Musical Memories

MUSICAL MEMORIES

  

  I was driving home from work Saturday afternoon when I turned on the radio. The Dj's wimpy voice droned on about something unimportant filling my car with noise. I only turned it on to avoid silence. "This band is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their record release today," he announced before playing the song "Sober" from Tool.
  I was instantly transported back to 1993, driving down a dirt road late at night blasting the song through the crummy speakers of my Ford Tempo while coming home. It was snowy, piled along either side of the rough, pitted road that raised over the rolling hills and railroad tracks before I turned down the long driveway and parked at my parents' house. 
  "Sober" was one of my favorite songs then and Undertow was the first cd I ever purchased with my own money.
  As the song ended that Saturday afternoon, I smiled. My mood had instantly improved, not because of the songs tone, but because of the fond memories it evoked from my youth. It is something that I have cherished during my life. Music has played an important role in milestones and memories that I have created in my mind...for lack of a better phrase, Music sets the soundtrack to my life. That made me think... what are some of the most memorable albums in your life? Here are a few of mine...

Tool - Undertow (Released April 6, 1993)

 As I mentioned before, Tool's 1993 release, Undertow, was the first cd I purchased with my own money. It gave me a sense of indepenence. My parents would never have even considered picking it up let alone purchase it for me. Fortunately for me, I was 16 when it was released and had just started my first job. Undertow was dark with mysterious imagery and haunting lyrics. It was everything a high school boy like me wanted in his music then. It stabbed at everything that had emerged from the 1980's and pulled me into amassing a ridiculously large music collection by college. Undertow started it all for me.

Live - The Distance To Here (Released November 19, 1999)

   Live was a band, with an awful name for google searching, that I followed religiously by this point in their careers. Throwing Copper is one of my personal favorites (I am actually listening to it right now while typing this); however, the band's 1999 release, The Distance To Here, has a very personal meaning for me.
   That November I was still at college, quickly approaching graduation. My future wife had graduated in May of the same year, moved away and began her career. The Distance to Here was the record we would listen to when she came back to visit. To this day I vividly remember her dancing with me in my room at the house I lived in, long flower dress, long hair pulled back revealing her neck (okay I must focus). When I listen to songs like; "The Dolphins Cry",  "Run To The Water", or "They Stood Up For Love" it reminds me how much I missed her and still love her to this day. It takes me back to the day when I was plotting...oh wait, I mean planning to ask her to marry me. (I love this record, but not as much as you, Misty.)

Fall Out Boy - Infinite On High (Released February 6, 2008)

   This album was released just after my 31st birthday, and I still blast every single song when I hear it. There are so many great tracks; "Thanks For The Memories", "Thriller", "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race" to name a few. What makes it so special? It is the first band (this album specifically) that I shared with my daughters. We spent that summer listening to this over and over. Thank God that cassette tapes are history, because it would be warped from use by now. Whenever, Fall Out Boy plays in our house everyone sings along and that is why Infinite On High makes this list.

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light (Released April 12, 2011)

  My final choice for this blog is one of the most successful rock bands of my generation, the Foo Fighters with Wasting Light. This is my favorite Foo record to date, but its the story of its introduction to my family that solidified it as a Musical Memory!
  In the month leading up to Wasting Light's release, the Foo Fighters were consistently being played on a television channel called Palladia. My wife and I had been fans since the beginning of our relationship as their record The Color & The Shape (2007) had recently been released. We spent the month leading up to the release of Wasting Light watching two specials on Palladia, a concert from Wembley Stadium and their documentary video, Back & Forth. We were both so excited when the record came out! We went to see them that fall in Detroit. Wasting Light reconnected my wife and I musically. We hadn't attended a concert together in a decade, something we did frequently early on in our relationship. (Our first date was Lallapolloza '97)

  Music has created so many great memories for me. I can't wait for summer, just so my wife and I can relax together listening to playlists that I spend hours creating to evoke those perfect moments from our history together, and hope to make plenty more for the future.
  What are your Musical Memories? 
 

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