Songs to Hate

I have a confession to make...

I've been happily married for over 11 years. We met at an all day concert in St. Louis that neither of us had planned on attending. My mom surprised me with a ticket the day before so I could go with my friends; Scott's buddy called him an hour before the concert started and offered him an extra ticket. We were both kids, I was almost 17 and he was 19 years old. He noticed me checking him out and hollered at me to come talk to him. We ended watching the rest of the concert together, and the rest, as they say, is history.

By the time our first Valentine's Day rolled around, we had been together for about nine months, which, at our age, was a pretty serious relationship. Scott went all out. He bought me beautiful flowers and made reservations at a really nice Japanese restaurant. When we showed up, the hostess had apparently messed up all of the reservations for the evening and we were facing a huge crowd and a two hour wait. We ended up eating at an all you can eat Chinese buffet down the road, him in his tie, me in my dress.

This was the start of our Valentine's Day curse. The following year, we did manage to make it to dinner at the restaurant we intended and had an amazing three course fondue meal. When we got home, I was rushing to the bathroom and spent the evening curled around the toilet vomiting up that wonderful dinner as I was ravaged by the flu. (fun fact: I was also fired from my job due to this as I had to call in sick at my waitressing gig on Valentine's Day weekend).

The next year, we fared only slightly better. We once again made it to a nice dinner and no one spent the evening praying to the porcelain god; however, we went to dinner as a trio rather than a couple. As we were getting ready to leave, we realized Scott's mom would be home alone on Valentine's Day as Scott's dad had to work the evening shift. We were able to adjust our reservation for three and invited her along. While we still enjoyed the evening, this wasn't exactly the romantic time we had planned.

After this, we decided three strikes, we were out for Valentine's Day. Instead of trying to force a preordained romantic night, we decided our new tradition would be pizza and a movie at home. This quickly became one of our favorite holiday traditions. We would go to Dave's Video Store where you could rent five movies for five dollars (remember actually renting movies???) and pick up a pizza on the way home. We'd then spend the night eating pizza in bed and watching movies to the early hours of the morning.

We are now closing in on 20 years together since becoming "exclusive." How does an anti-Valentine's Day playlist play into this? Well, when you have been together as long as we have, you develop a personal playlist of songs that remind you of each other and mean something to you. A little less known fact is that there is also a personal playlist of songs that you love that your longtime partner just absolutely hates. The songs that when they come on the radio, there is an instant fight of changing the station or not. The songs that make your partner not only question your taste in music, but also your relationship. (Not really, but...). So, in honor of this, here are some songs that I love that my husband loves to hate:

Choke Chain- 3Oh!3

Honestly, I have no idea what this song is about, but I love it. This one is not one he has to worry about coming on the radio, but I definitely blare it on the Echo dot in our house while cleaning and it drives him crazy.

No Body, No Crime- Taylor Swift

I'm not a full-fledged Swiftie, but I do enjoy a lot of her music. When this song came out, I was in love. The lyrics, the beat, the story, I loved it all. Unfortunately, Scott did not feel the same.

Hate Me- Blue October

While Scott is a big fan of classic rock, he never got into the newer alternative rock bands that came out in the late 90s and early 2000s, like Blue October. While I'm screaming along to the lyrics almost in tears to this song, Scott rolls his eyes at me and asks when this whiney shit will be over.

Blank Space- I Prevail (Taylor Swift cover)

I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I came across this video. This is probably my favorite Taylor Swift song; combine that with a rock cover, and I was all in. Scott, not so much. Apparently combining two things he doesn't like, Taylor Swift and a screaming rock band, does not equal a win in his book.

Bartender Song- Rehab

I'll take full blame for Scott not liking this song anymore. He used to; in fact, I'm pretty sure he introduced me to it. Unfortunately for him, I LOVE it, so it gets played almost every night in the kitchen while I'm making dinner. He now hates it. Oops.

Let the Bodies Hit the Floor- Drowning Pool

We have a workout area in our basement and when I'm down there, I like to crank loud, angry music, so of course this song is on my playlist. I found out real quick this is probably Scott's most hated song of all time.

Black Widow- Iggy Azalea (featuring Rita Ora)

This is another one that falls on my workout playlist. When it come to rap, if it isn't 90s hip hop, Scott is a hard pass.

You Give Love a Bad Name- Bon Jovi

This is the most heartbreaking song on this list and one I only just found out that Scott doesn't like. Bon Jovi is my jam. MY JAM. I had a Bon Jovi greatest hits CD that I listened to nonstop on a 15 hour car ride. I eventually wore that CD out. Scott and I were in the car the other day when this song came on and I of course started singing along. When I chided him for not joining in, he dropped a bomb on me- he doesn't really care for any Bon Jovi. Once I picked my jaw off my lap, I asked him to explain. He told me in the 4,000 songs he has saved to his Amazon account, there was not a single solitary Bon Jovi song. I have been questioning the last 20 years since.