What Songs Evoke Your Memories?

[Kim]

Everyone knows that memory recollection is triggered most strongly by your sense of smell. Sound would have to be a close second if not a tie. Just the way a certain chord hits you when you're at a milestone in your life, can trigger that feeling you had at that moment years later, even if you don't even like the song anymore!

So what songs bring back strong associations for you? It doesn't have to be rock, it can be anything. Our tastes evolve as we do, so if someone says that Marky Mark brought back a fond memory, don't give them a hard time about it. Give a short summary of the history of what that song means to you.

I'll go first--

"If You Could Only See" by Tonic.
So many songs I associate with high school (naturally), and I really loved this song (still do). I remember hanging out with the few friends I had at the time, singing it whenever it would come on the radio. Good times. I love that slide guitar, that was just so unique and is what really brings back memories for me.

"I Wish You Were Here" by Incubus.
I'd been living on my own for a year or two when this came out. I was in a stage of transition in my spiritual life, still connected with a lot of New Age-y stuff, and whenever this song came on, I felt like I could just float away in the sunset on the beach, "and in this moment I am happy....happy..."

"Closure" by Chevelle
This one is triggered by the set of chords, at :28 intro, and during the chorus, "You will nev-er be-long to meeeee....", and at 1:39, right after the line, "hold my breath till you rupture". Almost orgasmic for me when the song first came out. It's not as intense now, but I still feel it deep in my gut.

"Purity" by Slipknot
A friend that used to go to my school, Dan, played a bootleg of this CD in the car one night when me, my friend Jane and him were driving around one October night in Ohio. We went nuts, it was so insane and incidentally, was my introduction into the metal genre. When Corey launched into the chorus at 2:05 "You all stare, but you'll never see, there's something inside me", the weird mix of drums, vocals and sound in the background gave me chills. It's also really hard to sing along to, and not fall on a flat note. I remember telling a few people about it at school the next day, but it hadn't been on the radio yet, and the cd hadn't been released either. That came out around Xmas of that year, and it just caught fire with the other kids who were into it. I played the shit out of that cd!

Well, there are a few of mine. I have so many more that I have stories for, but I figure these are a good start.

[hvymtlmom]

ohh nice topic Kim! I'm gonna have to think of a few of mine to add

[stallan]

-Not Falling for being the first Mudvayne song I ever heard.
-Disciple by Slayer for being the song that got me into metal
-Dig for inspiring me to buy a bass
-A lot of Maiden/classical/countless other songs by a bunch of different bands and genres that are just so epic that they give me goosebumps
-Gates of Hell by my band for being the first song that we ever rehearsed
-Hell, the entire LD50 album for essentially inspiring my life

That's pretty much it, as there aren't a lot of songs that tie into specific moments of my life, or my memory is too impaired to remember.

[mudfan16]

"Walk"Pantera---for the being the first metal song i liked back in 1999
"Bodies" Drowning Pool---for being the first song and band that got me into heavy music altogether back in 2001
"Dig"Mudvayne---for being the first mudvayne song i ever heard back in 2001 and since then,they have been my favourite band
The whole L.D 50 album inspired me to become a vocalist and start my own band
"Suffocated By Blasphemy" by my band Adversary #7,for being the most meaningful song i ever made with my band and whenever we play it live,its my favourite song to sing

any song by the folliwing bands--Mudvayne,Drowning Pool,System of A Down,Insomnium,Swallow the Sun,Kataklysm,In Flames,Behemoth,Cannibal Corpse,Into Eternity and Pantera

[lauren]

Oh gosh, there are so many! I'll have to think of some good ones...

[shroomfairy]

I'll have to keep thinking and post more later, great thread idea!!!


"She drives me crazy" by the Fine Young Cannibals freaks me out!!! The summer that this song was a huge hit I read the Stephen King book 'It'. I could not put the book down and read it in 2 days. That song must have played on the radio every hour and every time I hear it I think of the clown in the sewer and it's scares me a little, lol!

"Not Falling" by Mudvayne has awesome memories for me. I was not a Mudvayne fan until this video made it on MTV. I would often leave the tv on while I was doing chores and when I heard Chad's voice I was trying to figure out who was singing. It took me a few days to catch the video at the beginning so I could see their name. I was so surprised! I was thinking "What about all that weird make up?" & "Damn! He is cute!" I was soon hooked. After getting the Cd and listening over and over, Not Falling helped me through some tough times.

"Don't Forget Me"By Red Hot Chili Peppers is so sweet for me. My hubby and I went to see them in concert by ourselves. (we usually go to shows with a group of friends) We were enjoying the show so much and when this song came on we were singing it to each other. (hubby usually does not sing along) Every time I hear it I think of that awesome show shared with my hubby!

