I go back...

[Roland98]

Been at my sister's house a lot recently helping her renovate and move, and the only station that comes in is the local country one. They play this song (http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/I-Go-Back-lyrics-Kenny-Chesney/33681BED7E5B167B48256E2F000A7503) by Kenny Chesney at least once every time I'm there, so it got me thinking. This is the stanza in particular that sums up the song:

We all have a song that somehow stamped our lives
Takes us to another place and time

I've also been doing a lot of thinking about the past recently, with my upcoming move, all the crap with my marriage, and my high school reunion coming up, and songs have been important markers of times gone by.

For me, any early Madonna song (particularly "Material Girl" and "Crazy for You") immediately makes me think of fourth grade slumber parties. My one friend, Mandy, was just soooo cool because her Mom bought her a Madonna tape, and we'd lip synch all night long. "Walk Like an Egyptian" was around that same era as well.

Junior high was all about Bon Jovi. Every time I hear "I'll be there for you" I'm immediately back in the gym during a jr. high dance.

High school is a bit more schizophrenic. On the one hand, grunge was big, and some friends and I went to Lollapalooza in 1992, featuring Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers, Ministry, and Soundgarden. So pretty much any cut off of "Ten," "Blood Sugar Sex Magik," or "Nevermind" (Nirvana) takes me back to high school parties. OTOH, I did grow up in rural Ohio, and at about this same time "Friends in Low Places" (Garth Brooks) and "Boot Scootin' Boogie" (Brooks and Dunn) were out.

In college I don't really identify as much with contemporary songs. Rather, the songs that bring back memories were more timeless, standard college fare. "Laid" by James and "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes were pumping from someone's dorm room almost every week. A friend also went through a break-up with a jerk, and to get over him, she played Barenaked Ladies' "Break your Heart" over and over (and over and over) again, so that will always be a "college song" to me. I guess there were a few contemporary ones, now that I think about it--Weezer's "The Sweater Song," because my friend's band played a cover of it, and "Come and Get Your Love" (I have no idea who that's by), because one of the guys on my floor always sang it in the shower. Badly.

Guess I'm just waxing a bit nostalgic. Anyone else wanna play?

[seebs]

I made a friend a CD with a bit over a hundred MP3s on it which, in chronological order, do a fairly good job of representing my life experience...

[LadyShea]

I am an 70-80's child, so sorry for the cheesiness of the soundtrack of my childhood

Anything by the Eagles-reminds me of Tuesdays when I was very young, which was deep housecleaning day, my Mom would play the Eagles 8-tracks over and over while we cleaned.

Anything by the Beach Boys reminds me of driving around with my dad on whatever adventure, usually going to a car show or motorcycle race. I still like to listen to surfing music when I drive :)

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Cher- Reminds me of "girl time" with my Mom

Let's Go by The Cars- first ever dance in 6th grade, first time I met the "new girl", Wendy, who is still my best friend 20+ years later

Anything off Van Halen's Diver Down- my first crush, first sex, first drinking buddy, later good and long time friend, Brian

Talk Dirty to Me by Poison- My bad boy, sociopathic boyfriend when I was 16, Rob

That's what comes to mind right now

[Dingfod]

My daughter Roxy and I have been watching VH1's I love the 70s (...80s... 90s... whatever). She asked me if I still liked to listen to the music of the 70s (m-m-m-m-my g-g-g-g-generation) or 80s. I thought about it for a minute and decided that with the exception of Pink Floyd, Moody Blues and ELO, no, to me the music of the 70s sucked. Roland, I would've loved Lollapalooza '92. I fell in love with alternative rock after I moved to Salt Lake City in 1989.

However, my first cassette tape purchase (you see, I skipped the 8-track thing altogether) was The Who's Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy which had My Generation, I Can See For Miles, Happy Jack, Pinball Wizard, and more. I played that sumbitch til it was worn out. Great road music. It was all good.


Warren

[godfry n. glad]

hmpfh...

As much as I dislike Jackson Browne for his continually whining songs of regret and remorse, his "Pretender" always hits a little close to home.

High school was Chicago Transit Authority, the Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, James Gang, Procul Harem, Jefferson Starship and CSN&Y. "Almost Cut My Hair," "Four Dead in Ohio," "Wooden Ships"....

College and young adulthood was taken over by Fleetwood Mac. The "Rumors" album is part of my psyche. Pink Floyd held sway, briefly. I branched into jazz and folk traditions. Battlefield Band's _Anthem for the Common Man_ is wondrous Celtic inspired music, and Dave Brubeck still sets my foot tapping with "Take Five". MJQ is sweet.

My later adult years were affected more by Dire Straits and Sting, Sarah McLachlan and, more recently, Dido.

The Beatles have been there throughout. In many different forms. "Blackbird" is a favorite, of which I've heard many versions.

I was even finally convinced that country could produce decent stuff by the Dixie Chicks. Honky tonk is fun stuff. Plus, they can get a sniffle out of an old gumpy curmudgeon like me. Trisha Yearwood can do the same. Alison Krause has dominated my music listening for the past ten years.

