music through the years

Yesterday morning, I hopped into our car to drive to work and immediately scanned through Matt’s CD changer to find my recent CD obsession. I bought this Hillsong CD with a gift card my brother gave me for Christmas, and since then my drives to and from work have been far more enjoyable (and a lot louder). Well, I was quite disgruntled to find that Matt had taken the CD from the car, leaving me pining away for my latest musical infatuation. This also got me thinking about the long line of overplayed CDs that has seen me through the years. Looking back, it is really quite embarrasing to admit the number of hours spent listening to some of these albums, but I guess I turned out alright… right?

In the beginning…
I have no idea when I became the proud owner of my first CD player, but I do remember my first and second CDs, both of which were prized possessions and were therefore played without ceasing:

First, I had the Steve Green Hide ‘Em in Your Heart Bible Memory Melodies CD. Spiritually speaking, I guess this wasn’t too bad of a way to start my CD collection… but really. How cheesy does this CD cover look? It’s a good thing I redeemed myself with my next CD purchase- the ultra hip and cool Free Willy soundtrack (ha). With Michael Jackson and New Kids on the Block crooning to me, I think I kept that CD on repeat 24/7 for weeks.

Next CD obsession: here we go, kids. Ace of Base. Oh yeah. I was really hot stuff now. This was the same era during which I would sit in my then best friend’s room dialing Q94 for hours trying to get through to request a song to be played on the radio. What a huge waste of time, if you ask me, but I suppose it was a pretty harmless way for a couple of fourth grade girls to spend their Friday evenings.

I guess I lacked a true CD obsession for a while because my next obsessive memory was the Mariah Carey Greatest Hits CD in high school. Actually, quite a few albums come to mind when I think of my high school career. As I list these, I’m struck by how schizophrenic my muscial taste was back then…
– Dave Matthews Band. Can you grow up in Midlothian, VA without loving Dave?
– Tim Mcgraw Greatest Hits CD- one of the more respectable titles on my list
– Jay-Z Hard Knock Life CD- I don’t know if it makes matters better or worse, but when I went through my rap phase, I would buy my CDs at Walmart where they would only sell the edited versions. Half of the lyrics would be bleeped out, reinforcing the fact that this suburban white girl could never cut it as a thug. (Can I get a whatwhat??)
– Ohhh and then there was my German phase. Between my participation in the foreign exchange program at Trinity and the month I spent speaking only German at the Governor’s School German Academy, I was quite the little German scholar. So, of course I had to play the part and listen to the wretched German music.
– I can’t make any list summarizing past musical favorites without including the iconic Dawson’s Creek soundtrack. They just don’t make shows like that any longer, and the CD just captured the sappy, heartwrenching nature of that classic teenage melodrama.

A few years later, I met Matt who once again broadened my musical horizons and introduced me to punk. Good Charlotte, Weezer, and Unwritten Law filled many mixed CDs created by my doting boyfriend. Nothing says “I love you” like a bunch of mohawk wearing white boys who like to scream and whine.

This is getting way too long, and I could keep going (Shane and Shane, David Crowder, and Rascall Flatts anyone??), but let’s just say that I have had highs and lows when it has come to my musical preference… but nothing quite compares with Free Willy.