[mudvayner]

Let's see:

Holy Wars...The Punishment Due by Megadeth 'cause it was the first Megadeth song I ever heard. In fact, it was the first Metal song I've ever heard. Thank you Lord Mustaine xD

Ruins of the Future by Borknagar. When I heard Vortex screaming in the intro and the line: "Upon the ruins of future..." for the first time, I was like: Wow who the fuck is this guy? He sings amazingly! and right after that it began my BorknagarAddiction (especially for ICS Vortex work) xD

Not Falling by Mudvayne. First song I ever heard from them. Also, this song reminds me of the time I was searching on the net for some Mudvayne sites in order to get to meet people who also liked Mudvayne and share opinions, pictures, info, etc..and I found Mud-World Forums...Well, I got to meet cool people there (especially those who really liked the band) and made awesome friends too

Sleepwalker by Megadeth...First song LIVE I ever heard from my favorite band in the world...When I saw and heard Mustaine's guitar intro of this song I almost fainted... man they're so awesome live and I'm really thankful they came here on tour. Weee I still can't believe I got to see Mustaine live. Awesomeness ;D

Forgotten Love by Elis...reminds of how much I got disappointed with this guy I was really into, and how sad I was because of the way it all ended.

Drowse by Queen. I love this song. It makes me feel very good and at peace with myself everytime I listen to it.

Hmmm I guess that's pretty much it.

[Kim]

Awesome! Just the kind of stuff I was hoping for

I always had a problem with the dark after seeing "It" on tv one night when I was 7 or 8. I couldn't make it past the clown ripping off Georgie's arm when he reached down into the sewer drain. Got up and left! I've rewatched it since, read the book at least a dozen times, and I'm over it now, but man, that messed me up for a good portion of my childhood! That, and some cheesy B movie that had a spider the size of a car in the sewer/subway system. It wove huge webs that people got tangled in and then you'd hear the scratching of it's legs on the tunnel walls as it came back to devour its meal. Ugn.

Another song I forgot to mention:

"Dont You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds.
I used to sleepwalk and have waking dreams when I was little, and this happened before my parents divorced, so I'd say I was around 5 years old. I remember being in the den room late at night, mom and dad were elsewhere in the house. The lights and tv were on, and a music video playing this song was on VH1. Except this wasn't the real video. This video was of a dark cave, firelight illuminating these gigantic sand-colored cobras (these things had to have been at least 50 feet long, they were thick as tree trunks). They were positioned in a circle around this huge bonfire that had a massive cauldron of boiling liquid suspended above it. The lead singer was slowly being lowered into the pot by ropes, singing out to a woman who was walking by the entrance of the cave, "Don't you forget about me." The snakes were hissing and weaving back and forth the whole time. The song ended when his head went under the water. It was pretty fucking surreal. I always think of that when I hear that song on the 80's station.

[hvymtlmom]

here's a few of mine:

Metallica-"Nothing Else Matters":My daughter & I have always loved this song, especially the meanin behind the lyrics. Back in 2003 her and I drove 4 hours to Orlando to see Summer Sanitarium together (also our first Mudvayne experience!) We had a fun day despite the rain and when Metallica started doing this song, she put her arm around me and hugged me tight during the whole thing. We've always had a great relationship, but the spontaneity of that moment still overwhelms me. Whenever I hear that song now, it brings back memories of that awesome day, Seeing Chad for the first time up on that big screen, being out in the rain during Linkin Park, wishing the pyro would blow Fred Durst off the stage, standing under the stadium eating kettle corn, giggling as we watched from a distance the guys entering the restroom who didn't notice that the door was wide open and in full view of the urinals! But mostly it reminds me of how much I enjoy roadtrips with just her & I talking the whole way, listening to music and how fortunate that I am to have a daughter as who is such a caring, compassionate, intelligent, free-thinking individual. I had been thinking a long time about having a small butterfly (my very first tattoo) on my ankle redone and made "prettier". When I mentioned this to her, she got really upset because (unbeknown to me) she had always loved that tattoo and remembered even as a baby being fascinated by it. She reminded me that just because it wasn't what most people perceive to be ideal, that didn't mean it wasn't special...in other words, when I got that tattoo many years ago, there must have been a reason I chose it, so it didn't matter what other people thought so why change it? That once again brought home the meaning of the lyrics "forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters" and a week after seeing Metallica again with her in 2004, I had those words tattooed on above the butterfly. It doesn't have her name on it, but that tattoo is definitely for my daughter and everytime I look at it, we're back at Summer Sanitarium listening to that song!


