Inspired by this thread, I started to think of this:
Songs from the past that actaually meant something to me. You know, the songs that you hear that actually bring up a specific memory of a person or place in your mind. Sometimes they might be from bands you don’t even like much, but the one or two songs they might have had are important to you.
Now I’ll give ya little background on myself…I’ve said it before in these forums that I’m a black guy. I was in high school and college in the 80’s. But heres the thing…my grandmother had a radio in the kitchen set to a local AM Top 40 radio station when I was a kid. She was trying to win the prize they gave out weekly for free groceries so we (meaning me and any other person in the house really) were not allowed to ever change the station. So I kind of grew up with an unintentional knowledge of rock and roll music that was unheard of in black guys back then. It was kinda wierd. I won a prize on the radio in college while hanging out with the brothers on campus because i knew the answer of “Who was the lead singer in Genesis before Phil Collins” question. (Guess it helped that I was a fan of Peter Gabriel by that point)
But what songs from the past remind you of stuff? Let it Ride from BTO and Joy to the world from Three Dog Night because they seemed to always get played at our summer time family bbqs. Dream Police by *Cheap Trick * always makes me think of Lauren, a girl I had met at a party when I was 16. I wanted to ask her out, but was scared to. That somng started playing and she kissed me for some reason. Standing on the Top by *the Temptations * reminds me of a teacher I had because he liked that song. He is actually one of my heroes, because he saved me from being an angry and miserable kid bound for trouble. (long story) But that song always makes me think of him.
**The Hooters ** 'cuz they actually played in a club a mile from my house, way before I was old ewnough to go in. I remember seeing flyers about it and made it a point to listen to their music. I love “All you zombies” because of that.
I don’t think I need to mention Pete Gabriel and Kate Bush since they are my favs. Someone, Somewhere in Summertime by Simple Minds- reminds me of a girl I dated. We took a walk in the woods and it rained, a sprinkly cool kind of rain. I remember thinking how beautiful she looked standing there in the rain. Tubthumping by Chumbawamba is a double edged sword. I heard it on the radio when I was really down and thinking I was just lost because of my personal problems. But hearing someone shout how they get knocked down, but you ain’t never gonna keep 'em down made me pull my shit together at that moment. Hell, its one of my personal anthems now.
Almost anything by **Big Country ** because I dated a scottish chick for a short time, go figure. Carolyns fingers by the *Coctaeu Twins * because its instrumental. When I hear it I have a mental flashback of courting my wife. (At the time my wife was in the army too. We used to take long walks through the forest and stuff, and that music reminds me of that for some reason.
Ok, this is corny and cliched as hell, but it’s true, and I’ll just take my lumps for it.
It’s “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. I was in uniform during Desert Storm. Lots of people from my base went over there. Not everybody came back. A good friend of mine was among those that didn’t. After the war, Greenwood gave a free concert on base, and closed the show with this song (of course). There was not a dry eye in the crowd. Everybody linked hands–didn’t matter male or female, didn’t matter whether you knew the person next to you or not. It just happened. And we sang along. In that time, at that place, it was a special moment. We all really felt the song…because we’d been through our first war, survived, and learned about what it means to serve a nation. To this day, that song always brings back the memories and emotions of that night.
And Dude, right after Desert Storm I remember sitting outside with a guy from the Alabama National Guard. The sun was going down, and good thing to, since it was HELL HOT in the day. (and only Purgatory hot at night) We had a radio and some “Near Beer” and "Whiter shade of Pale by Procol Harum started playing. For some reason this made us both incredibly homesick at that moment and we noth started crying and talking about our loved ones back home.
Jet City Woman by queensryche…I met my best buddy that I’ve ever had 'cuz of that song. Early 90’s we were stationed in Germany. I had seen this guy around, he was in my unit, but I thought he was jerk and he thought I was an asshole. But we were sitting at the bar next to each other when that song started playing. I said offhand. “Oh, Queensrycche…Jet City Woman…like this song” as it started playing. My buddy-to-be said 'Yeah, cool jam man," ands the rest was history. We’ve been close friends since that very moment. I’ll always remember that song because this dude was and is one of the best friends I’ve ever had.
I don’t know the name of the singer but a friend of mine played a country type song called “American Soldier (I think…I was wasted that night)” one night and I started crying. Yeah, I was drunk as hell, but that song kinda touched me.
Remember, no corniness is called on this thresd unless its in jest. We all have different tastes!
“Pretty Pathetic” by The Smoking Popes to the letter describe my final break up with my high school girlfriend.
