Music

A Life in Soundtrack

Songs that shaped me through the decades

So, Sherry McGuinn has done it again. She got me going on another video clip prompt. Last time it was funny videos — this time music. Apparently Rasheed Hooda might have started this, or maybe someone else did.

While conjuring up memories of funny comedy bits is one thing, getting a person to make a rough outline of their existence based on music is a big ask — especially when that person feels and especially strong pull to music as a background for our lives.

I don’t make any music. I don’t sing or play an instrument. I wish I did, but apparently not enough to have taken it up so far. However, I love music of most all types and prefer to have something playing all the time, particularly if I am by myself.

I write and concentrate much better when music is playing, however listening to someone talk on the radio or just idly on the television drives me absolutely nuts. I can’t concentrate at all when someone is talking, which is why I love satellite radio so much — no commercials. No talk (they have talk channels; but why?) if you don’t want it.

Today my go-to channel is called BPM on Sirius and it plays Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Yep, you heard correctly. While I am perhaps not the target demographic of such musical artists, I still love me some EDM.

There is something relaxing yet uplifting about the genre. Also, there tends to be a lot of new music or remixes of old songs that are continually being produced, so there is always something new afoot. Something I tend to seek out; new and different.

So, on any given day at my house the soundtrack probably includes something like this David Guetta, Nicky Romero and Sia classic Wild One Two:

But I didn’t start out there. No, a child born of the late 60’s, and in spite of influences like Neil Diamond, The Carpenters, The Oak Ridge Boys and classic country like Merle Haggard thrust upon me by my parents I grew up as a classic rocker.

Van Halen, Dio, Def Leppard and AC/DC blasted from my tape deck in the early years. I also liked the more mainstream Lover Boy, Foreigner, and Journey. I have always been a sucker for the ballads, like Faithfully, a longtime favorite.

One of the quirks of growing up in a Baptist Christian home was that some bands like the aforementioned passed the parental muster, however, Ozzy Osbourne who had bitten the head off a bat and KISS (who everyone knew were Knights In Satan’s Service) were strictly verboten.

That is probably why the Destroyer album was one of my first purchases when I left home for the Army in 1986. I found it ironic that one of my favorite songs on that record was the sweet and melancholy Beth:

I guess I really just was drawn to the songs that seemed to be introspective by the artists rather than their hits produced for the masses. That is why I also fell in love with Black Sabbath’s Changes the first time I heard it. It was the pre-internet era, and I went years before I could find a way to get a copy. Today, although still not one of Ozzy’s more prominent tunes, thankfully it can be found on YouTube:

The nineties brought about raising a family for me and spate of some literally awful music and artists. Most of the “hit” bands of the 1990’s I truly cannot stand. Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sublime, Rage Against the Machine and U2 put out some truly lackluster and uninspired tunes to define a decade.

Fortunately, it wasn’t all that bad. The Fugees came on the scene, and their remix of Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry will still make me stop whatever I am doing and sing along to this day:

REM saved the decade however as we could replay their hits from the late 80’s like Driver 8, and The Talking Heads kept us sane with thoughtful pieces like (Nothing But) Flowers. And The Pixies haunting tune Where is My Mind kept the time period (just barely) from music purgatory:

The 2000’s meant that my two young boys were getting older and discovering music on their own and they helped expose me to genre that would help escape the crap the previous decade saddled us with. That is when I discovered that there are bands out there making some decent music.

I like to think that I discovered Kings of Leon before anyone else. I know I wasn’t first for sure, but long before they became mainstream, I was jamming to some of their great early songs like this amazing tune that highlights Caleb Followill’s voice and oozes passion for their work:

And, later in the decade I discovered that someone had actually made decent music in the 1990’s, they were just in Canada, and so no one heard it. Ironically, the one “hit” released in America is their — by far — worst offering. However, aside from that bomb, The Tragically Hip were quietly making some great music like this:

Also, in the Alternative genre, a band I discovered, and love is The Airborne Toxic Event. Balancing between rock band and string quartet, they make some powerful music. If you have heard of them, it is probably this song:

So, as Sherry McGuinn found, the list is hard to keep short but let’s wrap this up. How did I ever become entranced with EDM? It was this song, played for me by my youngest son when he was about 17, “Hey, listen to this dad.”

After hearing this classic. How could you ever deny the power of the drop?

Okay, P.G. Barnett, Helen Cassidy Page, James Knight, Don Feazelle, Kristi Keller, Chris Hedges, Joe Luca, Besom & Bletherskite, Kevin Buddaeus and Tree Langdon ♾️. It’s time to see, “Who goes out on a Monday?” Tag me in your musical eclecticism!

And, Let me take a selfie!

Update: (May 25, 2020) If you made it to the end and still want a little more. I wrote a second piece with all the stuff I forgot to add in this one.

Don’t read it here:

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Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.