Aerosmith-"Dream On" I'm giving away my age here, but whenever I hear it, I'm reminded vividly of my high school years. It was on the jukebox in our cafeteria and it was played quite often. Aerosmith was also my second concert ever (and it was on Halloween)...and in those days, I used to get really wasted at shows so Dream On always brings back visions of the weed-smoke filled auditorium and the awesome people I went with, including one of my boyfriends. At one point him & I were sitting on the floor making out and I remember 2 security guys coming up to us and telling us to knock it off! For some reason, I actually remember what I wore too...even though I can't remember shit from yesterday, I can remember THAT from so many years ago?! It was jeans with a gold weed leaf sewn onto it LOL

Deftones-"Change In The House Of Flies" I've never particularly been much of a Deftones fan (yeah, yeah, I know some of you on here are). The second time I saw them, it was at Family Values 2006. I was there with my husband and daughter. We had fairly close seats, which was a good thing because (as often happens in West Palm) it rained like hell during the later half of the show. But even with seats, we were getting soaked because it was blowing in. During this particular song, everyone around us was standing up, singing along but my daughter and I were sitting, huddled together, the rain blowing into our faces, yet the rain felt good, listening to everyone singing was awesome (I love when concerts turn into sing-a-longs). I don't know how else to describe it, but it was such nice, calming experience, which if you've ever been to an all day festival, is a rare occurrence in such a hectic day! I wouldn't actually call myself a Deftones fan, but hearing this song brings it all back

[shroomfairy]

hvymtlmom you made me think of one.....


The Metallica Black Album Yes, the whole thing! It was released in August of 1991, my senior year in high school. I was already a Metallica fan. When that album came out, a guy I knew got the tape (yes, it was on cassette children!) and we sat in a parking lot and listened to the entire thing! We were talking while sitting on the car and we listened to that tape 2 times! It was like time stood still, we were so amazed at the sound and just had to hear it again.

Now this guy and I only went out on 1 date, but I will always remember listening to it for the first time with him. I saw Metallica in the spring of 1992 before i graduated. My first show! I still love that tape. (yes I still have it on tape, lol)

[Naomi]

My music taste, has always been, and always will be, quite... diverse..

Creep-Stone Temple PilotsI was really young when I first heard this. It was the very first song I felt a connection with.

Thousand Words - Savage Garden I was just a kid when I got their cd (I grew up on tapes, it was one of my first cds)... It was one of the first songs I heard in my life that I could actually relate to.. (mind you the 90's on the radio here ignored the metal/grunge/rock--they played pop)

Cradle-Mudvayne This was my very first Mudvayne song.. I was only a sprog but I knew it was special.. I only caught a few words that day, but I remembered them enough that when I rediscoverd Mudvayne the next year it was the first song I recognised.

Alone-Korn I grew up listening to Korn, but when this song first came out.. It was quite a difficult time.. It was one of the few songs that nursed me through that time.

In her Sun-Krezip This song was one of the first tracks on a cd a friend of mine in Germany sent me.. It really caught my attention.. I couldn't relate to it the initial way, but through contextual meaning, it was a jewel.

Protection-Krezip As soon as I heard the first verse of this song I fell in love with it. It nursed me right on through until I found myself a better situation.. Now I listen to it to remember where I came from.

Der Rebell-Die Aerzte This song says it all if you understand German. It was excellent for me: upbeat, something I could completely relate to, and it WASN'T English! It gave me room to vent out what I needed to, but without being in English so it also provided me with a place to hide. "Ich nenn es Freiheit, ihr nennt es Mangel an Respekt!"

Raspberry-I Mother Earth A friend gave me their album Scenery and Fish and I tried it out. I already knew the band but this song struck a chord with me, ensuring my fanship.

Payback-Flaw My first flaw song.. Everytime I hear it it reminds me of my friend who gave it to me.. we did some really retarded things in those days, and we'd prolly still do them now haha

Lose Yourself-Eminem This was a time when EVERYONE was bitching at me about my love for music.. It handed me hope and it helped me grow stronger by helping me realise that I just got to keep pushing forward.

Won't Cry-Krezip One day I went walking out in a thunderstorm.. it was so intense and calming at the same time, when I got back I was soaked to the skin, I didn't bother to change, I didn't mind the soaked feeling somehow when I turned on that song.. finally felt okay, I can't even describe the feeling.. Now when I listen to it I remember that feeling it gave me.

World So Cold-Mudvayne This song always reminds me of being in high school in the lunch room with my best friend...

Never Born-Guano Apes This song reminds me of those days when life sucked more; puts me back in my place but in a relaxing way..

(Per)Version of a Truth-Mudvayne When my best friend moved away this song was the only thing that got me to get myself together.. It helps me remember him, as he like the song, but it also reminds me of healing, I guess..

