There is a running joke between me and my husband that unless a song has been on Glee I won’t know it. I don’t listen to the radio when I am in the car by myself and my iPod is full of musical soundtracks and a few bands that I know I like. I love music, but I love *my* music. Most of the music played on the radio annoys me not to mention the radio stations themselves.
No Doubt
In an attempt to help me, my husband made me download the Pandora app on my phone. He was very sweet and pointed out that I could create a station based on Wicked or even Glee. I was really excited at first until I realized that I would rather listen to the Wicked album than a bunch of random Broadway songs I may or may not care about. So the app has stayed on my phone, untouched. Until this weekend.
For some reason I really wanted to listen to some of my old CDs from when I was a pre-teen/teen. I still have those CDs, but haven’t put them on my iPod. I was really bummed and lamenting my lack of foresight when it hit me. Pandora! I loaded up the app and followed the trail: genre –>pop–>90′s. What followed was pure magic.
Spice Girls
I seriously haven’t had so much fun listening to music in ages. And what was truly remarkable was that, at the very least, I knew the chorus to EVERY SINGLE SONG that came on. More times than not I knew every single word to the entire song. This was a bit of a shock for me. After spending so many years joking about how I never know the music that gets played on the radio I forgot that there was a time when I did.
This got me thinking. It is a very common gag on TV shows and movies for the children to make fun of their parents for only listening to their *old* music or for the adults to complain about the *noise* that their kids listen to as opposed to the real music from their youth. What is it about those years from about 8-18? Why is it that the pop culture of those years is what sticks with us for the duration of our lives?
N’SYNC
For me, every song I heard held a memory. Sometimes it was nothing more than a general sense of emotion and sometimes it was a very specific memory. Listening to that music took me back to a time when I was young and innocent and still believed that anything I could dream was possible. It reminded me of a time when life – no matter what I may have thought at the time – was fun, carefree, simple.
As I drove along belting out the songs from my childhood and youth I felt all of those things again. I felt carefree. For 30 minutes I forgot about all the things I needed to do, all the obligations I had, all my responsibilities and just enjoyed. At the end of every song I would hold my breath in anticipation and squeal in delight at the next song that played. For the first time in who knows how long I had fun. Pure, simple fun. It was bliss.
What about you? Do you still listen to the music from your youth? What kind of emotions does it create for you? Let me know in the comments.
Aww, Jess! You get as nostalgic about the 90s as I do. I loved this post… I feel the same way. I get really excited when I hear something from the 90s that I know and love that is random and obscure. (Kind of like “New Age Girl” or something…) Usually I’ll just belt it whether anyone is around or not!
Love me some 80s & 90s pop junk! Glad you discovered the worlds of Pandora. Good stuffs!
YES. Isn’t it funny how you remember those lyrics after all this time? I know I have, too. And I agree about the memories – whenever I listen to those “old” songs, they just bring be back to middle school and high school. There’s just such a positive feeling that flows from music from your childhood – especially ’90s music, which feels so upbeat to begin with. Sometimes I look back at these bands that I idolized so much when I was younger and think to myself, “whaaaaat was wrong with me?” But the music says it all, and there’s no shame in that!
For me, it’s the Sixties and Seventies, but yeah, I still listen. I played The Beatles’ “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper” over and over one afternoon and didn’t get sick of either one. Those two albums were popular when I was in seventh and eighth grade, and they’re still my favorites.
That`s why I love dance games, because they have music from every `generation.`
My daughter loves dancing to `Wanna Be` by the Spice Girls on the first Just Dance. And my 2 year old is crazy about I like to move it, move it. And if it weren`t enough they have New Kids on the Block and MC Hammer.
Sometimes I`ll get in a mood and we`ll listen to tons of old music on Youtube.
I agree with Asrai. Music and dance games bring back so many forgotten songs. It’s funny seeing my kids singing “One Way or Another” and “Eye of The Tiger”.
Old pop songs, even the ones I don’t like, take me back to high school and college.
And Pandora rocks!