I have a confession – I never learned how to download movies and music. That whole Napster thing? It’s just something I heard friends do.
I have abled bodies who do it for me. I don’t think I will ever learn not will ever want to learn. I’ve never owned an iPod nor an mp3 player. The songs I listen to are based on who I am with. I appreciate all sorts of genres except for classical. I remember when I was young, that cassette tapes were the fad. I remember buying my first cassette tape – and that was of Regine Velasquez’s album. My fascination and appreciation of music I think stemmed from listening the the Mellow Touch radio station every afternoon before turning in for a nap. I would wake up hearing the jingle. Remember the mixed tape? Well yeah so I’m sure – you remember the Walkman? If you don’t and you need to Google it, that mean you are much much younger than I am. But if you are familiar with it – then we sort of belong to *that* generation. There was a time that listening to the radio, calling radio stations and requesting for songs were the in thing. And then the compact discs came to light – Discmans were the in thing. For the cars you needed to have a multi-disc player installed (I forgot what it’s actually called. Hahaha!!). It can be argued that Mini Disc players didn’t get enough juice to skyrocket to popularity. The next thing I knew – there was this device called and iPod that would store songs that even if you moved the device – the songs won’t skip a beat or jump. So, what songs do I like? Well, I super love OPM. I loved Sharon Cuneta songs. I like the APO, Rannie Raymundo, Ariel Rivera, Rachel Alejandro, Ogie Alcasid, Side A, the Wolfgang, Parokya ni Edgar, UDD and Imago. Genre wise, I’m all over the place. I am partial to alternative rock – I think because I grew up during the time when *grunge* was popular. But my guilty pleasure will always be boy bands. Hahaha!! I am a die hard fan of NKOTB and Backstreet Boys. Ang labo ng mix diba? But I loved listening to music. I knew that – but then as I got older, and never having joined the bandwagon of downloading music – I think I lost my connection with music. I was really blessed with friends who would send me music over ICQ or email. I remember there was a time that I really LOVED John Mayer. That was when he was just starting out – I think I had all of his songs courtesy of my friend Kym. Then a few years later – he released his album , by then my fascination of his songs wore out. Every time I heard his songs on the radio – I would cringe. I was so sick of hearing his songs. So what is this post about? Well, I just finished watching the Season 5 Episode 4 of SUITS and the ending was a song by Coldplay. Another confession – I honestly didn’t know the title of that song. I had to google it. And when I did – I clicked the youtube video – the song was The Scientist. It brought so many memories, my heart leaped a bit. Crazy? Well, I remember a friend once said that he associated music with memories not just one memory but a whole string of them. A certain song when he heard it would create an instant swarm of memories. I never thought about it to be honest – well, I remember writing about it here and that was it. Imagine that post was so long ago and I just had to look for it. Hahaha!! I suddenly had this urge to write about what music means to me. To be honest, I thought I was passed the stage of being a music fan. I guess, I was wrong – one doesn’t get passed that phase. It just disappears and then reappears when triggered. And that particular Coldplay song triggered it. I have long forgotten my about my *like* for music. I guess being a mother – *my* music doesn’t play an important role anymore. Music in my life is composed of nursery rhymes and songs invented by Kailee. But,you know what was going through my head when I was listening to The Scientist? I was thinking gosh, Gwenyth Paltrow was really lucky to have Chris Martin as her husband! I can imagine him serenading her. How envious am I? Well, my Panget doesn’t serenade me nor will he ever – but what he has is a VAST collection of songs. Yes, his iPhone and Macbook is well stocked with songs from so many genres and spans generations. So I guess that will suffice. Music does make life better. It creates an escape for us even for just a few minutes. It’s a different high when you can vocalize the lyrics of a long forgotten song. I’m amazed at myself that I remember them. I remember when I was studying in Beijing. I would miss my Panget when I heard songs from the 80’s because that’s his song generation. Everyone in my Beijing Barkada was referring to 80’s song as Panahon ni (insert Panget’s name). Yes. We referred to all 80’s songs as that. And I think my friends thought he was really old. Hahaha! So they got surprised when they met him in person the first time. So why suddenly write about songs and memories? Well, simply because it triggered a memory. And it fascinated me altogether. The memories kept pouring in one after another AND it wouldn’t stop! I suddenly recalled events that I have long forgotten. Certain details that I seemed to skip then, I suddenly remembered with precision. I recalled what I was feeling during those particular events in my life. It was a different rush to be honest. It was a happy kind of rush. You remember first dates, romantic encounters, heartaches, break ups, success, failures, and so many emotions. It triggers a LOT of emotions, I mean a LOT. I may not know the names of the chart toppers. I may not be updated on the newest songs nor the latest singers. To be honest, I hear of them whenever I watch Dancing With The Stars (#DWTS) or my Panget would tell me of it. I don’t openly look for the newest music. But I remembered how much I liked listening to music. That particular *like* was triggered by The Scientist on the episode of Suits. I have this high respect for those who have the ability to pick out which bands and songs that have potential. It’s an amazing gift. I remember a former boyfriend who would tell me to listen to a particular song line, because it was so nice – the lyrics and the melody. I forgot about that ability of his and I just remembered it now after all these years. My Panget would like a particular TV show because of it’s soundtrack. I was drawn to The OC because of the soundtrack. The music made so much difference on the show to be honest. In that particular show – the music made it noticeable, nevermind the young cast – it was the soundtrack that put that show on the map and put it officially on the history of television. I remember seeing albums of The OC season blah blah soundtrack being sold everywhere. Music does a LOT for us, don’t you think? So, let me throw this question to you. And I hope you can answer it. *What is music to you?*
