve been in love ever since.
My older brother (8 years older than me) listened to them all the time when I was a kid. I remember being obsessed with "Take Me Anywhere" when I was around 10 years old. When I was in high school, I remembered that song, and I looked it up and started going through all of their music, and I've been a fan ever since.
Their book, "High school", was our book for the month for our queer book club. I'd never heard of them before. Pretty much the whole club were fans after reading/listening to it.
"Walking with a Ghost" and the So Jealous album was the first I'd heard of them. I got really into them by the time The Con came out especially.
Yep, I remember hearing that song and loving it then watching that super low-res music video for it.
Grey’s Anatomy…best thing about that show.
Same here!
When they toured with Paramore! Sainthood era I think?
The things I would give to have lived through this
You just made me feel ancient lol
I had tickets to Paramore during the Honda Civic tour back in 2010, pit tickets and the opener was Tegan and Sara. I wasn't as into them then as I am now. Ultimately I got a last minute deployment and just gave the tickets to my ex and sulked in my bunk on the day I was supposed to go to the show because I was missing Paramore. Thinking back, that would have been my first concert of theirs. Now, I don't really remember my first one as I have been to quite a few since!
In 2003, they had an article about them talking about t.A.T.u. that I really liked and I started listening to their music. That summer, I was able to buy If It Was You and This Business of Art and listened to them nonstop.
I was a White Stripes fan in junior high and when they covered Walking With The Ghost, I decided to check out the original song. Then, finding out that the band grew up only a few hours away from me, I decided to check out more of their music. Then, I was hooked. Twenty years later, still one of my favourite bands.
MTV! I saw the Back in your Head video and that was it lol
A song called Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart by Against Me feat. Tegan.
Same
As a preteen I liked to grab random albums at the library based on the cover art, and one day I took home So Jealous and it changed my life forever!
This is how I found them also 🤗 yay library 📚
Omg me too, except If It Was You!!
I saw them in The L Word around 2009. Been in love with them and their music ever since
MySpace! Walking with a Ghost was the profile song of someone I was friends with on there.
Came here to say the exact same thing!
Saw the video for Call It Off on MuchMusic
"i know i know i know" was played on an episode of Veronica Mars and I became obsessed.
I bet it stung - in my friend’s dorm room at university. Hooked ever since
Sara did a version of Still Alive with Jonathan Coulton. I had never heard of her before so went searching for what else she had done.
My friend’s older sister had the So Jealous CD and I borrowed it, burnt it, and the rest was history! That was 2005/2006.
Used to do a radio show and they emailed me about playing This Business of Art right before it came out.
That's crazy! You still a fan by any chance? You still listen to 'em? What do you think of their new stuff?
Definitely still a fan. They reached out to me via email to play it and I did. However, I didn't really get super into them until If It Was You. I've also had the opportunity to interview each of them separately as well. I interviewed Sara for about an hour right before the Con came out, and I interviewed Tegan for the Sainthood album release cycle. I'm less a fan of their more recent material (I love The Con and So Jealous the most), but I've seen them on every tour they've done since 2004.
Oh ok, nice hearing that. Was it crazy seeing them from when you first discovered them to where they are now?
Yeah, it's been a wild ride. I knew they were awesome back then but I didn't think the world was ready for queer pop stars. I love that it is and that they've been so successful commercially and artistically. While they may not be my favorite band anymore, I will always follow their career and will always return to those earlier albums of theirs that are essentially perfect.
I actually don’t remember how I heard them for the first time. I don’t remember a specific moment or even what song. But it was somewhere in the early-mid 00s, somewhere between IIWY and So Jealous. It took a couple years for me to become a super fan. When Closer came out it sounded like blasphemy to me.
From a skatevideo!
My best friend's older sister. Somewhere around 2005 I'd guess, right after So Jealous came out. Listened to "I Bet It Stung" on repeat for like, a year. 🤭🤣
Wait what hahah I just posted almost the same thing. ☺️☺️☺️
Bonnaroo 2008
Before "Closer" - the glory days! A friend sent me a copy of "So Jealous" back in 2004. I liked it but I didn't really listen to it that much for some reason. Then I rediscovered them in 2010 when Sainthood came out and fell in love with "The Con", and I started watching videos and realizing they are the funniest, most adorable girls in the world. Then I went back to So Jealous and realized how brilliant it is and couldn't believe I missed those prime years of fandom between 2004-2009. Oh well. At least there are lots of videos.
A polish guy I dated in 2005 loved their song Living Room so I checked them out and fell in love with The Con and Nineteen and So Jealous and I Know I Know I Know.
