Music and Memory

So driving home from Texas after our vacation, I heard a song on the radio that I haven't heard in a while (mostly because I don't listen to this type of music anymore). But instantly it brought up a memory. Now, this isn't the first time that I've heard a song and associated it to a memory, but the memory in question was definitely one of my favorite.

It got me thinking about other songs that stir up memories whenever I hear them and thought that would make a good topic for a blog. So three memories that are tied to music: an event, an item and a person.

First off: An Event.

This one is a little backwards, since there are actually 3 songs that I associate with that memory. And that is our family vacation to Virginia in 2004. 2 of my Brothers and I followed my parents in my car, 3 of us crammed into a Chevy Cavalier 4dr with bags, pillows and food. There were 2 songs that were particularly popular around this time: "Yeah!" by Usher and "Rubberband Man" by T.I. We heard these songs more times than I can remember and so whenever I hear them, the trip to Virginia immediately comes to mind.

The other song wasn't so much popular, as has a funny memory attached to it. This was when we all had a regional carrier for our cellphones, so they didn't work out in Virginia, so we had the little short-range radios to communicate between our car and our parents. Well going through a mountain pass somewhere in Kentucky we happened upon a country station playing a song whose name I have no idea. But we had heard the song several times, were kind of tired and started singing over the radio at our parents, in harmony with funny accents.

Next: An Item. The next memory that is associated with music is kind of a two way street and its more general. When I first started reading the Honor Harrington Series, by David Weber, I actually got in on the series at like Book 9. Once I read "Ashes ofVictory", I went out and bought the other 8 or whatever books. While I powered through these (before I had a job or drove anywhere) I would ride in the back of the family van, listening to music and reading my books. While I was reading them, I would listen to the Newsboys CDs. So now, whenever I reread one of the books, or hear any of these songs I think of the other half of the memory.

The last memory is about a person, and isn't necessarily a good one, but it's a memory nonetheless. My first girlfriend bought the Eminem movie, 8-Mile, and on that was the music video for his song "Superman." So she ended up playing that music video a lot. And so, whenever I hear that song it brings back (usually) bad memories.

So there are some of my music-memory associations.