There are many universal truths. One of them is that everyone has songs that remind them of a certain someone, a certain occasion, a certain time of life... you can tell the story of your life in songs. With my iPod on and my uber cool sound eliminating Sennheiser headphones cutting me off from my otherwise silent and super cold (thanks to the air con servicemen) study, I was thinking about mine - in songs... this is an excerpt of what I came up with... (warning - embarassing confessions ahead) -
The Early Years...
Two very memorable tunes come to mind - "Rage in the Cage" by the J.Geils Band (1981). My aunt (mum's younger sis) would play this and I'd do one of those crazy uncontrolled and uninhibited jigs that only kids can pull off (when you're a kid is about the only time you can heed the advice - dance like no one's watching). And "D.I.S.C.O"... not the remixed one. The original one - I don't even remember who did it - and it's kinda hard to google it. You can imagine how one might get side-tracked with a search for "DISCO". My uncle (Bob - he prefers being called cousin and does frequent this site) would play this on vinyl back in the day (Sad fact is that I'd be lucky if a lot of people I work with have ever seen a fucking audio cassette!) and I'd get the spelling wrong (I wasn't a very bright kid).
My First "own" music
My brother and I would get a bunch of Sony CF90 blank tapes and record a whole lot of crap on them - over and over again. Including our voices (it's weird how your voice always sounds so bad when played back!... or maybe it's just mine!!). Some of the more memorable tapes had tracks like "The Final Countdown" by Swedish band Eurpoe (1986) and "Axel F", the instrumental piece from Beverly Hills Cop (1984). Briefly, there was also an African Music phase with stuff like "Mori Kante" and "Yeke Yeke" thrown in. But that was more my brother than me!
Puberty Blues Stage
And then the tough years... fur for facial hair, pimples, a cracking voice and other things that generally tend to conincide with puberty! This is when I bought my first 3 pre-recorded tapes, all in 1987 - the La Bamba soundtrack, the Bad album (Michael Jackson) and the Faith album (George Michael). Yes I'm cringing now. At that time, I thought Father Figure was a very raunchy song (won't elaborate on why). Also got into Madonna (Papa don't preach, Back into the Groove etc) and there was a very hot video there that I can't remember (It wasn't the banned Justify My Love - that came later).
The First CDs
We got our first CD player around 1991-92 (I remember we went to Lamington Road in Mumbai paid Rs 15,000 for a Sony 500W PMPO system with a double tape deck and CD player in it). Our first CDs were Snap - World Power, Enigma, Paula Abdul (CRINGE!!!!!!)
Outta School, Into College - the Love Song Phase!
After a brief hiatus where no major musical highlights come to mind, next came college. Just a quick clarification here - in Mumbai, we go to college at 16! I wronged my first real crush (now married, a very dear friend and has the lovliest daughter) in a big way. I kept playing "Please Forgive Me" by Brian Adams... to myself! Then my first girlfriend (think she's getting married soon or just got married). Our song was "Annie's song" by John Denver. Whenever we had a fight (which was wayyyyyyy too often), I'd play this over the phone and we'd be fine... for the next 10 minutes. When I broke up with her, I thought I was going to die. I played "All Outta Love" by Air Supply over and over and over. In hindsight, death might have been easier on me.
Coming into my own....
All this while, in the background I had been exposed to "better" music. My mum is a Beatles fan, my uncles played Abba, BeeGees and other 80s classics (there's no proof better than this that "better" is a relative term indeed!!). Got into the Beatles in a big way. Then into some classic rock - Floyd, Led Zep etc during my years in Calcutta. Comfortably Numb and Creep and Smoke on the Water are 2 songs that will always remind me of the Calcutta daze! Might give you a clue about what went on there!
If you're STILL reading this, take a minute and leave a comment with a song and a memory. The more incriminating, the better! :)
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5 comments:
Some songs that have always stayed with me - Wonderwall (Oasis), Runaway Train (Soul Asylum) and of course Comfortably numb.
PS - And I thought Wish you were here was your favorite song. Didnt make the cut??
beta - i don't know if you quite got the drift of this... this post wasn't about my favorite songs... it was songs that I associate a certain person/occasion/time of my life with. Wish you were here is my fave Floyd song (and some people might think you're my boyfriend for knowing that) but that's not really the point here is it?
(Takes a deep breath)
There was one truly horrific phase in my life. I was around 13 and one of my favorite songs was Against All Odds (Phil Collins whining "take a look at me now"). Luckily for me I discovered Megadeth shortly afterwards.
Nits,
This brings back memories! I don't know if you remember or not but we would do this jig on ABBA's Mamma Mia & i would carry you(which was bloody tough) & prance around the house!! We had quiet an eclectic taste in music at home- your Dad listened to Mukesh, Bharat to Talat Mahmood & Hemant Kumar & I was getting introduced to pop & rock. Your mom was the one who introduced me to the Beatles & there was no stopping from there. One family favorite was Beegees & later Streisand (woman in love). As for what stays with me since my days in Bombay it surely has to be "how deep is your love" from SNF soundtrack. Oh by the way D.I.S.C.O was by a band called Ottawan & I am sure if I look hard enough I will find the vinyl somewhere!! Thanks for a trip down nostalgia lane & I AM your cousin because as Bryan Adams said- 18 till i die!! Cheers. Bob
Nice to read about this music bit. Yes i was the one who would be IN CHARGE of all the so called "RECORDINGS". Yes i still remember the first 6 cds we got. nitin you forgot few of them - Enigma (MCMXCAD), SNAP (Ive got the power), Paula Abdul (Opposites attract) C&C Music factory (gonna make u sweat), Richard Clayderman and MC Hammer (U cant touch this).
Spot on boy. wow it took me about 30 seconds to recollect this. Am i good or wat. By the way thanks for these to my V.Masi (moms youngest sis)
Amongst others we went through this rap phase where we listened to a lot of Snoop Doggy dogg, Dr. Dre, Kriss Kross (a lot of Fcuking crap now).
Then there was this techno phase and I still recollect being the SOURCE of all music for my friends in the building. Thanks to sarosh for all the cds he lent me 2 record.
Going back in time i was wondering if nitin still remembers the Audio casette player that Bob baya n B baya used to have. It had 2 knobs for volume control (L & R) but those slid up and down not rotated like in the modern one. After that prehistoric piece stopped working, nitin (now hide in shame) and me used to play "Star trek" where one would Pretend to get transported in time where the other brother pushed those volume knobs up and down. Phew..... were we dumb or wat.
Finally to conclude i remeber the turn of fire ball XL5 quite a bit and recently limewired it and downloaded it. That was probably the first cartoons we saw (black and white of course). Anyone recall that one?
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