It’s very difficult to put into words how music can even begin to quantify the human spirit and how it captures and preserves our most precious moments, feelings and memories. I oftentimes find myself referring to a song, album or playlist when I can’t find the words to say what I’m feeling. As someone who becomes a bumbling mess the moment I have to vocalize what I’m feeling, music is, to me, a way to express a feeling on a much deeper level than trying to explain it. With music, you just get it, no explanations needed. As someone rather lacking in the musical talent department, I find it considerably easier to appreciate and apply the music I discover rather than to try to create my own.
All of this to say that over the past few months, I’ve been trying to go back through my mind, old CDs, playlists and iPods to uncover the music that helped to define me and how I’ve changed and grown as a person over the years.
The Early Years
Fred Penner – The Cat Came Back
As a baby, I would refuse to eat unless my parents would play The Cat Came Back or other Fred Penner tunes. Spoiler alert, the cat comes back.
Shania Twain – Man! I Feel Like A Woman
Shania Twain was my first favourite singer. I remember being little and bopping along to the only country music I would ever like. I remember listening to this song, and in my tiny little naive mind thinking that only women could make music. Looking back now, it seems totally ridiculous, but hey, I was little and knew no better.
The Beatles – Hello Goodbye
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ybdqy4czAA
On long road trips, my parents would put on a Beatles CD in our van and this was the only song that I actively enjoyed until I got into the Beatles several years later.
Rob Thomas – Lonely No More
On early mornings before going to daycare or to school, my mom and I would sit together at the kitchen table and eat breakfast with the radio playing. For some reason, this song really stuck with me. I heard it for the first time in years a in the car few months ago and having only been a little kid when I last heard it, it was a bit of a journey trying to remember enough lyrics and details to be able to look it up after.
Kelly Clarkson – Breakaway
In the first and second grades, Kelly Clarkson was my favourite singer and Breakaway was my favourite song. Myself and a couple of friends decided that we wanted to sing it for our school talent show which inevitably fell through when we discovered that a) we couldn’t sing to save our lives and b) we couldn’t work together. So much for the two hours that I spent typing out the lyrics on our ancient PC.
Late Elementary (AKA The Dark Days)
Gwen Stefani – The Sweet Escape
I used to figure skate when I was around 7-10 and I would go to practice on Tuesdays and Fridays. The music that they had playing at the rink was pretty much on a loop and The Sweet Escape was the crowning track. My father affectionately nicknamed it “the ooo-ooo song.”
Owl City – Fireflies
The fourth grade was a truly magical time. I got my first iPod and therefore my very own iTunes account. Fireflies was one of the very first songs I ever purchased and is still in my library to this day, making it the longest lived song in my collection.
Katy Perry  – I Kissed A Girl
Back in the days when my parents were very careful to not let me listen to music with any objectionable content, I Kissed A Girl didn’t make the cut. I couldn’t understand, and still don’t understand, what the problem ever was. Ah, the joys of a sheltered upbringing.
Nickelback – Gotta Be Somebody
Whoa there, before you sentence me to death by firing squad, let me explain. As much as I’m not Nickelback’s biggest fan, I don’t get what all of the hate is for. Around the time that this song came out and was popular, I was going through some tough times and to me, this song perfectly described what I was feeling and helped me to keep going. Okay, maybe I was an overdramatic eleven year old, but I’m telling you, Nickelback can be powerful, man.
Aerosmith – Dream On
I was raised on Classic Rock and Dream On has always been one of my favourite power ballads. The particular event that really makes this song stand out to me is that in the sixth grade, a friend and I decided that it would be cool if we played this song together, me on piano and him on electric guitar. Unfortunately, the project never got off the ground. To this day, I am still a bit disappointed because I think that it would have been so rad for the math nerd and the skinny kid with the bowl cut to surprise everyone with the power of rock and roll.
Stuck In The Middle (School)
Marianas Trench – All To Myself
Marianas Trench’s album Masterpiece Theatre is one of the first albums that I ever purchased and the first that *gasp* had any form of cursing in it. It made me feel rebellious, cool and even a bit sneaky. All To Myself was and still is one of my favourite tracks from the album and still gives me a little bit of satisfaction every time I hear it.
Paramore – That’s What You Get
Paramore was my gateway drug, so to speak. After falling in love with a few of the songs off of their album RIOT! I went on to actively seek out more and more music that was similar. Because of That’s What You Get and Crushcrushcrush, I discovered My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, All Time Low, Mayday Parade, Taking Back Sunday, Blink-182, Halestorm and many others. I owe most of my music taste today to Hayley Williams and her awesomeness.
Queen  – Bohemian Rhapsody
If I had to pick a favourite band of all time, it would absolutely, no doubt about it, be Queen. I have a particular attachment to Bohemian Rhapsody because it was the finale at my first musical, We Will Rock You, which I saw in London that Brian May himself played. It was also the crowning glory of my piano career, a 10-page piece that I played for a recital after months of practice.
My Chemical Romance – Welcome To The Black Parade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDWgsQhbaqU
It took me a trip halfway across the country to get a copy of MCR’s album The Black Parade and I have never regretted it for a moment. I feel like everyone has an emo phase to some extent, and My Chemical Romance kickstarted mine. Cue the dreams of going to Hot Topic, a few years before Calgary had a location.
Aerosmith – Â I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing
On the same fateful trip that got me The Black Parade, I had my first slow dance, which escalated into a great friendship that myself and my awkward 9th grade dance partner still maintain to this day. Who knew that an Aerosmith power ballad, the second of this list, would help me muster up the courage to dance with my first real crush.
The Here And Now
Mayday Parade – Stay
This is an emotional song to begin with, and live, it’s even more than that. This is the song I play when I’m having a bad day, when I’m missing someone or when I just need to put on some relatively soft music for studying. Everybody needs a sad song, and this is mine.
Blink- 182 – I Miss You
This is a song that brings back memories of a summer well spent, of long days outside, jumping off the dock, meeting new people, really bad lip synching and one killer Tom DeLonge impression. One of Blink-182s most recognizable tracks represents, for me, one of the first times that I felt truly independent and truly free.
Halestorm – Here’s To Us
This song is all about overcoming struggles and sticking it to the people that said you couldn’t make it. I am, and have always been, my own biggest rival and my own worst enemy. This song serves to remind me that I am capable of better things than I believe and that I am more than what I give myself credit for.
Oothèque  – Ligne Ouverte
Growing up learning the French language and embracing it in its entirety has represented much of my life. It wasn’t until, by chance, that I found French music that resonated with me. I didn’t feel I was forced to analyze every little detail or try to find the hidden meaning in the lyrics to a song that I couldn’t relate to. Ligne Ouverte helped me to appreciate the music of a language that I’ve fallen in love with in a way that I could relate to outside of the classroom.
Panic! At The Disco – Northern Downpour
This is one of those songs that means something to me for reasons I can’t put words to. The way I feel it, it helps to describe elements of my recent past, moving past obstacles that life has put in my way and looking at the world in a different way. In the end, that’s what music’s all about, isn’t it?
You can also check out this playlist on Spotify.
