When I was a freshman in high school, my older sisters’ best friend was the captain of my soccer team. She was kind enough to drive me to school, let me hang out with her in between school and practice, and drive me home from practice.
One day before practice we were driving around with some of our teammates and decided that we wanted to “make an entrance” as we drove down the small road that led to the field. We flipped through the radio, hoping to find either a rap song with a solid beat or a hard-hitting rock song to blast. The radio failed us.
So we went the complete opposite of what we had planned and blasted the lamest song we could find: Celine Dion’s It’s All Coming Back to Me Now. Let me tell you, we rocked that song like it’s never been rocked before! And we made a hell of an entrance! Even though I couldn’t stand that song before we rocked it out, I now listen to it fondly all these years later.
Then there was the time my sisters (all three of them) and I were at a wedding and Lady Marmalade (the Pink, Aguilera, Mya, and Lil’ Kim version) came on. The four of us danced and lip-synced to that song like we were shooting a music video for it. I had thought that song was pretty good, but now I love it and always listen to it with a bittersweet mixture of pure joy and pure sadness (since one of my sisters died not too long after that occasion).
The point of all this reminiscing (contrary to what it may seem, I try to have a point to all my posts…even when the point is somewhat pointless). I consider myself something of a free-thinker. I’m often stubborn (a trait it seems The Boy has inherited) and don’t like to think I’m easily swayed by others opinions. Not that I’m totally inflexible. On the rare occasion someone backs up their point with solid reasoning and proves me wrong, I’ll totally give them props for it.
Yet, when it comes to sharing moments with people and music (as is often the case) or a movie served as a catalyst to that moment, my opinions are easily changed. That song that I hated, but my hubby loved became a cherished song for both of us when we listened to it in the car together during a vacation. That TV show that always used to make me roll my eyes because it was just so dumb became one I faithfully watched with my dad and brother because we just had so much fun mocking it. And you know what, I truly ended up liking it by the time the series was over.
There’s the flip side of this too. Did you ever really like something and you mentioned it to someone and they were like, “Oh, I hated that. It was so stupid”? And then the magic of that thing was gone for you too.
I think what it comes down to is connections (and isn’t that what so many things come down to?). If you can make a connection over something, that thing becomes more special, but if that thing is a source of a disconnect, then it loses its charm. I guess I’m not as badass stubborn as I thought I was after all!
Actually, if someone dogs a song, show, or film I like, my immediate response is to think that person is a moron. Because I'm seven!
I've also found that my opinion of a song can change if I thought it was about one thing, then thought it was about another. For example, when I first heard "One" by U2, I thought it was about romantic love gone sour. I thought it was stupid and turgid. Then I thought it was more about someone asking for love and acceptance, not getting that but dealing with it, and felt more positively about it. So now I like hearing it on the radio.
Your brain changes when you've made an emotional connection to a song or show, so you've rewired a neural map. Isn't it great to access feelings so quickly upon hearing a song?
Hello, Ishmael! I think we all have a little bit of that 7-year-old in us.
There is this one Tori Amos album that my family listened to a lot on our road trip to Florida. All 7 of us were in one minivan…I think I was around 9 years old. We took 3 days to get down and made a bunch of stops along the way. Everytime I hear that album, my neural map takes me back to that trip.
Mommy and Daddy listening to Tori Amos??? Wow! My brain did a spit take at the thought of my family doing the same. The lyrics!
Yay, I guess it might seem weird to others. It was kind of normal for me, though, seeing as I was raised on rock music like Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, and The Moody Blues.
My parents and I still listen to a lot of the same music…both of them like the local alternative radion station!