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Symphonic Saturday - My Past Life in Songs

music1I often think of my life in music. What I mean is, certain periods of my life are pretty closely depicted in the songs I listen to. Some just remind me of the old days, but some say exactly what I was going through at the time.

In elementary school, I wasn't a popular kid. I was bullied almost daily. Most of the time I felt like a loser. But in grade 7, Ace of Base released The Sign and though my parents couldn't afford to buy me the CD, the other kids sang it so much on the bus that I learned the words and could sing along. The next song we tormented the bus driver with was off Green Day's album Dookie and it was Basketcase. Those songs made me able to participate and feel like less of a loser if only for a small part of my day.

High school brought with it so many artists including Marilyn Manson, Tori Amos, Bjork, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and Nine Inch Nails, which us theatre kids often played through the auditorium sound system during lunch. I had a lot of anger in me in those days, so Marilyn Manson was particularly helpful. At parties, one of the older guys would bring a guitar and play songs like Don McLean's American Pie. My guitar class played Green Day's Good Riddance in front of the school. There's also a special place in my heart for Queen's Another One Bites the Dust from a medley we played in music class. Also, a boy who was integral to playing that one made out with me at a party one time. Ah, youthful shenanigans. One of our plays opened with Queen's Under Pressure and I still get that one stuck in my head fairly regularly. We also loved belting out Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill when it came out. That was pretty much the whole album. Songs from The Lion King also featured often. At graduation, the choir I was part of sang Turn Around. I think our choir director was trying to make everyone cry. If that didn't work, there was a presentation for all with photos from the year that included Sarah McLachlan's I Will Remember You to finish the job.

Then I lost myself for a while in whatever my now ex was into. Sometimes it was what was popular at the time like Baha Men's Who Let the Dogs Out. There was an awkward moment in there where I fell asleep at a Kim Mitchell concert and he was staring at me the whole time. I'm still sorry, Kim!. Other times it was Eric Clapton, Steve Vai, or Joe Satriani. Eventually the songs turned to such delights as Stealers Wheels Stuck in the Middle With You. I discovered Evanescence and still deeply love Amy Lee's work. By the end, Linkin Park's Numb encompasses part of how I felt. People have asked me lately about that part of the past and I feel like I'm saying more than enough in this post.

So five years ago I began rebuilding myself and music has been a big part of that. Katy Perry's Roar came out shortly after I began moving on. From there, I got into Two Door Cinema Club, Daft Punk, The Strokes, Ed Sheeran, and Flyleaf to name a few.

I'm ready to enter a new chapter. Musically, I think blues will feature prominently because whenever I screw around on my guitar without sheet music, something rather bluesy comes out. I think that's a sign that I should check out the blues scene.

I'm looking forward to the adventures 2018 brings.

Please be safe tomorrow night and Happy New Year!

R~
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