Most of you who know me, and those that have read this blog, will know that music plays a large part in my life.
It doesn't matter where you are, what you're doing, what you're experiencing, who you're with, who you want to be with, who you used to be with, even who YOU are, there will be a song that will perfectly describe you or any of the emotions you are going, or have been, through. The song probably won't come to you at that precise moment, but even after some time a song will play that you'll think, "That song reminds me of xxxxx".
Music may not always bring good memories either. Too many of us have gone through heartbreaking times, but still a song will come on and remind us of a particular person, place or event. Music in all its forms, is emotional. Music can be happy or sad, or bring on an emotional response in memory of a good or bad experience, person, place, etc. And the emotions that surface hearing that song are sometimes healthy, remind us of things, people or experiences we had forgotten recently.
Music may bring us out of a funk that we'd settled inadvertently into. Only when a particular "happy place" song comes on, we realise we'd taken a bit of a slump that we need to drag ourselves out of.
My personal collection ranges from the old classics, Beethoven, Bach, Rachmaninov and those lads, through all genres (yes, even (c)rap though I seldom listen to that) to the hardest of metal rock you can think of, like Disturbed, System of a Down, Rob Zombie, just to name a few. There is a song for every possible emotion I could have, or have had.
Some music sticks with you through the years, music that you were either influenced by a parent, or you heard in your teenage years with friends, music by bands that you saw play live on stage. Some music gets reintroduced at a later point in life that you ignored or poo-poo'ed when you were younger that you come back to in later years and admit to yourself that it is actually pretty damn good music and you should have listened to more of it at the time instead or rubbishing it straight away. Maturity will do that for you as well.
Other music will catch your ear as you grow up, through various ways and influences: radio, TV, social media (probably the biggest influence these days). I've picked up on some music through the intros to TV series, movie soundtracks, even adverts.
And biggest point of all, music is personal. It doesn't matter what others think of your choice of music. Or, if it does, it shouldn't. Music is like your personality, it is yours. It adds to what makes you, you. And bugger anybody that says otherwise. If people turn their nose up at your playlist or choice of song, that's their problem, not yours. The song was/is your experience. Yes, you may change your playlist when you have friends over for dinner or a social event to suit the event, but you will always go back to the music that is your current biggest influence. If you don't, you're not being honest with yourself.
Sitting here, I've gone through three different genres of music already, purely because I've started off with one (Duran Duran, New Wave music), to Dusty Springfield (60's female vocal) and am now listening to Stone Temple Pilots (grunge). It's one of those days when you say to yourself "Okay, scroll down the playlist five times and whatever is on screen, play it". Kinda like the YouTube rabbit hole of music videos.
If I had to list some of my recent music choices, and why I chose them, they would include the following:
Savannah Pope (He Sees Me) - A feelgood song, but the emotion behind her being accepted by him for what she is. On top of that, she has a great voice. Those notes she hits are amazing.
Talk Talk (It's my Life) - See above description of music being personal. And New Wave was part of my late teen years.
Tears for Fears (Advice for the Young at Heart) - Rushing into relationships. A weakness of mine? Certainly in my youth.
B52s (Love Shack) - My happy song. Instantly takes me to a happy place.
Shinedown (Get Up) - When I'm in a funk, this one sorts me out. It screams "Get out of it. There's more to life than what's happening now. This is temporary."
30 Seconds to Mars (A Beautiful Lie) - Memory of an event that happened 25yrs ago. "M" didn't like a painting I had which depicted prancing horses, so she gave it (supposedly) to a young girl she knew that had her own pony. She, however, told me a beautiful lie to cover up her getting rid of the painting. Needless to say, I made her get it back. I still have it.
A Flock of Seagulls (I Ran) - Another New Wave influence. Great dance track.
Alphaville (A Victory of Love) - New Wave influence, but a great track that starts off slowly and crashes into a great beat.
Alterbridge (Fable of the Silent Son) - "M" introduced me to these guys, the remnants of Creed after they split up. Possibly better than Creed, due to Myles Kennedy's influence and great vocals.
Bachman Turner Overdrive (Not Fragile) - Teenage years influence, when rock was giving way to a different type of rock. Along with Bad Company, Deep Purple, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, to name a few.
Basia (Cruising for Bruising) - A memory of a lover. She'll know who she is........
Beach Boys (Surfin USA) - Memories of my days spent in the salt water, usually two hours at a time. Go to nightshift, 7am cycle to North Beach (Durban), surf two hours, go home, eat, sleep, repeat.....good times.
Beethoven (Overture Leonore No3 C-major) - Memories of peaceful Sunday mornings.
Beth Hart (Get Your Shit Together) - Title says it all... Came across this version while doing the YT-rabbit-hole thing. The raunchiness of Beth's voice is gripping and Joe Bonamassa on guitar is brilliant.
Big Country (In a Big Country) - Memories of Scotland.
To be continued...... I've only just scraped the surface (only just started on B) and there are just too many tracks to list in one posting...
Look after yourselves out there, folks...
5 comments:
Thanks for the playlist. Some familiar, others not. Will explore.👌
I was born in the 1940's so have heard a few different types I think the 60' s was the best
Stand by for more over the coming days...
IMO... It's too difficult to say which decade had the best music because each had its own brilliant bands capable of making each decade "the best". In the end, choice of "best" would be subjective.
Thanks for sharing. I have found with music, depending on where your mind is at the time, you either hear the music, or you hear the lyrics.... Strange how when you are in a bad space, you hear the lyrics, sometimes for the first time....
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