You can magically choose to entirely forget one song. Then you get to listen to it again. Where you previously had every lyric and note memorized - say it’s your favorite - you now have no idea what’s next. Every bit is completely new to your ears. What do you choose?
I’d want to hear Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody again for the first time. I love the track, but I’d love to experience all of the bizarrely connected sections of it again without a clue of where it’s going.
I’d love to hear the whole album 40oz to Freedom by Sublime again for the first time. I wonder if I’d like it now. It was like the soundtrack to my mid/late teens.
That and Grassroots by 311.
I think one of the Deadheads in Freaks and Geeks said this but I’d like to forget American Beauty and listen to the whole album again as if it was my first time. With that said, I don’t really like the other Grateful Dead albums.
Bohemian Rhapsody, like you mentioned, is a great choice too. That would be another fun one to hear for the first time again.
*Stairway *of course.
I remember when “Schism” came on for the station premiere of the new unreleased (at the time) Tool album. Tool was my favorite band at the time, and I honestly didn’t know it was them singing. That experience was almost surreal, because I was considering adopting this new mystery band as my favorite before the announcer said it was them.
The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody.
Closer or* Hurt* by Nine Inch Nails
*
A Day In The Life* by The Beatles
Hey You by Pink Floyd
*
Where the Streets Have No Name* by U2
Creep by Radiohead
The Host Of Seraphim by Dead Can Dance
Can I forget a song and then not hear it again? Like, ever?
In that case, Seasons in the Sun.
Great concept! There are so many pieces of music that have been ruined by overplaying on radio, ads, kids recitals…
On the Classical side:
Pachelbel’s Canon
Fur Elise
Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez
Blue Danube Waltz
etc, etc
Hey Jude
“Back at One,” by Brian McKnight.
"Breathe (2 a.m.) by Anna Malick.
Every damn song in Stephen Sondheim’s Passion musical from '94. Also from Sweeney Tood. In fact, every damn song Sondheim every wrote.
A Life Less Ordinary -Carbon Leaf
Songs that I can immediately and clearly recall transfixing me in place to listen to it with 100% attention when I first heard them:
Barry McGuire - Eve Of Destruction
The Beatles - A Day In The Life, Let It Be
Bob Dylan - Ballad Of A Thin Man, Like A Rolling Stone
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly, Time
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Ohio
Billy Joel - Goodnight Saigon
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name
The Fugees - Killing Me Softly (cover song)
Cake - I Will Survive (cover song)
Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks
Probably (definitely) more but these I can name immediately.
Fall to Pieces - Velvet Revolver
Great song, just associated with a bittersweet memory
Eva Cassidy’s version of Time After Time.
“Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” by Billy Joel.
The entire album of “The Wall.” I’d like to hearken back to a time when I thought it was moving and profound. Might also require Fountain of Youth.
Romeo and Juliet - Dire Straights
Starman - David Bowie
Dream - Paul Anka
The Trial - Pink Floyd
I think I’ve got two separate categories here. There’s the songs that you’ve known for so long you can’t remember when you first heard them, but would love to know what that was like. Then there’s the songs that you can remember how amazing it was the first time you heard it, and would love to revisit that moment.
In the first category: Stairway to Heaven. I was huge, huge Zep fan in my late teens - still am I suppose - but I’ll be damned if I can remember the moment I first heard it.
In the second category: Seven Nation Army. I’d been lucky enough to see the White Stripes in a fairly small venue, was blown away, dashed out and bought the three existing albums. The anticipation when I first heard the “new single” - to hear that “bass line” that is now so instantly recognisable, and the wow factor when the guitar really kicks in. I’d like to relive that.
Foreigner’s “Feels Like The First Time” – just for the irony.
I would like to hear “The Star-Spangled Banner” once more - now that I’m adult and know the whole history - and to hear it done by the Boston Pops.