Monday, November 22, 2010

Resonation: as per Music and Lyrics

Music. Take me away to another time. Transport my memory instantly. I would like to list the artists/albums/songs/lyrics that have touched my life at one point. Let's begin at the skating rink....

Alan Jackson-Chatahoochee. I knew all the words and recited them with such joy in my pre-pubescent Mid-Texas drawl. Might I throw in the fact that the line "It get's hotter than a hoochie coochie" probably wouldn't fly in today's PC sissy society.

Ace of Base-The Sign. I first heard "The Sign" riding in a car with some other little ladies in about 3rd grade. Now keep in mind I grew up in Brownwood, Texas and the ONLY radio stations were of course, Country. Anything outside that genre was straight up magical. Ace of Base you will forever live in my heart's basement packed up alongside Full House and Zack Morris.

Lil' Troy-Wanna Be a Baller. I was forced to open my eyes to the blindingly bright light that was MAINSTREAM in 8th grade when I moved to the suburbs of Houston. Everyday was a musical shock to me, whether it was: Marilyn Manson, Southpark Mexican, Jay Z...etc. BUT one day that stays with me always, is a field trip we took to who knows where, that is not relevant. What was life changing on this day- was seeing my fellow 8th graders all get up on the bus and sing the lyrics to the best rap song of all time...by humans...."Wanna Be a Baller". I did NOT know what an Impala was, why a Swisher would be rolled tight...but a PrimeCo. phone, I did hear of that in BFE. Instant addiction to rap circa 1997-1999.

Music was all one big blur to me throughout my high school years and even after. I suppose there was just too much to pick one genre or artist that particularly spoke to me. Whatever the "cool kids" liked was OK with me. Sadly music wouldn't touch my heart again until I ate some dried up mushrooms between two Lay's BBQ chips and stared at the little warrior I found in the paint of the bathroom wall. "Dark Side of the Moon" was the background music for this adventure that quickly became the driver of my beautiful trip. My dad used to play Pink Floyd to put me to sleep, I remember watching "The Wall" and feeling pure fear. Thankfully I gave Floyd another chance and was drawn into Water's voice like a cat drawn to it's own vagina. I finally found something moving. Music that could lift my soul and make me cry.
To this day Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon is my heart's favorite album.

Mind is OPEN. I can't get enough. Cut to a few months ago...I was handed a burned copy of one of the greatest albums to this day. An experimental album that blew critics away at the time and over ten years later has the ability to take my swaying mood and jerk it over to the "Fuck Yes" side, leaving me with a mind full of psychedelic rainbows mixed with melancholic empathy. "Kid A". Radiohead. Or Radiocabeza if you speak Spanish. After months of basking in the hypnotic beats of "Idioteque",  or the mind-clearing chaos of "The National Anthem", I slightly branched out to other albums by the band. None have grabbed a hold of my soul the way "Kid A" did, but a few tracks have come close: "Weird Fishes", and "There There" run a close race to "Optimistic" as my favorite Radiohead song.

So that takes us to my favorite album at the time. I must say looking back on the years of spectacular artists that I missed out on due to my ignorance of the entire musical universe, makes me feel like a left-out little poopstain, but I am making it up to myself day by day. Enter, "Plastic Beach" -Gorillaz. Yes, I already have one musically inspired tattoo, but if it wasn't for the asshole employees of not one but two tattoo shops, I would have a rather large sentence tattooed on my shoulder. "Your rhinestone eyes are like factories far away", is said to have roots planted in ideas stemming from the whole album's concept of economical conservation. But to each their own, and to me this song has deeper meaning. This album, like many that I call home, came at a time of much needed personal growth and discovery, therefore resonates deep in my soul.