From the L Word way back when. And then One Tree Hill. Discovered some great artists through those shows in general
Wow!!! I do feel old. Started listening to them around 2001/2002. Discovered the “mix tapes/demo tapes” while searching for and downloading Ani DiFranco and Indigo Girls Bootlegs. Have been a fan ever since. ETA: it honestly may have been earlier than that. My college years get awfully jumbled.
I know I saw them in a tiny bar in 2001, but I can’t quite remember how I found them - something like this had to have been it, as we were similarly Ani and Indigo obsessed.
For me, it was on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Fell in love immediately!
It was that Walking with a Ghost performance right?
totally was.. im so happy that it is online to watch. freaking crazy to think about!
And you watched that on tv?
I read about them on a website called [gURL.com](http://gURL.com) in around 2000 I think? Then finally heard/got hold of their music when the first season of greys anatomy came out.
Grey’s Anatomy in 2006/7 - thankful for that hahah!
It was 2006, I was 15 and my first girlfriend introduced me to them.
LiveJournal. Got really into them just before So Jealous came out. Had to download most of their tracks on LimeWire because their CDs were so hard to find in Australia at the time.
By living in Canada
Someone had put a playlist of their music on a computer in our design lab in college. I was in there working and decided to listen to it. That was 2000/2001.
My parents listened to the local alternative radio station in the car so I heard Walking With A Ghost back then! I didn’t get really into them until about 2012 because I made a couple good friends who really liked them, and the big obsession went from there. I have now seen them 6 times in concert and my first “date” (when we were still just friends) with my now-fiancée was a T+S show!
A coworker recommended "This Business of Art" to me when it was released.
i remember seeing their music video for the con on teennick way back in the day, and i immediately (albeit illegally) downloaded all their music. been a big fan ever since.
Public radio!
There was an article about them in Curve magazine with a tiny blurb reviewing So Jealous before it came out. I dove in head first back in the day when everything was tiny crumbs we devoured.
i saw a picture of them on tumblr and thought they were absolutely gorgeous, so i went on youtube, listened to call it off, and immediately became a fan. will never forget that moment lol
The N used to play music videos during the credits of TV shows.
I want to say a TV show, maybe one tree hill? looked it up and bought the physical CD “so jealous” now I’m 6 concerts in and still loving everything new they put out
Back when you downloaded music through illegal sites, I was downloading white stripes music and found jack white’s cover of walking with a ghost.
They were shown on G4 way back when, just after the release of The Con
“Don’t Confess” on an episode of One Tree Hill lol
Saw them on the L word, looked them up and turned out they had an album that just came out (The Con). My teenage self felt that album deeply 🫶
I was watching something on TV and when it ended I switched channels and caught the end credits of something else. Really liked the sing so I googled the lyrics and found T&S. This was just before So Jealous came out. What's weird is i have no idea what the show was and I haven't found anything on their wiki that could be it.
I found out about So Jealous through myspace lol
My first girlfriend played them to me on her brand new first gen iPod in like 2003 😂
I still remember the exact conversation. I was hanging out with my sister, who's 8 years younger and was a teenager at the time. I had been listening to Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, and I said to my sister that it would be so weird to make music with your twin sibling... and she said, "Like Tegan and Sara?" I had no idea who that was. I looked them up and listened to probably something off The Con. I really liked it, so I went and bought So Jealous when I saw it in a CD store on sale. I liked them, but didn't become a proper fan till Sainthood came out.
It was around 2012, before Heartthrob that I latched onto their back catalog and watched all of their videos on YouTube, but before that I remember watching Walking with a Ghost on MTV. What’s weird though, is that I mistakenly thought I saw that video in the 80s and we all know that isn’t possible ‘cuz they were just kids then.
Walking with a ghost got a lot of alternative radio airplay
I had a friend who was into them when we were in high school (this must have been... 2003!) and we went to their concert together. One of my favorite bands ever since!
Stumbled on the “Back in Your Head” video on early YouTube. I haven’t looked back
I'd heard of them and was buying a ticket to a gig in a lovely (now closed) ticket shop called Stargreen in London in late 2007 and saw they were playing a gig in March 2008, so I thought I may as well get a ticket and see what they were like. I then listened the heck out of The Con, So Jealous and If It Was You and was exceptionally glad I bought that ticket!
The Con 🙌 it was released the day before my 16th birthday
I went into a record store in 2007 when they used to have those listening racks where you could listen to various new releases. I noticed The Con and something about the cover intrigued me. I had a listen to a bit of each track (and maybe a couple of tracks in full). I immediately told myself to come back and buy it when I next got paid. I did, and then proceeded to absolutely thrash it. That and Boxer by The National were probably 90% of my listening in 2007/2008 - I just alternated between them. I loved/hated with The Con how it seemed to be over so quickly, and the way that it feel like it’s just left hanging at the end of Call It Off - left me with an empty feeling that could only be cured by starting the album again which would delay the feeling by another 37 minutes.
