I've always thought that it was odd that people define themselves so much by their music. So often, people are pidgeon-holed by their music (or either their pidgeon-hole determines the music that they like). Fan followings for music groups sometimes come close to cult status.
I've always had a pretty eclectic music taste, never really had a "favorite genre" or felt a strong allegiance to a type of music. And when I went to concerts, I always found that I never looked like or acted like everyone else at the concert. I always thought that it meant that though I loved music, it didn't define me as a person.
I was taking the long trip back from Tulsa this afternoon, though, when I realized that this was absolutely false. There are so much music that I never would have been interested if it hadn't been for influential events in my life, and so many songs that I automatically relate back to very specific times and places in my life. My iTunes playlist absolutely defines who I am, for better or worse.
For example:
1) Any song from the Cocktail soundtrack (especially the Hippy Hippy Shake) always makes me think of sitting in the top of that Hamburgler jungle gym (you remember those??) why my mom was at softball practice in elementary school.
2) Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" = Becky Mitchell showing us the "KURT" that she had carved into her thigh the day after Cobain had killed himself during Mrs. Frakes's class in middle school.
3) G Love's "Baby's Got Sauce" & Gravity Kill's "Enough" = My entire relationship with Abby in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade... it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I worshiped her, even as she tore me to the bone, manipulated me, made me feel like nothing. It follows me even now, I desperately want her to approve of me. But that's another story all together.
4) Cherry Poppin' Daddies = driving to my first job, when I was 15. I remember being in my 1st car, my '87 Isuzu Trooper, without AC in August. I remember that CPD were coming to town (along with Save Ferris, the Deftones, Rancid, etc) with the Warped Tour that summer, and pretty much the entire staff of the restaurant that I worked in refused to come to work that day, so the restaurant had to close.
5) Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" = singing at the top of my lungs in the French countryside with my friend Floriane. Why did I have to go all the way to France to discover Radiohead? Oh yeah, because I'm a square.
6) Beastie Boys' Hello Nasty album = driving to school my junior year in high school. Gene introduced me to the beastie boys (yes, I was always way behind in music. I listened to 50s and 60s music almost exclusively until high school) that summer.
7) Deftone's "Shove It" = the weeks after I broke up with Nick. I was so lost, confused, angry. That song let me scream.
There are so many more, and the memories that these songs bring up are so damn clear, its amazing. Take any period of my life, and there is music that defines it. Its like a thumbprint of what lead me to where I am now.
And thats the end of me being reflective, for now.
I've always had a pretty eclectic music taste, never really had a "favorite genre" or felt a strong allegiance to a type of music. And when I went to concerts, I always found that I never looked like or acted like everyone else at the concert. I always thought that it meant that though I loved music, it didn't define me as a person.
I was taking the long trip back from Tulsa this afternoon, though, when I realized that this was absolutely false. There are so much music that I never would have been interested if it hadn't been for influential events in my life, and so many songs that I automatically relate back to very specific times and places in my life. My iTunes playlist absolutely defines who I am, for better or worse.
For example:
1) Any song from the Cocktail soundtrack (especially the Hippy Hippy Shake) always makes me think of sitting in the top of that Hamburgler jungle gym (you remember those??) why my mom was at softball practice in elementary school.
2) Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" = Becky Mitchell showing us the "KURT" that she had carved into her thigh the day after Cobain had killed himself during Mrs. Frakes's class in middle school.
3) G Love's "Baby's Got Sauce" & Gravity Kill's "Enough" = My entire relationship with Abby in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade... it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I worshiped her, even as she tore me to the bone, manipulated me, made me feel like nothing. It follows me even now, I desperately want her to approve of me. But that's another story all together.
4) Cherry Poppin' Daddies = driving to my first job, when I was 15. I remember being in my 1st car, my '87 Isuzu Trooper, without AC in August. I remember that CPD were coming to town (along with Save Ferris, the Deftones, Rancid, etc) with the Warped Tour that summer, and pretty much the entire staff of the restaurant that I worked in refused to come to work that day, so the restaurant had to close.
5) Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" = singing at the top of my lungs in the French countryside with my friend Floriane. Why did I have to go all the way to France to discover Radiohead? Oh yeah, because I'm a square.
6) Beastie Boys' Hello Nasty album = driving to school my junior year in high school. Gene introduced me to the beastie boys (yes, I was always way behind in music. I listened to 50s and 60s music almost exclusively until high school) that summer.
7) Deftone's "Shove It" = the weeks after I broke up with Nick. I was so lost, confused, angry. That song let me scream.
There are so many more, and the memories that these songs bring up are so damn clear, its amazing. Take any period of my life, and there is music that defines it. Its like a thumbprint of what lead me to where I am now.
And thats the end of me being reflective, for now.