Who Do I Think I Am??

This one's about music.

THE PROMPT: "Music speaks to our souls. What songs have made an impact on your life and why?"

Anybody who knows anything about me will know that I love music as much as life itself. Any time I can play what I want to hear is a good time, even in the not-so-good times. And I don't think music always affects us solely because of the music or lyrics (although those may be the main reasons). It's the songs we have that we can attach to specific moments or people that really tend to shape who we are musically. They don't even have to be your favorite songs...but it just has to be a song that gives you pause whenever it comes on, and can take you back to another time or place.

Here's a brief musical history of myself: I grew up as a child of the '80's with a steady stream of oldies...'60's classics all the time like The Beatles and The Beach Boys. I loved The Beatles, but even as a child I could recognize how music could affect me emotionally when I heard this song and started crying over how beautiful and sad the story was. I may have, in my elementary years, been the first "Emo" kid, and I couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSAoEf1Ib58

Into my early teens I developed a love for hip-hop music. Call it my "rebel years" I suppose...you were either on one side of the fence with it or the other, and there weren't a lot of people in lower-middle class white suburbia on the same side as I was. I didn't so much mind gangsta rap...the beats were almost as shocking as the imagery, and even though the lyrics can be poetic if taken out of context, it grew tiresome. I drifted more toward the party rappers for their fun styles, and the politically-motivated ones who spoke of struggle and dealt with issues of race and stereotypes. They made the most sense to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB0NM6reiRE

These two videos are excellent examples of how a well-directed video can provide the story the lyrics are trying to tell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQAssqqYQ-E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9BqZ6eA5c&ob=av2n

The early '90's...I was graduating high school and "The Grunge Era" was all the rage. It was angst and melody and rhythm and dirty-sounding and my ears loved it. These guys were singing about my teenage years, essentially...they knew what I was dealing with. I know it sounds corny and cliche, but we gravitate toward what we can empathize with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJOMTrM37n4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbgKEjNBHqM&ob=av2e

As I got older, like so many others, tastes change. I mellowed out a little bit. I didn't need anger so much as I needed intensity. I wanted the music to sound like the words. I wanted real emotions from music. Yup, I'm Emo.

The guitars shreiking and kicking in at around the 1:32-mark of this song...the perfect example of what I meant by the music sounding like the words. And I couldn't listen to this song for a long time...the personal significance I attached to it was very real (but that's another story for another time).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO_3KRIk_bQ

That's all the emo I'll share...don't need you people getting tear stains on my watch.

Nowadays, I'll listen to almost anything but country (you can blame an angry step-dad for that). With over 14,000 songs on my iPod, no two days are ever the same. For good measure I'll throw in a couple more of my favorites...once I get started, I keep thinking "Oh my God, you can't leave out this band! You can't leave out that band!" But I've gotta draw the line somewhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrhRjlpG1RE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_RSJ6xuHbE&ob=av2e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-oimbtVdf4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBH97ma9YiI&ob=av2e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbEwHJX95QE&ob=av2e

Whew...time to stop...you're a trooper if you actually watched any of that. There's a story or meaning of some kind to me behind every one of those songs. Each of them, along with countless others, has played a role in shaping me to be who I am today. I hope you enjoyed them, and maybe checked out some of their other works too.

MUSICAL BREAK:

Yeah, I think I'll skip this segment of tonight's entry. Instead you get:

SPORTS BREAK:

With all of the violence, injury and labor unrest in sports nowadays, it's very rare that you come across stories like this of fans helping out rival fans on their turf. I'm a Notre Dame fan, and I applaud the University of Michigan's fans who came to this ND fan's aid.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/6973459/fans-help-save-man-notre-...

VITAL STATS:

Fall is definitely in the air...it's a long-sleeve shirt kinda day. Makes me sad that summer's no longer with us.

Came home from an appointment today to a ton of peanut butter chip cookies...whoooo!

You also know fall is in the air when there's a batch of beef stew on the stove, courtesy of Jess the CWC.

That's it for tonight. I believe the total running time of this entry will end up at around 96 minutes ...plan accordingly! Til tomorrow, GOODNIGHT NOW!!