Going back home always brings up a lot of great nostalgic moments in my brain. The drive back goes quickly and I am always entertained by the obvious and subtle details I remember. The drive down Highway 64 got me thinking about a topic I wanted to write about. You have people talk about "the soundtrack to my life" and I feel as uncomfortable thinking about that statement as watching Tiki Barber interview Blair Underwood at the Golden Globes. Surely, at some point in my life I thought it was a great idea, but I am going to pretend like I have always thought of it as arrogant. What I thought would be great to do was come up with the albums I have loved, chronologically (not necessarily the year they came out, but the year I was introduced to it). Each year, or chunk of my life seems to be best remembered by a song or an album...
Age 3-5
Abba- Abba is my first memory of music that was not Muppets or The Count singing his numbers on Sesame Street. I used to dance like mad to Dancing Queen, which I am sure worried my parent to some extent. I would later in life make fun of anyone who went and saw Mama Mia multiple times in the theater.
Age 8-11
The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Simon and Garfunkel
Trips to Florida were ruled by these mixed tapes my dad made. I always associate these four with that trip to Sanibel Island, Florida. It always seemed like we hit Simon and Garfunkel in Tennessee and it was always rainy as hell in Tennessee. Simon and Garfunkel always has that bit of rainy day depression that goes along with it. Good rainy day depression. Music from your past is great for two reasons. 1) it is, factually, great music (ie. artists above) 2) They are tied together with good memories.
Reo Speedwagon was a band I liked a lot when I was 10 and 11. "...and I can't fight this feeling anymore. I've forgotten what I started fighting for..." loved it.
Age 12, 13
--Another Bad Creation/Public Enemy/Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock/ Young MC
Seventh grade, Eighth grade. Ben introduced me to rap in seventh grade. I first remember him putting Cool Moe Dee in the tape deck of the Schutte van only to have it ejected for objectionable materials. I loved Public Enemy. I remember washing dishes in my kitchen with my walkman fastened to my shorts listening to Bring the Noise over and over on those uncomfortable foam headphones. The words meant a lot less to me than the voice of Chuck D.
If I ever ran across the video of my friends and I lip syncing to Iesha-Another Bad Creation I will put it on a disc and send it to everyone I know, because that kind of humor can not be kept to oneself. It is selfish.
Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock and Young MC were soon to follow. Rob Base was great and I wish I could dance, but I couldn't. Young MC's Stone Cold Rhymin'...unbelievable. Prinipals office. The first song any of us could relate to. In my case, being as scared of authority as I was, it was the confidence I wish I could have...
Freshman year of High School-
Naughty By Nature, MC Ren-Kizz My Black Azz, House of Pain
Quite possibly the most confusing point in my life. A bunch of Catholic schools coming together in one bigger Catholic school. We were all trying to figure out where we belonged and who our friends were. At least I was. Trying to figure out what group of people you are going to hang around with is a bigger deal then you think. It might be the difference between getting caught smoking pot or getting caught drinking Boone's Farm.
Naught By Nature kind of straddles the summer before freshman year. Everything's Gonna Be Alright. Maybe the feel good song of 1992 (came out in '91). I still remember Billy going into the bathroom at Indianapolis Cathedral (Football game) and some guys coming up to him and saying "you down with OPP?" He hesitated and they asked him again. He then followed up with the only appropriate response "Yeah you know me"...it was a simpler time.
MC Ren was quite possibley the crudest rapper of all time. I got grounded for really the only time in my life because I had this album in my possession.
House of Pain- A white man you could be scared of singing the greatest dance song ever. Finally a song I could dance to. Jumping up and down was always something I was comfortable doing in a public setting. It wasn't until that summer when I would be introduced to Pearl Jam.
Sophomore-Senior Year of High School
- Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Radiohead, Eazy-E, Tracy Chapman, Nirvana.
I remember each time a new Pearl Jam album came out. Ben Voigt was the first person I knew that had Vs. I almost stole this cd from a party. I never stole anything in my life other than a beef jerky. There was not a better song ever written than Elderly Woman...except for maybe Daughter. Vitology I got for Christmas and it was playing when my transmission dropped in my 81 Blazer, it was also playing every other minute in every other car I was in. No Code I picked up on the hottest day of all time, right before college...and on and on. Core was great even though it sounded like Eddie Vedder, which was really the reason we started listening to it in the first place. I threw my Stone Temple Pilots- Purple tape out the window of my car because I couldn't stop listening to it...and I knew I had to stop. Flies in the Vaseline haunted my dreams.
Fast Car by Tracy Chapman and Authority Song by John Mellencamp will always remind of of a specific moment in my life. 16 years old driving the 1986 two toned red/black Blazer.
When Nirvana Unplugged came out I used to drive around listening to this album while trying to dip. Skoal Wintergreen that sat in the middle console of my car. Cold in the winter. I would dip and then have to come home because of dizziness and the sweats. Good memories.
The first time I heard Thinking About You by Radiohead was Warren Hayes playing it on his guitar. It was the greatest thing I have ever heard and really the main reason I learned how to play the guitar myself.
I was given the cd Tiny Music and Sweet Relief, the disc that had Crazy Mary and Summer of Drugs-Soul Asylum on it when I broke my leg. Great music that I always associate with agonizing pain.
Other Noteable Albums- Murder Was the Case (Murder was the Case and Natural Born Killaz), Dr. Dre- The Chronic, Snoop Dogg-Doggystyle
College
- Pearl Jam (No Code, Yield, when Live on Two Legs came out I think my exact quote was "I don't know why anyone else tries to make music), Radiohead-OK Computer, The Doors, Bob Dylan.
The first time I started listening to Bob Dylan was that first bootleg series. I also remember Blonde on Blonde and Blood on The Tracks specifically. I remember receiving those cd's as gifts. Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Heart was an epic story for a lack of a better term...Idiot Wind was played on repeat. I used to laugh out loud at how good those lyrics were on some of those songs.
I went through the obvious and predictable Doors phase. I can hardly stomach the fucking keyboard sound in those songs now (the same nausea as Santana's guitar). But as an 18 year old Jim Morrison was a genius. That sentence makes me blush in embarrassment. This is the end...my only friend, the end. The fucking melodrama of that song can only be challenged by one person and that person is Morrisey.
A side note- 1997-1999 might be one of the lowest points in music history. IE Matchbox 20, 3rd Eye Blind...
Other Notable band in this era (that I enjoyed)- The Why Store ( I can't believe I just mentioned this band, they were great though)
Its fun to think about. Leave comments about music that you remember. I am sure I missed something.
