These are the Days of Our Lives... A Pathetic Soundtrack

So I’ve been wanting to do a lame music post for weeks. And I am the first one to groan when I click on one of my favorite blogs and someone has done a music post. I can’t stand them… and yet, here we are. Sorry folks, Christmas is a season for quiet suffering and biting your tongue! (And gaining 10 pounds in 8 days, like I did last year. That’s gotta be a world record. I blame the hazelnut Kaluha spiked hot chocolate I made out of half and half.)

Here’s a list of all the songs that flash me back to the glory days of youth… and angst… and learning to French kiss.

1989
George Harrison’s cover of “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You” To this very day, it reminds me of one of my first memories as a child. (Watching my dad play pool at the bar while I played the juke box.*) I heard it at the gas station pump this weekend and literally danced while pumping my gas.
1996
Spice Girls “Wannabe.” I was obsessed with Ginger Spice.
1997
Hanson “MMMBop.” O.EM.GEEE. I AM MARRYING TAYLOR. 8th grade hormones convinced me I truly was going to marry him. Or at least French kiss him.
1998
The Rolling Stones “Wild Horses.” What can I say other than I discovered my father’s record player. Coolness? Check. Friends? Ummm… what is the opposite of ‘check’? Oh yeah, crying to oneself on the bus ride home every day.
1999
Macy Gray “I Try.” French kissing music for really awkward, slobbery first-time smooching.
2000
The entire Tom Petty album “Wildflowers.” Also, probably the soundtrack to my first beer, my first cigarette, and my first hangover. No other album brings me back to high school like this one.
2001
AC/DC’s “Money Talks.” I used to play it in my car driving to the golf course before tournaments. And you know what? I WON ALL THE TOURNAMENTS THAT YEAR. So judge away, but I’ll keep my faux-gold medals, thankyouverymuch.
2002
Incubus “Stellar” always brings me right back to being 18. Speaking of 2002, that was also the year I discovered Fiona Apple and was all, “hello lover, where have you been all my teenage life?”
2003**
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Can’t Stop.” Actually, the entire “By the Way” album. I still, for the record, listen to it.
2004
Definitely the year of Ben Harper and Ryan Adams. Although I never had the constitution to be a stoner, emotionally I was totally toked.
2006
Nelly Furtado’s “Forca” and Frou Frou/Imogen Heap. 2006 was my year of being single and moving multiple times between the east and west coast, listening to music, and trying to get my head straight.
2007
Coco Rosie “Noah’s Ark.” Schuyler played that song like crazy when we first started dating. It was also his Myspace song and I listened to it while I lurked all over his page before we started dating. Stalking can be romantic, too.
2009
And here we are today. Who knows what songs I will remember when I look back on this year. A year of becoming engaged, going back to graduate school, and all sorts of highs and lows. I didn’t really listen to as much music this year. I think, probably, I didn’t need as emotionally as I once did. Maybe I’m finally getting it together.

*It was totally the daytime and I got Shirley Temple’s. The bar was fun! (Still is!)
** Disclaimer: I would be remiss not to mention that also during this time frame I was totally into Missy Elliot, Nelly, Usher, Justin Timberlake and basically any and all booty shaking music. I definitely would shake it like a Polaroid picture, drop it like it’s hot, and other dance moves that would make my father lock me up and throw away the key.