Uso Mitai Na I Love You-Utada Hikaru I love this song. Something freaky happened last october (3rd anniversary of owning the song), right when she sang (I'll write it in English) "As I watch the fleeing shadows run along the road" Leaves blew off the trees and the shandows almost danced across the road!
Even freakier: It's a song about chasing after something unreachable that no matter how close you're never sure if you touched it, and if you did, you keep losing grip on it.. ; after the leaf incident: the guy it became about (before it was just about my friends to me) passed me in his car! I was nervous for over 2 hours and I still get cold shivers every time I listen to this song--even on repeat!

[Naomi]

Sorry to make a double post, but the post was just a little long:

Pharmaecopia(I don;t think I'll ever spell that right lol)-Mudvayne Every time I listen to this song I remember the days when I had only my pills to turn to (music too, but sometimes music alone just wasn't enough), and generally good times when I was stoned from the common OTC drugs that I could find..

Beautiful World-Utada Hikaru I found this song as a ringtone.. I thought it was catchy.. So I looked up the lyrics and it was something I could relate to.. Normally relationship songs make me wanna puke but her songs are so much more.. real.. I listened to this biblically, I suppose.. The guy I'm kinda with that uso has made itself about was kind of well.. completely out of reach and half because I was (and still am) a complete chicken.. Someone who worked at his house gave a shit load of false information that of course decestated me until a few months later I was handed the truth... Still it reminds me of that time, those feelings--what it's like to lose something so close.. but it also reminds me of the beauty in the world people can create---and not even be aware of it.. Which yes, mushingly enough is true for him to me.. and in fact despite those other feelings, makes me happy too..
Of course the song in itself is quite self-contradictory on the surface, but it corresponds well with my associations with it; it's about a horrid world that becomes beautiful from the presence of a certain person/object/thing..
It is now also to me a reminder of a person I know who has cancer, she is one of those that are of the few true innocent people in the world, and even in the most horrid situations she can make light of it and even though her death is striking literally hundreds of people so strongly, she manages to keep everyone in good spirits. I will definitely do a cover and dedicate it to her when I get the materials to do so..

Ich bin die Sehnsucht in dir-Die Toten Hosen Another german one.. a love song but it's catchy, and somehow it reminds me of skateboarding with my old friends back years ago.. It also reminds me of the intense feelings I have when I'm on stage when I hear the line "Ich bin die Hoffnung und du stirbst mit mir" (I am the hope you die with me), I guess because the whole show really is dependany on the audience, and if they don't like the show, chances are things won't go over so well behind the scenes..

Colt 45-Afroman Reminds me of so many things I can't list them all but generally good times with friends and the days when I partied a lot here where I live now, as well as living on the streets and having a great time during the nights with my friends who stayed out late with me even if we just sat around not really saying or doing much..

[edit]
crap! forgot this one:

Slide-Goo Goo Dolls This song used to get on my nerves so much.. Then one night there was this big party everyone went to.. and yeah another song relating to that guy lol..
I always remember *him* now when I hear/listen to this song.. You see, that night.. he was like around this one chick like all night and never even said hi just looked back at me a few times, and I dont really know what was going through my head but I got really doubtful and almost angsty about it (I wouldn't say jealous, it don't fit right).. and I was going to text him "So much for talking to me again" and then he popped up behind me and then the whole situation fixed itself up really nicely.. The next morning he was good enough to bring me back (to my) home and to my surprise he played this song (He's more into the whole grunge thing and techno, not pop-rock).. I guess it's kind of like a stress reliever now..

[mudvayne8megan]

Killing Lonliness by HIM [such a gay song i know haha] - It was the song of the first person i can honestly say i was in love with. Still to this day 3 years later it still makes me smile.

Anyone Else But You by The Moldy Peaches [The song off the movie Juno] - is my girlfriend and i's song. Our first real date was to see this movie and when this bit came on in the song was the first time she held my hand. It still gives me butterflys.

On The Move by Mudvayne - Once my absolute all time favourite song of Mudvayne, now is my most feared. Last friday i got hit by a hummer on my way to school. This was playing when it happened, and everytime it comes on i feel sick to my stomach.
I need to find another favourite now.


thats all i can think of atm

[stallan]

Sucks that happened, also a bit ironic.

[shroomfairy]

Aug 7, 2008 6:30:11 GMT -5 mudvayne8megan said:

On The Move by Mudvayne - Once my absolute all time favourite song of Mudvayne, now is my most feared. Last friday i got hit by a hummer on my way to school. This was playing when it happened, and everytime it comes on i feel sick to my stomach.
I need to find another favourite now.

That reminds me of one....

Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J --- I was in a bad wreck in high school. My friend was driving and lost control, we flipped end over end a rolled down a steep hill. In the end we were all banged up but nothing too serious. The car was totaled but the radio was still blaring this song! Needless to say I had a concussion.