by Left Outside
I’ve heard that the one sense which brings back memories more quickly and vividly than any other is smell. The immediacy with which an odour can hit you and remind you of an old friend’s washing powder can sometimes take you aback.
But I’ve always found that music can affect me in a way that nothing else can. Sometimes it only takes an opening swell or a few lines of lyrics to take me back years and make me think of people and places I haven’t thought of in as long.
I suppose this is because I have always soundtracked my life – since you’re here I would guess many of you do too. Most things I do, whether it is my boring commute or playing poker with friends, will always be accompanied by music.
A few years ago I would have been embarrassed to use this as an example but, as I enter my early to mid 20s, no longer. Linkin Park were, like most people my age, a fairly big part of my musical upbringing. They were catchy but edgy in a way I thought was quite startling at 12.
The simplicity of this song always stood out to me. But it took a while for me to realise that the song was almost all one riff varied quite/loud. When I realised my first thought was “that sucks” shortly followed by “that rocks”"
The songs from Linkin Park’s first album remind me of playing Perfect Dark on my Nintendo64, it accompanies killing stuff made out of pixels quite well, give it a go.
But I also remember being on my friends bedroom floor underneath his bunk bed being amazed that there wasn’t any swearing on the album, after listening to a lot of Papa Roach I thought it was mandatory.
Of course there is a flip side that makes me feel more ambivalent about the unexpected memories that music can bring back. Some things I would rather forget at the moment.
All I Need from Radiohead’s In Rainbows is a beautiful song, but one I rarely listen to these days.
It reminds me of many evenings spent doing the washing with my old housemate. Not noteworthy except for the fact I was besotted with her and she knew it and wasn’t interested. Boy, was it wasawkward in that house.
But like with all songs, memories layer up on top of one another because in the end we did get together and one got to see Radiohead at Reading in August. But now we’re not together, so this song reminds me of about the best and worst 24 months of my life and all in a few minutes.
For a lot of reasons she’s the sort of person it would be best to forget about now but this song, and dozens other, ensure I never will. For a whole host of reasons I am grateful for that even if it is painful from time to time when my iTunes is set to shuffle.
This is what I love about music: I am utterly and totally incapable of not reacting to it and that’s why I’m so excited about writing here.
Posted by Left Outside 