And then there's the ukulele music.....

godfry

...if I could have anybody play at my party, I'd ask for Dire Straits.

[godfry n. glad]

I'll bet nobody else here knows anything about Biff Rose.

godfry

[Goliath]

I was a bit of an odd duck, and never really got into music (or into much of anything else, for that matter...but that's a sad, long, tear-inducing story that my currently caffiene-addled brain doesn't want to go into right now) until I was about 15...and at first, it was only They Might Be Giants and Weird Al.

TMBG songs that in particular take me back to the only truly good years of my childhood include:

Purple Toupee
The Day
Birdhouse In Your Soul
Whistling In The Dark
Istanbul (not Constantinople)
She's an Angel
Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes
It's Not My Birthday

However, my musical tastes later diversified...if my life were to have a soundtrack, the following songs (along with the TMBG songs above) would definitely be on it:

The Nobodies, Marilyn Manson
In The Garage, Weezer
Most (if not all of) Marilyn Manson's album AntiChrist Superstar
The Throes of Rejection, Pantera
That's Mathematics, Tom Lehrer
Engel, Rammstein
In My Life, The Beatles
Imagine, John Lennon

...and many more*!

* - many more that don't come to mind right now, that is....

[pzmyers]

Junior high for me was Creedence Clearwater Revival and Janis Joplin. Every time I hear them now, I think of my first crush...whose name I can't even remember anymore, but I well remember the long red hair, the granny glasses, and the scent of patchouli.

High school was Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, "Stairway to Heaven" and "Smoke on the Water" on an hourly rotation on the FM Album Rock station. It was cruising the Loop in Renton and ogling the girls dancing in the windows in South Seattle, with the car stereo turned up loud and good buddies playing air guitar in the back seat.

The end of high school was disappointment. The soundtrack of my senior year was the bubblegum pop of Elton John, and disco saturated everything; white boy afros and scraggly sideburns were everywhere, too. The new girl I had a crush on flew off to Thailand. My graduation year sucked. The only good thing is that the music was so bad, nobody plays it anymore, so I'm not reminded of it. Unless, dear gob, KC and the Sunshine Band make a comeback.

[livius drusus]

Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles is totally 7th grade. I read Ivanhoe and The Three Musketeers that summer as I played the tape over and over again. To this day I can't hear Fortress Around Your Heart without picturing La Rochelle.

[viscousmemories]

When I was a kid my older siblings (and therefore, I) listened to Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkle, Harry Chapin, and the Beach Boys. A few years later my brother was listening to ELO, Queen and the like. So all those bring me back to early pre-teenagerhood. In late pre-teenagerhood my closer siblings and I used to listen to Casy Kasem's top 40 every Saturday (or Sunday?) morning. That would've been late 70's, early 80's. I don't remember the names of any songs, but mostly disco I think.

In my early teens I got into classic rock like a good burnout. Zeppelin, Floyd, etc. I went from there to Ozzy, Quiet Riot, and other angry metal. When the movie Purple Rain came out I became a big Prince fan, to the chagrin of my peers. I went back and bought every Prince album from the beginning. To this day he is the musician for whom I have the most respect. The sheer quantity of music he has produced and performer's he has inspired, promoted or written songs for (Sheena Easton, Sheila E., Morris Day and the Time, Chaka Khan, Sinead O'connor, etc.) is really impressive. And that was all before the early 90's. That he is still productive is even more amazing to me. I like Madonna for that same reason. She changes with the times effectively, IMHO.

I also started listening to rap when it originated, and have been a fan of everything from Houdini to Ludacris, including Run DMC, Public Enemy, NWA, Cypress Hill, Eminem, JayZ, Nas, etc.

When I was stationed in Germany in 1988, I came home on leave once and popped a VCR tape in the player and recorded MTV overnight, so I could have videos back in the barracks in Germany. I ended up taping what was then a new show called 120 Minutes, which featured cutting edge alternative videos. So that was my first introduction to the Smiths, the Cure, etc. and I fell in love.

I went to the first Lollapalooza. It was (IIRC... I slept through the first half 'cause I'd been up all the previous night tripping. Ah Hell, I'll look it up): Ice T, Butthole Surfers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Color, Nine Inch Nails, and Jane's Addiction. I remember being really impressed with Living Color, when I wasn't so much by their recordings. I also remember Jane's Addiction. I was a big fan of them for a while, but never really got into Porno for Pyros.

Okay I'm just gonna stop now. Suffice it to say my CD collection today has all of the above, plus some opera and classical, and I like it all.

Godfry, I saw Dido perform live on Sharon Osbourne's show yesterday. She's hot (vocally and physically). :)

[Scotty]

I think if you have no social life at all, music like that plays little if much of any role. ;)

I was in the jazz band, that is what I listened to, but I never knew who wrote the songs.

I never bought cassette tapes, I was given some but only owned one tape player (okay, one in the car).

