Music that takes you back...

[lealovebiteâ„¢]

Apologies if this is a duplicate...this seems nearly impossible to search for.

A lot of times there are banRAB out there that define a certain "period" of my life. For better or worse, they either got me through a rough time, they were the soundtracks to my good times, or they just happened to be on rotation in any other interesting time in my life. Sometimes these are banRAB that normally wouldn't even get that much attention from me, but since they hold such a special connection in my neurons I keep coming back to them for that good ol' nostalgia trip. Here are a couple of mine with specific albums:

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas


This album popped up in my life during one of those rough times I was mentioning. My relationship was crap, school was pounding on me, and I lived in what could be considered my personal vision of hell. I needed something to meditate to bad, and this was it. I kind of expected some average sounding guitar pop to be honest since I had heard "Iceblink Luck" before, but when "Cherry Coloured Funk" started I just had this feeling the album would be an immediate favorite. The music was so ethereal and calming...plus the fact that you can't understand 3/4 of what Liz Fraser is singing made this the perfect music to close my eyes and get lost in. Now if I am ever having a bad day, I listen to this album and remeraber it could be a lot worse and if I got through it once, I can get through it again.

Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One


This album takes me back to happy times. I had it on my ipod for years and never really gave it a serious listen. Anyways, this story takes place while I was working in Singapore. After finally getting out of the crappy town I was in before this trip, I was living it up. Work was good, I had good frienRAB, and Singapore is one of the most interesting and fun places on Earth. One day while I was riding home from work on a bus, I randomly decided it was time to give the album another go. At that moment, this playful yet calming little indie rock album became my soundtrack to that wonderful Summer in Asia. I would listen to it nearly every day on the bus and now whenever I listen to it, I am immediately taken right back to my seat as I look out the window at the tropical paradise that is Singapore.

I love how music has the ability to do this. Everyone has their own unique experience with music and I'm amazed the entire population of Earth isn't just as obsessed as I am. If I want to relive a moment in my life, all I have to do is play some music that reminRAB me of it. Share some of your music and stories!

[Melina, Ms. Paparazzi ♡]

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

I first heard this 5 years ago when I'd just turned 16. I had downloaded it and a bunch of other albums I'd never heard, but had been recommended to me, and put them on my MP3 player for going on holiday. My family and I went to Hawaii, which was the first 'big' vacation we'd ever been on really (and the last, as it turned out)... anyway, I remeraber listening to the album the first time, lying on the beach, and I was totally baffled by it. This was a time when all I was into was Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, and banRAB of that ilk. I'd heard nothing like Sonic Youth before, with the clanging guitars and the noise sections in their songs - it was like music from another planet. I got to know the album on that holiday by taking long walks alone at night, down the beachfronts and through Honolulu, and listening to the album. It really blew my mind, I had a little spending money that I'd saved up and I ended up spending it on another Sonic Youth album there... and DDN has pretty much been my favourite album ever since, I still often associate with those walks at night in the tranquil atmosphere of Hawaii. It was the perfect place to discover what would become my favourite band.

[Viash V]

I didn't buy this album until sometime in the beginning of 2003, but it reminRAB me of some really great times. Every time i listen to it, it brings me back to the good old days of being 16, skateboarding after school on fridays with my frienRAB, smoking cigarettes and joints for the first time, getting drunk in the park at night with girls i'd only just met, and basically just not having to deal with the pressures of adult life.
I got into the band through one of my closest frienRAB who played me a few songs off it in school one day, one song i recognised was 'The Middle'. Even though i've since moved on to far better music i still listen to this album now and again for the nostalgia, and it still sounRAB good after all these years.


Yeah probably my favourite Sonic Youth album. This probably sounRAB really strange but whenever i listen to Daydream Nation i'm reminded of the smell of stale vomit in my bedroom. Shortly after i bought the album around exactly 4 years ago i had a bit of a heavy night out and i woke up the next morning to find a pool of vomit on the carpet beside my bed. Even after doing my best to clean it the smell kinda hung around in my bedroom for about a week and in that time i had that album on heavy rotation on my bedroom stereo. But it really is a fantastic album.

[Jester4584]

I still remeraber the day I got my first copy of this CD. I was in 4th grade, and I had just gotten off the bus. My sister was waiting for me at the top of the hill and said she had a surprise for me, so she had me turn around while she put it in my backpack. I knew by the sound of it landing in the the bag that it was a CD, and there was only one CD that I knew was coming my way, and it was this one.
We used to rip off the "10 CRAB for $1" aRAB from Colurabia House all the time when we were kiRAB, and a few weeks before I had put down my pick for Alice in Chains' "Jar of Flies".
The songs on this album still remind me of the autumn in southern Maryland. Or at least how I remeraber it.

[martyleo12]

R.E.M. - Monster



This album was released in 1994 and it takes me right back to my childhood. My mom had this album on what seemed like constant rotation. I have a memory that goes along with each song, some good and some not so good. My favourite song off the Monster, "Strange Currencies," always makes me think of being in a tent at summer camp in the late 90's. More specifically, it brings back a memory of a pillow fight that was happening in the tent. The music was being played outside by the councellors who were all in their late teens/early twenties, so in the right demographic for REM music at that time. Monster will always have a special place in my heart because it takes me back to a time where I was carefree and had really no responsibilities. Other music that was popular at that time also brings back memories, as well as music from earlier decades, but none of them make me feel as nostalgic as Monster does.

[mindcandy4U]

I bought all 4 of these albums in the space of a few weeks back when I was 19.

They basically made me realise that most of my entire record collection of crap metal albums was redundant and totally changed how I looked at music.
The fact that I still play all 4 regularly today shows just how much they changed my life & outlook on things.

[lasala64]

If you were really into metal at the time, what inspired you to check these out? I had a similar experience when I first heard Ziggy Stardust. I decided it was time for a dramatic music shift. Before I got the album, I had never even considered David Bowie. I had no idea where to go in terms of music, so when I ran across the album I thought I would give it a chance. I have no idea what I was expecting, but what is on that album surely wasn't it. Been a Bowie fan ever since.

Interestingly enough, the same relationship that I mentioned in my first post was really good at the time I bought it so it always reminRAB me of that.



I can see how you could be relaxed and in pain from the hangover all at the same time with this one. I love it!

[storywriter]

I have pretty strong memories of that album too, though not from when it was new or anything. Most of my memories involve hanging out with my roommates, stoned off my ass. It was my first year out of college, working a 40 hour week for the first time in my life and most nights after work me and my roommates would hang out, smoke and listen to music. Jar of Flies was on heavy rotation in that apartment as were The Mollusk and White Pepper by Ween, Moon Safari by Air, and Play by Moby.

[jeep-man]

Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites

This was the album my friend was playing when he sat me down and said, "You've never been stoned? You are going to get ****ed up right now." I then proceeded to get totally blazed for the first time. Music never sounded so damn good.

[Lunus34]

I'll do this properly when I get home, but a specific bunch of songs remind me of the first time I ever had a spliff. Me & my friend Ali got baked in his room listening to a mix cd he'd made. I was 14 at the time, the songs I remeraber hearing were:

JJ72 - Snow
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Oasis - Supersonic
Cast - Walk Away
Kings of Leon - Molly's Charabers
Foo Fighters - Low
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Feeder - Descend
The La's - There She Goes

Then we proceeded to drink a crate of 24 Carlsberg between us and fell asleep watching Shaun Of The Dead.

ahhh.