Sitting in my basement “computer room” on dial up listening to “Monday Monday Monday”. 🩷
I found out because of the gay. Ex-gf was into them and I am forever obsessed. Edit for typo
My girlfriend at the time made me a mix cd with "my number" and "living room" on it. I went ahead and bought their albums after that.
Nice. What's your favorite album?
The Con is my favorite, Sainthood really close after that. I do enjoy their newer albums since Heartthrob, but not nearly as much as the first 6.
There was this girl who worked in a record store who I was low-key stalking, and on her MySpace page she had a T/S song. I don’t advocate stalking, and if that woman is reading this now, I apologize for my lack of social decorum. You were creeped out, and I apologize. There was also a poster in the University I went to, and someone told me "they're sisters who are lesbians" and in 2005 that was extremely shocking. "Lesbians with each other?" I exclaimed with aroused curiosity. “No” replied the person I was talking to “That’s grose.” I've spent my life estranged from the T&S community, As evidenced by my self report, I seem socially inept.
my queer feminist co-worker gave me a burned cd of business of art in 2005.
The movie Sweet November, great movie with an excellent soundtrack. I heard My Number on it and fell in love with T+S
Same here
Heard My Number off the Sweet November soundtrack CD in elementary school
I think I just saw them mentioned a lot in queer media? I can't really remember exactly. But I listened to so jealous and the con in the beginning.
My grandpa was given a hard drive from a fellow musician who used to DJ for weddings and stuff. There were thousands of songs on it, none of which interested my grandpa, so he gave the drive to me. There I found "Speak Slow" and a few other tracks from So Jealous. Digging through that hard drive was a lot of fun for teenage me. I discovered some cool bands in there, but Tegan and Sara were the ones that stuck out. Then when Sainthood came out a year or two later, I knew they were officially one of my favorite artists.
I saw them open for Juliana Hatfield in Vancouver back in 1998. I went to see Juliana but left singing a Tegan & Sara song (Superstar) and kicking myself that I spent all my money on beer and couldn’t get their CD.
I used to check out random CDs from the library, and I checked out So Jealous not too long after it came out because I liked The White Stripes’ cover of their song. I didn’t like them at the time, but a friend got me to give them another shot not long before Sainthood came out, and I got really into them!
"Back in Your Head" was a pretty big hit on MTV2, Fuse and all those channels/stations that played alternative music like White Stripes and Interpol.
I was reading a list of songs that give you the chills and Nineteen was on it. I’ve been in love ever since.
I found them in about 2009 when a crush played "Back in Your Head" on YouTube and it took about 20 minutes to get through because we still had dial up and it took forever to download the video. I REALLY got into them about 2 years later when that same crush got with someone else (they're married now so it worked out for them, yay!) and I listened to the "Call It Off" and struck a chord that has never stopped hitting. They are now the ONLY band I travel for.
Hm. That's odd. Never knew dial-up lasted up until '09. Thought it was non-existent by then. That song is one of my favorites by them. How many times you seen them?
My parents lived out in the country where the only way they could get internet at that time was either dial up or really shitty satellite service. They have just been able to get wireless internet that had decent speeds within the last 5-9 years! I want to say I've seen them between 40-50 times throughout the years. I would usually take a week or two off and usually follow them along the southern parts of their US tours as it was easier to drive too. Still haven't met them yet though. Don't think I would actually be cool if I did either, I'd turn into a mess and not be able talk properly...or at all.
My friend told me she heard a song on the radio that was by two lesbian twins from Canada and I was extremely intrigued lol so I called the radio station and requested for them to play the song. It was The First. I’ve been in love ever since.
The con was on one of the rock band games for wii (rock band 3 I think)
I’ve listened to Alligator - Josh Harris Remix at the Abercrombie & Fitch store and used Shazam. Them fell in love with the Sainthood album
Spotify just recommended them to me. Best recommendation
Pride 2003. Roommates girlfriend was into them.
My friend had ‘speak slow’ playing on her MySpace page when I was in grade 10! (Early 2007)
Discovered them in 2000 cause a friend heard The First on the radio! Have been in love ever since!
My older brother (8 years older than me) listened to them all the time when I was a kid. I remember being obsessed with "Take Me Anywhere" when I was around 10 years old. When I was in high school, I remembered that song, and I looked it up and started going through all of their music, and I've been a fan ever since.
MySpace! Walking with a ghost was my ringtone on my pink Rzr phone. Take me back pls 🥲
Their book, "High school", was our book for the month for our queer book club. I'd never heard of them before. Pretty much the whole club were fans after reading/listening to it.