In that vein, my first album on record was Star Wars, I had a few more, but it would have been Bill Cosby, Allan Sherman, along those lines. So, not much music. Actually, most of it was that we didn't have any money to buy that stuff, so even listening to it on the radio was only in the car, and I didn't like most of the music people listened to, and I never found a jazz station at the time (didn't really try I guess).

I got more into it when I bought CD's.

I have the same problem with music as I have with almost everything else. I will listen to it, enjoy it, and then not listen to music in general for the next few months.

I look at iTunes and all of the stuff I have, and I just don't listen to it that often or find interest. Weird.

I even went to one concert "Boston" and blew out a specific frequency in my ears from the feedback, which was horrid. I never went to another one. Worthless (unless you like being shoved around, can't hear the music from all the feedback, can't see the stage, don't do drugs, and don't feel right about groping the woman next to you who doesn't seem to mind...).

I am so lame. I keep seeing the lamness, anybody else notice this?

-Scott

[Gawen]

I have mostly put my past where it belongs....in the rubbish bin. I had to sit here and THINK about the music I listened to in my early years.
I'm a mid 60's early 70's brat. Motown figured prominently. The first album I bought was the Beatles. The one with the Fab Four's faces on the jacket cover. There's very litle 60's music I would listen to even on a semi-regular basis. I truly can't stand the folk/peace music. Crosby, stills, Nash and Young and the like. This part of my life just quietly fades away, right where I want it.

The 70's...sheesh...That was the era of Led Zepplin, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Queen, Boston, Eagles, Foreigner, Carly Simon, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, America, Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull. And disco. Frankly, if it has any instrument other than drums and guitars, I don't listen to it anymore. This decade saw me grow up. The first couple years was somewhat turbulent, as in hormonal. High school sucked and so did the people in it. I haven't gone to a reunion and I don't plan on it ever. My only solice was the high school choir, and yet it didn't satisfy. Carly Simon's Your So Vain, Alice Coopers I'm 18, Oliva Newton John (can't remember the name), Aerosmith's Dream On , Harry Chapins Cat's in the Cradle and Edmond Fritzgerald , The Doors The End still affect me with memories long past...good and bad. Some of the music at the turn of the decade, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin for a couple examples make me want to puke. 1972 was my first year of seeing a girl naked. And she was willing. And we were both hot and horny, but I chickened out. It wasn't until the next year that I finally did it. But I was away from home on the other side of the U.S. and had no one to answer to. Strangely, no music reminds me of the 'event'.


80's...Cindi Lauper, Blondie, Devo, Brian adams, INXS, JC Mellencamp, Adam Ant...(lol...remember Adam Ant?), Rap, and then all the metal. Strangely, I can and do listen to most 80's music except rap. I miss the 80's. The 80's were good to me. Queensryche's album Operation Mindcrime remains to this day my fav album. And there are a few Metal Ballads that still bring tears to my eyes.

90's: I listen to most hard 90's music. If they scream, I change the channel. The 90's are a continuation of the 80's but at a lesser amount. Mostly pretty good.

[godfry n. glad]

I even went to one concert "Boston" and blew out a specific frequency in my ears from the feedback, which was horrid. I never went to another one. Worthless (unless you like being shoved around, can't hear the music from all the feedback, can't see the stage, don't do drugs, and don't feel right about groping the woman next to you who doesn't seem to mind...).

I am so lame. I keep seeing the lamness, anybody else notice this?

-Scott

No, Scotty... Not lame at all. You've just different priorities.

As for concerts, I'm with you. I've been to concerts where I liked the works of the artists, but the concerts were crap for one reason or another (usually butthead attendees). I made the mistake of purchasing 12th row seats for Sting. Seat? I didn't need no stinkin' seat; from the moment Sting walked out on the stage until the concert was over, everybody stood up. I'd have been better off buying standing room only tickets...cheap and I would probably have seen more. David Bowie was waaaaay too loud. Steven Stills unplugged had the worst crowd. (Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" concert was the best to which I've ever been, but I was much younger then and even went to Frank Zappa concerts.) The more I thought about what it costs to attend a concert these days, and then what is entailed (I hate crowds) and arrived at what I consider to be the rational approach...forget the concert and spend the money on several CDs of the artist's work instead. More enjoyment over more time at volumes I control. I like that.

I'm pretty much a jazz/folkie/poprock/worldmusic kinda guy. I hated disco. I wasn't impressed with rap (but I really did enjoy Gil Scot Herron's _The Revolution Will Not Be Televised_ which antedated rap). All the punk, screamer, and wall-fo-sound heavy metal left me cold.

I depend upon the kindness of friends to keep me from getting too out of date. Except for the new women artists, I haven't heard much lately in new talent that I like.

vm - I keep hearing about how beautiful Dido is....and I'm still trying to figure out the correct pronunciation of her name....is it "Dye-do", or "Dee-do", or "Did-o", or even "Did-due"? How did they announce her? Her voice is so seductive...at least I think so.


godfry