Music ~ My Life

This begins as a submission for the Teen Angst Playlist challenge, but knowing there are literally hundreds of potential applicants, I have decided to grow this writing by my own intentions and let the dichotomy lie.

With that said, if there is one thing I know well, it is music.

80's music, to be exact.

(Okay, okay, okay, "and movies and other stuff, too", but That's a tangent for another day, and another story.)

I have memorized a countless assortment of tunes over the years as I have practiced singing and simply lived in the bliss of such sweet sounds.

(The music...not my singing. Not exactly. Ha ha haaaaaaaaaa.)

To put it simply: I fell in love a long time ago.

Yet, here it comes! That kooky cliché:

"It didn't just happen that way."

I can pinpoint my fondness for 80's music to rooting through my stepmom's (I believe) CD collection while at my Dad's house in my early teens. The turning point for me was a compilation album called, quite fittingly, Pure 80's. Of course, the classic rock beginnings that had gripped me through my Dad's car radio and the music that had similarly come to my attention while I was around my Mom some time prior had then begun to die a gradual, fateful death.

The 80's had taken their rightful place in my heart, the synthesizer swift to capture my soul with its wonder.

As for my teen years and beyond, it progressed as a period headlined by changing acts. First Van Halen, then Guns N' Roses, then Stone Temple Pilots, then Iron Maiden, then Judas Priest, and so on. I moved from classic rock, to hard rock, to heavy metal and new wave (A Flock Of Seagulls) and synth pop (Orchestral Maneuvers In The Dark), etc. etc. etc.!!!, discovering all kinds of new albums and bands along the way; through scouring CD shops and the like, and loving every minute of the journey. I've got quite the collection now, which I hope will continue to grow for a very long time.

Through all the phases I have been through, enraptured by my burgeoning discoveries, I have milked all I could out of what I found and was drawn to. My story has stretched inexhaustibly past those teenage years and into the more recent ones, though it wasn't until some time into college that music really started picking up steam for me.

I suppose they opened up a world to me that I could take anywhere; a world not painted by my emotions, but in tandem with them.

Of course, "with great power comes great responsibility". I would grow to play music loud in my headphones through college and up, as a foolhardy means of connecting with others. Long story short, alas, I must confess that my hearing will eventually suffer strongly as a result. To put Shakespeare into my own desired context: "Our [emotions] are traitors..."

However, regardless of the long-term effects on my physical body, songs and albums have tantalized my mind in ways that only memory and the voice of my subconscious could ever hope to convey with any distinction.

Anyhooo...moving on to the supporting evidence of this venture: I will now take the opportunity to touch upon some songs and albums that have had a distinct impression on my life, whether it was as a whole or due to a unique aspect I found myself inspired by.

This is by absolutely no means an extensive list, and I will simply have to refrain my tongue EXTREMELY from soring itself through my fingertips. I will be doing a companion video to this article on my YouTube Channel to express these ideas in further detail. The video will bear the same title as the article.

Ultimately, I hope in doing so that I can somehow get even a small dose of the inspiration and bliss I have felt so deeply over to you.

So here goes; an abbreviated abbreviation, if you will:

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Plush, Stone Temple Pilots (From Core)

I swear I can hear a second layering of the chorus. It sounds a split second or so off. I don't know if it is really there at all, but whenever I play the track, the magic is right there waiting for me...one realization away. I truly hope that it is there, and that it was intentional.

You've Got It (The Right Stuff), New Kids On The Block (From New Kids On The Block)

Back in my teens, when I first heard this track, the fading echo of the last "oh" in "Oh, oh, oh oh oh", during the first and third lines of the choral stanza made me feel like the singer was falling backward into time and loneliness, as if he was fading away forever. I won't lie and deny that I came to this idea inside of my own shoes. The catalyst, within me, to think so was, reasonably so, some derivation of aching sadness and poison wonder...my sweet, and sour, companions.

BONUS: NKOTB, the 80's, and IT (2017)

My introduction to Stephen King's novel IT and the history that followed is more adequately explored in a video, which I have already done on my Channel previously. Suffice it to say, I believe that my love for the novel, 80's music, and my experience with the song were supportive in the remake being set in the 80s. I can't prove it, of course, but there is a knowing in my heart that tells me that I had helped it to happen. Thank you, Universe.

I just wish I hadn't been lazy and cheap, and had made the trip up to Canada with my new passport to volunteer to be an extra in the production. Hell, I had gotten the passport to do exactly That in the first place. Ha ha.....ha......

..

Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel, Simple Minds (From New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84))

The repetitive chorus. Absolutely lovely. Simple Minds is much more than their recording of "(Don't You) Forget About Me". SO much more. Beautiful album. See also: OMD's Architecture & Morality.

The Heartbreak Kid, Icehouse (From Man of Colours)

Having started out through my discovery of Crazy as well as Electric Blue (Fun Fact: this track was written by John Oates of Hall & Oates) on Pandora, I eventually purchased the compilation album Great Southern Land and discovered so much more.

(CAUTION: I generally do Not care for compilation albums. They are as commendable to me as the singles that profit through airplay yet ultimately only serve to dilute albums' potential to really and unequivocally inspire as a whole--what I truly believe is their divine intention. I believe in albums as works of art, all would-be "singles" included and bound together. I suppose you could say I believe in the concept of family (one of the reasons why I am a 100% advocate for Marvel Studios and the MCU!!! Bring Spidey home, baby!!). Of course, I have stumbled upon some notable exceptions, i.e. with this album and New Order's Substance because they are unique pieces of art even in themselves.)

Anyhow, discovering this track while finally listening to Man of Colours on YouTube, my mind and heart and soul were no doubt touched. There is a certain multi-layering to this song that, currently, brings me to call it one of the most beautiful tracks I have ever heard; lyrically, production-wise, etc. It speaks to my own pains and the resultant flame that helps to keep my imagination burning and my heart alive.

That's all I'll say for now.

But trust me:

I would absolutely LOVE to get the opportunity to discuss this deeply with you and somehow transfer my own blissful experiences with these tracks and many many more right to your own mind and heart and soul.

Perhaps one day we will meet in the middle.

"Somewhere in summertime."