Music serves as a trip down memory lane

VIRGINIA CALCAGNI — Staff Writer
If you ask around, people will always tell you they love music. Music is really something that, even if you don’t agree on the genre or type, every­one has in common.
I have CDs in my car that I listen to all the time, and they are filled with tons of different types of music. I talk about metal and hard rock a lot, but don’t think that is all I listen to because if you looked at my iPod, some mouths would fall to China.
The other week I was going through one of my phases were I was sick of listening to pretty much everything I had in the car. I just felt like I was constantly listening to the same thing. So instead of finding new music, I went backward a bit.
Part of the beauty of music is that it is some­thing that really makes an imprint in your life, some­thing you never forget. That song that was on the radio after your first date with that guy, the song you listen to when you are angry or when you just want to bury your head into the pillows and cry. There is a memory that goes along with most of what we all listen to.
I refuse to—and will never—forget my roots. So instead of finding new music to listen to, I went through my library of mu­sic and picked off songs I haven’t really listened to heavily since high school and put them on a mix CD.
It is crazy how much comes back to you when you just listen to a song. I am taking a stress manage­ment class, and we are encouraged not to dwell on the past. I wholeheartedly agree with that; looking backward constantly isn’t going to get you anywhere. But sometimes it is fun or nice to relive memories and times, whether they are good or bad.
Some of the songs I listened to reminded me of times my friends and I used to walk everywhere— legitimately everywhere. These are memories of times when I used to put skirts on over my jeans like Amy Lee and blast Evanescence and spin around singing in my living room with friends during a sleepover just being silly.
I think this is why people get so defensive over certain types of music and artists they like and listen to because you never know what ties they have to the songs right now and years ago. Heck, I always like to throw it back on my radio show I do here at Southern, and I am always talking about the old times that go along with the track.
Those are always the songs you share with other people, and those can be completely outside a range of music that you listen to. (For me that isn’t the case, but for others I know it is). It could be that song you always used to sing with your mom, dad, sister, best friend, boyfriend or aunt/ uncle. The list goes on and on.
As spring starts to spring up, the windows in our cars go down and we start to blast music we love and sing along like no one is watching us with their eyebrows raised. (That’s never happened to me. OK, maybe it has).
Lately I have written a lot about what I want from my life after school, and music has played a huge part in my choices and where I am now. I believe that it always will, and I will only gain more memories from a song as I venture forward.
Don’t be afraid to blast that song that people look at you like you’re crazy for liking—like maybe Nickelback! It’s OK. We should be proud of what we like, not influenced by what other people think we should like.
Never forget your roots. I know I won’t.