Prompt: Pick five time periods, ages, or moments from your life—they can be spread out or all clustered together. Don't think too hard about your choices, just write down the first one that comes to mind and move to the next.
Example:
1. First grade.
2. Jr. high.
3. Sleeping in a Buick (age 17).
4. Stripping in Texas (age 20).
5. Getting sober (age 25).
With me so far? Feeling admiration for my life choices? Great!
Next pick a song to pair with each moment. Again, try not to think too hard. Let it be a gut thing. Example: Jr. High—"Mother" by Danzig.
Now write a quick and dirty paragraph about each one. Then take the one that feels most interesting to you and expand it.
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1. Earliest memories, Age 3 - From the Cocktail movie soundtrack, Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
In the late 1980s, my mom used to drive a big blue Bronco. In the tape deck, for our shared enjoyment, she kept a rotation of Monkees cassettes and the soundtrack from the movie Cocktail with Tom Cruise. "Kokomo," "The Hippy Hippy Shake," and "Don't Worry, Be Happy" were as good as lullabies, rocking me to sleep in my carseat with a plush Ernie in one fist and a Bert in the other.
I didn't realize how deeply ingrained these songs became in my concept of common knowledge until I was on a long car trip with friends in the days before smart phones. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" came on the stereo and debate ensued. I was outnumbered and appalled, my friends adamantly insisting it was Bob Marley. Without the aid of Google, the argument raged on past innumerable mile markers on I-95. It doesn't matter that I was right, because the real loser of the argument was the poor dad driving a van full of screaming teenagers. Wrong Bob, guys!
2. Summer after 6th Grade, Age 12 - "Locked Out" by Crowded House
Remember Columbia House Music Club? How did that not bankrupt the music industry? How did it survive people like me, who gleefully accepted armfuls of free CDs and then canceled without paying a dime? I amassed so much music of questionable quality, but one true gem stands out. Shortly after I received my first Discman and began abusing the capitalist system, I acquired Crowded House's Together Alone album (how relevant). I remember a habit of falling asleep every night with "Locked Out" on repeat in my headphones, risking strangulation for aural transportation.
3. Freshman Year of College, Age 18 - "Reinventing Axl Rose" by Against Me!
The first time I heard Against Me! I was lying in bed in my apartment in Philly, listening to a burned CD my friend Danielle mailed me, along with a note that said something like "Yo, you gotta check this out!" Even writing this now, I get giddy thinking about that first listen. The first time I saw them live at the Unitarian Church on Chestnut Street.
I was supposed to see them next month when they came through Nashville, but now I wonder when we'll ever have live music again. God, this prompt was supposed to be fun, and I'm bumming myself out.
4. Senior Year of High School, Age 17 - "Wasted Days" by The Slackers
The first day of senior year, I started my busted old Saturn and turned the stereo all the way up. "Wasted Days" has a killer bass line and I wanted everyone to hear it as I pulled in the parking lot. In retrospect, everyone else was doing the same thing, blasting carefully selected music in the hopes of signifying something generally inaccurate about their personas.
I'm a chill person, is the vibe I was going for. I'm the kind of person who wastes days, not the kind of person who gets paid to do other people's homework. The very act of deliberately curating that transmission exposes the lie.
5. Now, Age 34 - "This Year" by The Mountain Goats
The chorus is defiant and oxymoronic. "I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me."
It's a little on the nose, yes, but this year will kill a lot of us, literally or figuratively. Don't go down without a fight. It helps if you have an anthem.
Ah, yes. Your music memories and choices through the years are (mostly) the best!!
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