My relationship with music, like most things in life, is a roller-coaster.
These are songs that move me, for one reason or another. Wow, I know there are more. A lot more. But I guess these are the ones that I can remember the easiest. They all have their own story. They definitely aren't necessarily the "best" songs, but they're the ones that showed up at the right time in the right way. When I was a sophomore in high school I started this group on Facebook. I wish I had kept it going. It spread really quickly. (It got eaten up by advertisement. You may have to scroll for good content.)
I have always loved love songs. Mind you, good love songs. I can't say that I would necessarily seek them out. It seem that, in many cases, the love ones are the best. Are you surprised? I'm not.
Also, you'll notice the R&B above. It is easy to be critical of R&B, 'specially if you've only been exposed to the mainstream crud. But dig deep and you'll find gold. And I guess they are the most memorable, because it's nearly the only genre I can remember!
Oh man. Listening to all these old songs is bringing me way back. The memories flow.
As my current Beethoven obsession suggests, I cling to songs and listen to them repeatedly. Literally over and over and. There have probably been about twenty to thirty songs like that for me. I wish I could remember all of them. It isn't always the words - in fact, it's usually the sound, rhythm, and melody - that enchant and mesmerize me. Incidentally, now that I think of it, Barenboim and "We All Good People" are the first obsessions I have had in years. How sad.
I used to spend hours searching for music. Hours everyday. In my first two years of high school I got B's and C's instead of A's because I would spend so much time surfing around to find music. Although my grades suffered, I am pretty proud of what I was able to find. It was funny. I barely ever listened to the radio, but I would often hear a song a friend was listening to and tell them that I had first heard it months ago. At first they didn't believe me. But then they caught on. A few examples: plain white t's, The Weekend, OneRepublic, the Script, Justin Nozuka, Michael Franti. And others. Check out my skills below.
The greatest concert(s) I have ever been to have been those of Michael Franti. See him and touch him before you die. Please.
I have lost my music way too many times. Dead or sick computers. Crashed hard drives. I don't know if I have ever been as angry as I was when I lost fifteen thousand songs. I have completely given up on building up a music library. Well, that's not entirely true. I have a pretty extensive record collection. I need to clean those buggers. For the last couple of years, I have not been keeping up with music. My obsession with music has turned into other obsessions. But this reminiscing is putting me in the mood again. And life just isn't the same without music.
Music has made me who I am today. It has inspired me. It has scared and scarred me. It has punished me. It has lifted my chin. It has spit in my face. It has hugged and kissed me. It has breathed with and me and into me. It has shaped me. And it has taught me. All of these (and more) are prerequisites to reality, conciliation and reconciliation, understanding, defeat, victory, and peace. Music's place in this conflict needs no explanation.
(In other words, I'm using this post as a means to vent my long lost love of music. I did do the reading! If you look closely at some things in the post, you'll see some Jerusalem parallels- on purpose and on accident.)
Here's some songs I most recently (over the summer) got into. I wish I could share more of my past gems. Because they are a thousand times better! Heck, I haven't heard these since summer myself. A lot of these have poppy beats and the typical "dun-dun dun" start. I guess that's the thing nowadays. I'm not sure how much I dig it, but it definitely gets me dancing. And, well, I love to dance! Here are some bearables (no particular order):
KO KO/\/\Summer Camp/\/\Bwani Junction/\/\All We Are/\/\Glowbug/\/\Calexico/\/\Archie V/\/\Broken Fences/\/\Alamo Race Track/\/\Stepdad/\/\Adventure Club/\/\Deadmau5/\/\MHYH/\/\Steve Gray/\/\Baby Monster/\/\Xavier Rudd/\/\Madeon/\/\Lucy Rose/\/\The ILLZ/\/\Danny Brown/\/\Zella Day/\/\Flume/\/\Baby Monster (again)/\/\Seven Lions/\/\Scissor Sisters/\/\Modeselektor/\/\Pickster One Trap/\/\Cry Wolf Acoustic/\/\Clams Casino/\/\The Lighthouse and the Whaler/\/\Goldroom/\/\futuresequence/\/\Stubborn Heart/\/\Treeless Forest (and again)/\/\Debo Band/\/\Mike Musikanto/\/\Way Yes/\/\Chill Bump/\/\DrDr/\/\Birdy/\/\Society/\/\Synkro/\/\Brett Detar/\/\Aer/\/\Com Truise/\/\JJ/\/\Hoodoo/\/\Piilotpriest/\/\Peking Duk/\/\Passion Pit/\/\Purity Ring/\/\Macklemore/\/\Mikky Ekko/\/\New Navy/\/\HAIM/\/\alt-J/\/\Flume again/\/\Soko/Hannes Fischer/\/\Lumineers/\/\Blood Diamonds/\/\Gypsy and the Cat/\/\Gavin Glass/\/\Julia Stone/\/\Broke for Free/\/\S O H N/\/\Teen Daze/\/\Eyes Lips Eyes/\/\Dads on Display/\/\Nicolas Jaar/\/\Mt. Wolf/\/\Wake Owl/\/\
Phew! Hope you enjoy a few.
I think you can add writing to your fascinating repertoire! You really did a great job sharing how music is you...I could really connect with your explanations and I know that others can also...maybe it is this ability to share and the same ability to connect that is one of the keys to conflict resolution....any conflict.....I wonder...if music itself cannot quite be a common denominator, cannot the shared love and appreciation of it be a start? Just a thought.....
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