Musical Snapshots from my Past

I was going through my CD collection today, listening to some CDs I haven't listened to for quite a while, years in some cases. I was amazed by the vivid memories some of the CDs brought to my mind! I'm sure many of you have experienced this, but when I put on a certain song/CD, I was transported back to a specific time of my life. Not only did I remember it, but I felt the emotions associated with the certain memory: excitement, heartbreak, nervousness, etc. It was a very nostalgic experience for me. So I decided to list a few of the songs and the memories associated with them (this is also for me, so I can remember some of the songs that represent certain times of my life).

• The Proclaimers - I'm gonna be (500 Miles)

I remember being 5 or 6 years old and dancing/singing along to this song in the basement with my sister, Emily. I thought this song was phenomenal, probably because it was the only non-classical song I had ever heard. Also, I'm grateful for Emily introducing me to music written after the year 1900.

• You're a Good Man Charlie Brown - Broadway Musical

This was the CD of choice for many car trips when I was 10 or 11. I especially loved the songs about the book report on Peter Rabbit, and my new philosophy.

• Blink 182 - All the Small Things

This takes me to Adele C. Young Intermediate School in the 6th grade. This was also the first parental advisory CD I ever purchased. I got it from the Shopko in Brigham City. Looking back, I remember walking up to purchase it and wondering if the clerk would ask me for ID (I was 11)

but the clerk was some disgruntled teenager and apparently didn't care what type of music my youthful ears were exposed to.

• The Aquabats - Super Rad

I was introduced to the Aquabats by one of my best friends, Tom Brinton, when I was 13 or 14. This was also my first concert I ever attended. I'll never forget going to "In The Venue" in Salt Lake City to watch the Aquabats. Another vivid memory associated with the Aquabats is the first girl I ever kissed. We went to their concert with her when I was 15 and thought I was the bomb because I was there with a girl.

• Snow Patrol - Final Straw Album

This is pretty much my sophomore year of high school. I also bought this album for my girlfriend at the time, Kassie Sharp, the year before I went on my mission. I vividly remember sitting down with her in front of the stereo in her living room and listening to the entire album together.

• Dashboard Confessional - Hands Down

This song will forever remind me of perhaps the most traumatic experience of my life, when I got my skull crushed in at their concert and had to get some fairly intense surgery to repair it. I was in a mosh pit during their concert (technically during the opening band, but I still think of Dashboard because that's the band I was really there to see) when I got pushed from behind and my forehead hit the back of someone's head and crushed in the bone above my left eye. Anyway, after a bone graph from the other side of my skull, a dissolvable plate and screws, and a few hundred stitches, I was good to go. I wrote a letter to Dashboard explaining what happened to see if I could get some free stuff but they never responded.

• Death Cab for Cutie - The New Year - from the album Transatlanticism

I bought this CD specifically for this song on New Year's Day of 2005. I then listened to this song non-stop for the next three days. Consequently, I discovered one of my favorite songs of all time, The Sound of Settling. I still play this song often on my stereo and on my guitar. Also, I still listen to this album on a regular basis.

• The Postal Service - Nothing Better

A girl I dated my junior year in high school, Jocelyn Sexton, loved this song and this band. We listened to it often together and I still often think of her when I hear this song.

• The Killers - All These Things that I've Done

I played in a band in high school called The Monikers with my best friends (Tom Brinton, Dallin Gunther, and Seth Durfee). We got to play some amazing shows and record a couple of CDs. We would play this song full blast in the car as we were unloading for shows and would sing along with the bridge, "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier." It would pump us up for shows. Definitely some amazing memories with the band.

• Mindy Gledhill - Child of Light

Mindy's first album, Sum of All Grace, was a CD I could listen to while on my mission. It makes me think of Wasilla, Alaska in the middle of the winter. It was one of the only CDs me and my companion had so it got plenty of playing time in the car. I distinctly remember pulling out onto the Palmer-Wasilla Highway during a blizzard on the way to a district meeting.

• MGMT - Kids (The music video is really creepy. It's a bunch of monsters scaring a little kid. Sorry)

Perhaps my most recent musical memory, this song reminds me of a girl I dated after my mission, Emily Howe. We went to their concert on a whim when they came to Salt Lake City and were disappointed with their performance. They were OK, but this song (their most famous single) was basically recorded and the band just sang along. It was dumb.

Anyway, here are some musical snapshots from my past. What are some of yours??