Do you ever hear a song that immediately puts you in a particular mood or a particular place no matter what your actual reality is? With the death of Whitney Houston yesterday and the Grammys on later tonight, I began to think about how music has absolutely affected my life in small ways and large. As some of you know, my Dad has MS and is in a nursing home. In a way, listening to certain music has become somewhat of a daily tribute to him. In trying to remember my earliest memories of music-- before my embarrassing middle school year of air-guitaring and jumping around in the basement to Bush and Pearl Jam*--my thoughts go to before my parents got divorced with my Dad. My brother, sister and I were all the unfortunate recipients of the adorable speech impediment of not being able to pronounce our R's and sometimes our L's. We would turn on the radio to the local Oldie's station and Dad would have us call in to request songs. Went a little something like this....
DJ: What song can I play for you tonight?
One of us kids: "I'd wike to heaw Teaws of a Cwown by Smokey Wobinson and the Miwacles pwease"
Dad:
(hysterical laughter)
The DJ would always play whatever we requested because we were SO adorable and then we would proceed to dance around in our terrible neon/denim stylings (Me) or shirtless in diapers occasionally paired with shoes (Sis and Bro). This early memory makes me laugh and smile even now. Music made this memory easier to recall. Music really brought us together.
Once we moved to Massachusetts and lived with our grandparents and uncles, my music choices took another turn. One of my uncles at the time was in high school and me thinking that he was the coolest kid in the world, used to "borrow" his cds and cassettes. What 4th grade girl listened to Tesla, Aerosmith AND Dr. Dre?? I didn't think I could be any cooler. For any of my girlfriends that wonder where the little gansta side of me comes from, here it is!--Oh and here is a shout-out to Wheaton as well-- :) I popped one of the curse word-riddled hip-hop tapes I borrowed from my uncle into the tape deck of my grandmother's LeBaron while driving to the grocery store. This resulted in said tape being thrown out the window and me not being able to "borrow" his tapes anymore :( That was a sad day...the added difficulty of being around people who were professionals of not pronouncing their R's (or "Ah's") was enough, let alone not having the ability to be "cool" anymore like my uncle.
Then onto middle school where I really was too cool for anything....Bush**, Nirvana, Pearl Jam were all favorites and all I wanted to listen too--aside from my first cassette ever purchased, Mariah Carey's Music Box featuring 'Dreamlover'. I loved that song! Anyways, during this time my Dad also would get us to listen to HIS music..60s, 70s and bagpipe. Yup...bagpipe. Imagine making an hour or so long trip across the state in a tiny Geo Metro with no air conditioning, leather (plastic) seats, squeezed next to 2 other people, listening to a 'Best of Bagpipe' cassette all the while being a middle school girl who was too cool for school....At the time, it was a terrible terrible experience. Now when I hear bagpipes I cry and think of my Dad. It really is because of him that my music tastes are so varied. Also, because of him I can enjoy my boyfriend's passion of classic rock although when I was a kid, it was not appreciated at all.
I also went through a stage of only wanting to listen to "rave" music and various types of electronic stuff, D&B was my fav. Along with this phase came bright orange UFO pants and lots and lots of bracelets. My bracelets even made an appearance in one of my high school yearbooks in the
Fashion section... : / I probably should have tried a little harder to be forever remembered in print for something else other than my terrible fashion sense. Also, my affinity for early 90s hip hop, pop and r&b was at an all-time high..oh C&C Music Factory & LaBouche, how I loved thee...
Now for the tie-in to my High-Heeled blog title...My music taste is about as varied as you can get. Although nowadays I claim to really enjoy anything I can shake my a$$ to, I find myself listening to music that either complements or changes my mood depending on the day. Regardless of whatever music you are listening to, it can ALWAYS be rocked in high heels and be fabulous as long as it moves you. It doesn't need to make you dig deep into your soul like some songs will. It can also just make you on-the-surface-happy with an unfortunately catchy verse that is sung over and over again for the entirety of the song. It is all awesome "so sit back, relax, and strap on your seatbelt," "won't you come with me to a place in a little town,"and "Let the rhythm move you."***
And although this has been said over Facebook all day today....
Whitney, IIIIIIIeeeeeIIIIIII will always love you and every other musician that has allowed me to connect with my friends, my family, my feelings and my high heels. :)
Peace.
*Not embarrassing music choices-->still awesome. Just an awkward wanna-be skater girl who couldn't skate personality :)
** 'Glycerine' was totally a practice kissing with your pillow type of song...yeah I said it, don't act like you never did it.
***Do you know the songs?
