June 10, 2022 – The Sixty-Ninth Official Friday Night BeerBlog

Music. Music is the most amazing thing on the face of the Earth. Truly. I think it, through the sense of hearing, outweighs every other experience by every other sense. Sorry for you “smell of bacon”, “sight of mountains”, “taste of ice cream” and “feel of sex”.

What Is It About Music?

That’s a lot of power to give music. But think about it. I would bet that every memorable time or absolute moment in your life is tied to music of some sort. For example, you may not remember your first REAL kiss, but I bet you remember it if a certain song was playing in the background. And every time you hear that song, you are immediately taken to that exact moment.

This is how couples determine “their song”. It may be a tune totally off the wall like Love Shack, but if there is a story there; then something probably very formative happened for that couple while that song played. It’s like a little window into their private life. For Mike and me it is Jeff Buckley’s Last Goodbye and if you’ve ever been to a party at my house where I’ve put together the playlist, I guarantee this song is on it.

It’s Always Been That Way

Music memories start almost immediately in life. And they don’t fade. I don’t remember much before the age of 5, but I can go right back to my little girl bedroom in Hopkinsville, KY listening to the promotional 45 of Sly and the Family Stone’s Everyday People that my dad, who was a DJ, brought home from the radio station.

Band Camp will always mean Afrika Bambaataa and Rock Rock To The Planet Rock and church camp will always be Def Leppard’s Rock of Ages. And never will I forget the afternoons at mamaw and papaw’s watching music videos on MTV because we didn’t get it on cable at home. All the summer afternoons dancing around their house to Madonna’s Like a Virgin, Digging on the red crewcut of Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams, and Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher.

And I will never forget that amazing week at Myrtle Beach between my junior and senior years and the beach crush I had on Mark Gormus from Richmond, VA, who introduced me to R.E.M. with Wendell Gee. Heavy Sigh.

Music makes life so emotional. It will make you feel things deeper, love more passionately and grieve even harder. It can most definitely bring you incredible joy and make you feel things inside and out that you never thought possible.

There’s Always More To Discover

Many say that they just don’t make music like they used to. Well, that is true and not true. There are MANY new types of music that are born from incredible creativity, creating all kinds of new emotional memories for the new young people. Just because you have music that you prefer, don’t ever judge someone else’s choice of music because those feelings are very personal and close to the heart.

And note, there are many types of older music still sitting there ready to be discovered if you haven’t already. Through life, we all fall into pockets and become reintroduced to music from the past along the way. I mean, who hasn’t gone through a Beatles, Pink Floyd, Motown, or Rage Against The Machine phase? Haven’t heard much RATM? This is your permission to get on that ASAP.

Creating New Memories With New Music

I encourage you not to limit yourself to the music that brings up only memories from your past. You need to be discovering new music to imprint on new memories. And there is new music being created all the time. You may not enjoy the music being played on mainstream radio these days, but trust me, there is great stuff out there outside the mainstream channels and you just have to go look for it. And then be open to it.

In fact, maybe you should check out my friends Suzanne and Steven Webster who have a new streaming radio show, “Radio Fortitude” on @electromagnetic_radio (em-radio.com) every second and fourth Sunday from noon-2 Eastern. They are talking about life on board the boat they live on “Fortitude” and playing their favorite music.

Or you can experiment on Pandora or Spotify. If there is a band, group, or single you find you enjoy, ask the app to play similar songs. The world is full of amazing tunes and you are bound to run into a few of them.

Get crazy. And don’t forget to let all of that music transport you somewhere new. Feel it all.

LLM

Podcast Version:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1594894/10773233