I didn’t realize this until about a year after it happened… which was about a year and a half after I was given the album as a going-away-to-college present…from my High School Girlfriend.
Christmas in Dixie by Alabama. I went to law school up North. After a horrific first semester, during which my father had a quadruple-bypass and spent 6 weeks on a respirator while I was over a thousand miles away, and finishing my exams, with all the stress associated therewith, I headed home. Late that night, about the time I crossed the Alabama line, this song came on the radio. Think it was the first time I’d smiled in months…it was good to be headed home for a little while.
Bro, I know what you mean, somewhat. I was on my home from Attleboro Massachussets in the 80s. passing the Statue of Liberty. Everything in my life was going to the crapper at that point, but “Born in the USA” by Springstreen started playing on the radio. I I remember shouting in my car “YEAH, BABY!” despite nothing in my life at that point deserved a “YEAH BABY”. But I turned my life around and I’d like to think that moment gave me that little bump to do it.
Whole Lotta Love–1985, off campus party with many varied intoxicants consumed. Song comes on, Oakie starts playing enthusiastic air guitar. Buddy joins in with the bass line. Buddy#2 grabs imaginary sticks and plays air drums. Dancing stops. People start to watch. We’re jamming…and way too blasted to care anyway…hottest gals at the party start dancing like our groupies…song ends. Crowd applauds like mad.
Not quite in the corny or sentimental vein, but here goes…
I was doing lead vocal on “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” on stage with some friends from work. We formed a company band to play at a charity fundraiser.
Anyway, while I was singing “The Devil went Down to Georgia” at the fundraiser, I had no idea my future wife would be in the audience of about 400 or 500 people. But apparently she was. My voice caught her attention, and the next working day, she called my office and asked to speak to the band’s lead singer. The receptionist put the call through to me. We chatted, started dating, and ended up getting married a few years later.
Other couples have a sweet, sentimntal love song as “their” song. Not my wife and I–“our” song is “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
Come on, mention them, they deserve it!
I have 3 that literally changed my life, in that I wouldn’t have my husband, live where I do, do what I do.
“Watcher of the Skies” by Genesis - something as simple as watching TV and seeing this song performed changed my life, because I doubt very seriously that I ever would have heard of the band otherwise. I became an instant fan. Being a Genesis/Peter Gabriel fan led me to the fellow fan who sent me a casual compilation tape with…
“Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush on it. I became an instant fan (and she’s still my favorite artist). I knew within the first 30 seconds that I had begun a great love affair, but I had no idea how much it would affect me. Because I was a Kate fan, I met my husband, my soul mate (yes, they exist) of 23 years (and because of him I now live in Chicago). I’ve been to London twice for fan conventions, had a big hand in building the biggest Kate Bush fan resource (I did the html and graphics for Gaffaweb) and being a Kate Bush fan led me to the chain of events that caused me to receive from another Kate fan the tape that had
“Off From Out From Under Me” by Happy Rhodes carelessly tossed on the end. I became an instant fan, and Happy became my lyrical soul mate musically, and a friend personally. I do a lot of fan things for her that no one would be there to do for her otherwise. I’ve affected her life for the good by my unwavering fandom, as she released album after album (10!) and remained obscure, and I believe I’ve affected the lives of other people who discovered her through me. Best of all, unlike Kate and Peter, who are still highly important but distant entities to me, Happy is just an email away and is very supportive of me. She’s a sweetheart, a wonderful person, who is also a genius on the level (or near to the level) of Kate and Peter. How lucky can a girl (me) get?
So yeah, mere songs can not only mean something, they can change lives.
I don’t know about changing my life but since I was sixteen, “Stairway To Heaven” has been a big spooky part of it.
I’ve known the song since it came out, but since August of '76, it’s seemed to follow me. Every event of my life - major birthdays, meeting people who would be important to me, everything - has happened with that song popping up somewhere that day. The latest was in September when it popped up on the radio on route to my first roadtrip with the band.
The second one, believe it or not, is Alice Cooper’s “Sick Things”. It’s the song that introduced me to someone very important and ended up getting me into the band.
Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce. I shared a room with my older brother when I was young and he played it every morning when we were getting ready for school. I hated it (because it signaled getting ready for school.) Then I broke my hip and was in the hospital for an extended stay and in the pain and loneliness that ensued, I was laying there feeling pretty sorry for myself and the nurse happened to play Time in a Bottle. It made me feel like I was home and going to school.
Sail Away Sweet Sister by Queen. The first Big Love of my life and I had officially called it quits. I was heart broken. I played that song and thought of her.