Like John Miles already sang in 1976: "Music was my first love, and it will be my last."
I don't know where or when my passion for music started, but it came at a very early age. One of my earliest memories about music take me back to a car ride with my father, with Bon Jovi's "It's my life" blasting through the speakers. I was about 6 at the time (My memory isn't the best, so no baby- or toddler stories from me, sorry) and I remember I loved when the song was on the radio. It wasn't about the lyrics, since I wasn't very fluent in English as a Belgian six year old, but the rythm and power of the song did something with me. It made me want to sing, it made me want to move.
Most of my memories are linked to music. "It's raining men" from The weather girls for example takes me back to a school-presentation when I was six and had to dance in front of all the parents dressed as a coin.I was so embarrassed, and it still makes me laugh when I think about it. That damn teacher!
The power of music lies in it's versatility.
Twice by Little Dragon and Hold on by SBTRKT
These songs takes me back five years, when I was completely lost. My life was a mess, I was hopelessly in love and I never experienced such a prolonged period of stress as I did in that month. I lost the connection with myself. I didn't know what to feel, didn't know what to do anymore. One evening I decided I couldn't go on any longer like this, and I took matters into my own hands. I was really into both songs at the time, because of their simple melody and their mellow, kind of sad character. I put them both on repeat during my trip towards the girl I loved. That night I kissed a girl for the first time.
The worlds greatest by R Kelly
I'm sixteen years old and warming up for the finale of a local soccer tournament. Me and my teammates had played a great series, and now we were only one win away from the trophy. The weather was great and I felt good about my play. During the warming up someone played this song for us. I still can sense the invincible feeling I had at that perticular moment. We ended up winning the match.
Your hand in mine by Explosions in the sky and Kids will be skeletons by Mogwai
My followers who've read my earlier blogs know that, as I grew older and became an adolescent, I often started to write about how I felt and how I experienced the things around me. I didn't do it very often, but when in need I always could fall back on reflection to analyze the situation and search for answers to get me back on track again. I was lucky to find the genre of post-rock during this time. Guitars and a drum, that's all there is to it. Sometimes a piano. Instrumental music that's always there to guide me when I want to reflect, or write things down, or study, or make blogposts.
Bigger than us by White Lies, Jubilee Street by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Monster by The Automatic, The Saints are Coming by U2 and Green Day, Remain in Light by The Compact Disk Dummies
A few blogposts ago I mentioned that I joined The Writer's Club to grow as a writer. I never had the necessary motivation, inspiration nor self-confidence to start wiritng fiction, and as of twee weeks ago I took a dive in the unknown. It's exciting though, since it's something i've wanted to do since I was 14 or something like that. I found that music is a tool to give me inspiration and ideas. Especially "Jubilee Street" is a song that always sticked with me. The melody is slow and dark, and the lyrics are mysterious. Nevertheless I always had a clear picture in my mind what the song was about, and I really wanted to test myself to transform the song into a story of my own. An interpretation that could be as beautiful and diverse as the song itself. It never came to that, but the lyrics of all songs mentioned above gave me inspiration to start with a completely new story. Music can be an aid for creativity, and that's something new to me.
Daylight by Matt and Kim, The Cell by C2C, Ahrix by Nova, Luna by Bombay Bycicle Club
Just listen to these songs please. Each and one of them make me jump right off my seat and act like a crazy bastard. Over the years I learned that uptempo, somewhat monotonous music has the ability to cheer me up or make me feel even mare ecstatic on a day where I'm already feeling good. These songs remind me of hot summer days of parties with friends, a calm and quiet walk in the park on a sunny day. They offer me a smile.
I can go on and on about my passion for music, but I think I've made my point clear by now. I love music. What about you? Let me know in the comments, and feel free to share some of your favourite music with me!
Thanks for reading,
See you next time.
