The Band That Kept Me Going

I've had Spotify for a couple of years now. At the end of each year, the streaming service has a wrap up, a list of your top songs that year. In the past years these lists have been an amusing way to revisit songs, something to compare with others. My music tastes don't change that much and 2020 was no exception, but what was a little different were the stories and feelings that came with the music of 2020.

One of the first things I noticed in my Spotify end-of-year list was an abundance of songs by a band called the Maine.

If you aren't familiar with The Maine, well - this is them.

They're a band from Tempe, Arizona, formed in the year 2007. I've always had a soft spot for this band. I graduated from high school in 2007 and I grew up right alongside them. They also made my 2020 (and it's awful predecessor, 2019) a better year.

First of all, they released an album on March 29, 2019. So, this wasn't just the album that saved me in 2020; it also did the same exact thing in 2019! This album, You Are OK, took up eight slots in my 2020 year end review and ten in my 2019 review. Not to mention a dozen songs from their other albums. I realized that The Maine has really defined the last couple of years for me.

Every single song on the album is amazing and they all wrap around one single theme: you will be okay. Even as bad as things get, as hopeless as you can feel in your quest to find your identity, you will always be okay with the love and support of those around you.

To get a little personal, I'm a teacher. I found out in February of 2019 that my two years at my beloved school district were coming to an end and there was not going to be a third. My contract had not been renewed and my entire career trajectory, something I was excited and confident about, was thrown for a loop. I was depressed, frantic and scrambling for answers. Little did I know how bad things would get.

The opening song to You are OK spoke to me.

Breakdown hysteric and young

Uncomfortably numb

Then you sent my pain into oblivion

I was on the verge of breaking down

Then you came around

And not a second too late

I realized through this album that even though the best laid plans in my life had faltered, I would be okay. I would figure things out and find out where I needed to be. The Maine's lead singer and writer John O'Callaghan has always been really open about his own personal struggles, and the way that others have helped him get by, and in that moment the Maine really helped me get by.

Like I said, little did I know that 2020 would bring fresh horrors that 2019 could only dream of. I was frustrated by politics, by the growing threat that was the coronavirus, isolated and exhausted. I spent the earliest part of 2020 substitute teaching while trying to find a new job. Then, on my thirty-first birthday, March 13th, the world sort of shut down and I went right back to You Are OK and the Maine.

My #1 song this year was another from the You Are OK Album, the first single the Maine released off of it, Numb Without You. While this song might not have the emotional resonance of other songs by The Maine, take a listen. Tell me it doesn't fill you with energy and hope.

Oddly enough, The Maine wasn't only a band that got me through a hard time of trying to figure out my early-thirties identity in a terrible year. They were also one of my very best memories of the year 2020. I was able to meet them, virtually, after winning a contest by HeadCount.org for those who were registered and ready to vote. I was able to do what very few fans can and tell them what they meant to me.

When people say that a song or a band saved their life, we might scoff and call that a cliché or an exaggeration but these last couple of years have been rough, soul-searching ones for me. I'm lucky I had a band and an album to be soundtrack to that all.

I'm going to leave you with some words from John O'Callaghan and I hope that a little foray into the music I love will help you as much as it helped me. Happy New Year!!!