SAVE TONIGHT

Last year, around this time, I wrote a blog entry wherein I attacked certain middle-aged buffoons for saying that nobody would listen to my generation's music 25 years from now. It's not my favorite post on this blog, so I won't link back to it, but the reason I'm bringing it up right now is that I want to write about it again -- "it" being music.

If you're a generation Y-er or a "millennial" as I am, when I use the title "Save Tonight", your mind probably wanders back about 12 years to savor the sweet sounds of Eagle Eye Cherry. Or you might have no idea what I'm talking about. If the latter is the case, plug "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry into the ol' iTunes for a refresher. As a matter of fact, you should just listen to some 90s music while reading this entry. I think it will help.

So, I want to play Cameron Crowe for a few moments and just wax a little bit about music, or more specifically, about catchy tunes (mainly from the 90s). I'll give a thousand dollars to the person who can present to me a more effective time machine than an old song. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know when I say that listening to music you grew-up with does more than simply excavate your memories, it literally re-instills your past feelings right into your present-day body. And there's not an experience or pastime that really rivals it.

All of us have that pocketful of songs in our arsenals that make us so nostalgic we want to cry. Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon-Bon" will forever remind me of my birthday party at the roller skating rink (I turned 12 and my friends requested the song in my honor). Every time I hear Juvenile's "Back that Azz Up" I think about this Bat Mitzvah I went to, where I shared a steamy dance with the guy I had a major crush on. So, we were 13. So, what? Then, I always get this lifted happy feeling when I stumble on Sugar Ray's "Every Morning." I think about driving through downtown Milwaukee in the back of my mom's blue Chrysler mini-van.

What's so wonderful about generationally definitive tunes is that they infiltrate our collective subconscious. In college, my friends and I were able to bop around to Mariah Carey or sing Third Eye Blind in the car. It didn't matter that we came from all different parts of the country. We could all share in the same blissful feeling. Why? Because we all had personal associations with the songs. No matter where we came from, we all heard the same music as children. Not to be cheesy, but nostalgic tunes really bring people together.

And I just love that so much.

I love it so much that I can spend hours in front of my computer just listening. I love it so much that I make a specific playlist for every year of my life.

When I was younger (at that formative age of 12) and my family decided to move from Wisconsin to Alabama, I clung to Britney Spears. The day our blue Chrysler mini-van slowly drove on down the street right after we had just parted ways with our closest Milwaukee friends, my mom sat in the front seat and wept like a baby. I sat in the back with my headphones and my walkman, blasting...

She's so lucky
She's a star
But she cry, cry, cries
In her lonely heart

You know the rest...

Anyway, I wasn't thinking about moving or the major transition that I was embarking upon in that moment. I was just alone with my music... and the fantasy of one-day growing-up to be like Britney. When my parents told me that I was shutting out the world, that I should take my headphones off and be social, I got unbelievably frustrated with them.



But now I kind of understand their point.

So, it's 11 years later and I'm once again on the cusp of a major move and transition. Though sadly, I won't be traveling in a blue Chrysler mini-van... It's time to grow-up and start a new chapter on the west coast.

And would you believe...

All I want to do is crawl into my cozy magic portal and fly back to 1999 by way of Lauryn Hill. I suppose that what I'm feeling now is somewhat similar to the feeling I felt when I moved as a kid. Perhaps, I'm looking back to that time period for guidance or something. All I know is that my supreme urge to go back in time supersedes my urge to do much else, including prepare for my future.

There are thousands of more productive things I could be doing than sitting here listening to the Backstreet Boys. (getting a job, maybe?)

But, alas...

Just like 11 years ago when I listened to Britney Spears to distract myself from the fact that I was leaving behind my friends and my youth, today I also distract myself... with more music and nostalgia.

I guess it's an age-old question. When can we (especially as millennials) stop living in the past and come to face our futures? It just seems to take (some of) us a little longer to mature.

Sure, the music is fun, but 1999 is over and it ain't coming back. Sadly.



Ciao. For now.