My parents were young when they got married, and neither was particularly savvy... about anything. They were pop music (mom) and big band hang back (dad). My dad had a lot of Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass. Mom had a lot of folk rock. Being marginally tone deaf, the stuff with LYRICS was preferable, so I grew up choosing Carole King, Neil Diamond, Simon & Garfunkle, Sonny & Cher... and Janice Joplin. I think the Scarborough Fair Album was most frequently chosen (still love it), Sonny & Cher was what—at the TIME, I would have marked as favorite... Carole King has stuck with me longest as a musician I STILL admire the heck out of, but if I am choosing a SONG...
Janice Joplin was raw and tortured, and her music resonated with the times. She was wild, but vulnerable, as I still think of my dad, and I love this SONG as my first awareness of the use of getting the point across by saying something different than the ACTUAL point. At four or five, I GOT that a Mercedez Benz or a color TV were NOT the kinds of things you asked God for. Seeds of irony were born a decade before I knew what the word meant. We also had a near miss with Dialing for Dollars—the Spokane station announced they were calling 882-4792 and the phone began to ring. I could hear it... but I was next door at my babysitter's house... missing the call... no money for the color TV that we didn't yet own... so there is a somewhat personal connection.
In Junior High I gave over to angst. I wanted LOVE and ACHE and LONGING in a big way—never mind that almost ALWAYS when a boy actually liked me back, I panicked and backed off... I had stereotypes of the feelings I was supposed to have, but it was the wanting I wanted... not the having... (my apologies to the boys I gave the wrong impression to—not that they were knocking down my doors, but there were a few). This particular song had an associated boy... a boy I eventually GOT but gave up due to peer embarrassment—being harassed about kissing in the dugouts... I guess I had been more comfortable with the thing just out of reach...
The driving age in Idaho is 14. Moscow, however, was behind on driver's ed, so when my friend Michelle moved there as a Freshman, she was the only one our age with a license (AND a truck—a really OLD truck—a 58 Chevy, I think, with an 8-track tape deck... and two tapes). I don't remember what the second one was, but the one we listened to, almost all the time, was Pat Benatar. This was my favorite song on it.
I will take a moment to note that I'm rather surprised to see that my first third of life was most notably marked by songs by women. I have never had a noted preference for them—in fact 'pop' women tend to bug me. Oh well, there we have it...
When I got to high school (10th grade, because we had a Jr. High and a High School) I gave over to the heavy metal under-movement... because in a small town with a single radio station the options were pop music or heavy metal. I am STILL fond of it, from my first Loverboy LP , all the way through, but this song ushered in my 'high school party phase'... the metalhead in me.
Purple Rain was a generational album which ties in MTV, Showtime, and a particular time of really angsty stuff for me. I had a long time romantic obsession—this time not free of contact, but never quite the level I wanted it to be—oddly, a person I've remained friends with, and have great clarity that it is for the BEST it never flew... he was a romantic attachment I might have given up dreams for, but because it wasn't to be THAT kind of serious, but the attachment was there, nobody ELSE ever had the strength of attachment for me to be willing to give it all up for. Funny how that works. I went away to college, the friendship converted to a WRITTEN one, and obsession mellowed to friendship.
I had such a strong feeling, as I left home for the first time, going out of state to college where NONE of my other friends would be, of wanting to be ME for the first time in my life. I'm not sure why I never felt free to be me before, but the freedom and release of starting fresh was tangible. I wanted to make an impression, every step of the way.
First out of college I gave over to the grunge movement full force. I LOVED the stuff. By the time Nirvana came on the scene, I'd given up the field of advertising as the soul suck it was, and was working at a microbrewery and going back to school for my Master's degree. The anti-establishment played clearly in my life and on my stereo.
Strawberry, Everclear
I happen to think Art Alexakis is the best story teller writing songs. And for anyone who has ever loved an addict, this song will dig a hole in your heart and stay there—it makes you FEEL what it is like from the other side... and if you are to KEEP loving an addict, sometimes that is necessary.
And like Art can tell a story, Alanis can philosophize. I believe every word of this song absolutely and completely, and I think I just need to share them.
I recommend getting your heart trampled on to anyone
I recommend walking around naked in your living room
Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill)
It feels so good (swimming in your stomach)
Wait until the dust settles
You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn
I recommend biting off more then you can chew to anyone (I certainly do)
I recommend sticking your foot in your mouth at any time (Feel free)
Throw it down (concoction knocks you from the room)
Hold it up (to the rays)
You wait and see when the smoke clears
You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn
Wear it out (the way a three-year-old would do)
Melt it down (you're gonna have to eventually anyway)
The fire trucks are coming up around the bend
You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn
You grieve you learn
You choke you learn
You laugh you learn
You choose you learn
You pray you learn
You ask you learn
You live you learn
And finally... the quest to BE someone... to make a name. I want to be Bob Dyllan, Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky, but if everyone loves you, oh son, that's just about as funky as you could be... There are a fair number of songs out there about the quest for fame, but I think this is my favorite of them... we all wanna be beautiful, man, I wish I was beautiful...
So there we have it... not necessarily all FAVORITE songs (though I like them all) but definitely the ones that most notably mark my life stages...