Hey Everyone! If I were to ask you 'what's something that instills a lot of nostalgia in you?' chances are music would be pretty high up on your list. It's crazy how much impact listening to a particular son, album or artist can have on your emotions and memories - at how you can be transported back to a moment in time and feel like you did then. I'm a very nostalgic person, so music is something I always love to revisit - jamming out to some of my favourite tunes from the past while remembering some great times and amazing people. Because I'm such a nostalgic person, I created an entire nostalgia playlist on Spotify, and I thought I'd share with you just some of those songs and what they mean to me. But don't worry, I'm not going to go over ever single one of the 170 plus songs, just some of my favourites and the ones that have a story connected to them. There's no way I can give any order to this, so let's start with 'When I'm Gone' by Eminem, the first Eminem song I learnt all the words to and felt like a boss being able to rap it. Granted, of all of Eminem's songs, it's not the hardest to rap, but 10-year-old me was proud to be able to wrap my little heart out. Hell, I still feel proud to wrap my little heart out thirteen years later. But this isn't the only Eminem song on this list, there's actually a few amazing hits on my playlist because Eminem is such a music icon. The other song I want to mention here is 'Without Me'. For some reason, I don't really remember why, we listened to this song in an English lesson back in Year 12 (maybe even Year 11 as my senior years have kind of blurred together). The lyrics had something to do with the topic we were studying, so our teacher handed out a print-out of the lyrics and we listened to the song several times. What makes the song stand out is that on the lyric sheet, our English head teacher had blocked out the lyrics for the final four lines of the first verse, writing a little note about how the lyrics were too explicit to read, even though we all listened to the song anyway. While we're on the topic of raps, I can't go past 'Crank That (Soulja Boy)' by, of course, Soulja Boy. I'm pretty sure everyone in late 2007 and early 2008 tried to learn the Soulja Boy dance - I certainly did and felt like a pro when I had somewhat mastered it. Granted, I wouldn't know how to dance it today, save for a couple of moves that are probably wrong anyway, but for a short time I was probably a small step away from being a professional dancer. Thinking back, I remember showing my mum how awesome I was having learnt this dance, and all she could focus on was the lyrics of the song, which weren't exactly appropriate lyrics for a twelve year old to be listening to and singing. Oh well. If I'm being honest, I'm super tempted to re-learn the dance... I may as well just keep on the rap train since I seem to have a few on the list - apparently I'm a big rap fan. I can't remember how I came across this song - it was either on Video Hits one Saturday morning, or it was on Rage at one of the few times that I stayed u late and left the TV on in the background. But no mater how I found it, 'Love Me or Hate Me (Fuck You)' by Lady Sovereign is a song I love to revisit. There's not really a specific memory tied to this song, but just having found a song that wasn't as mainstream/popular compared to other songs at the time always made me feel like I'd stumbled upon a song that not many people around me knew about. Plus, it's just a really great song. Okay, final rap song - 'Download This Song' by MC Lars. I remember finding this song vividly - my cousin and I were at our Nan and Pops, and he gave me a list of several songs I should listen to. Reading 'download this song' on the list was a bit confusing because I was wondering which song he was referring to that I should download (with Limewire, of course). Apparently, it was an actual song, and it's a bloody good one too. I then remember us talking on MSN (oh how I miss MSN) about the song after we'd both returned home and I finally had the chance to listen to it. It's still a song that I'll listen to somewhat regularly, and one that I love being able to ace when it comes to rapping. It's also funny how, twelve years later, this song it still so relevant to our music culture. Right, let's move onto some songs that are connected to TV shows for me. The first is 'Closing Time' by Semisonic, which was used in a fan-made Friends video that I watched after I finished bingeing the series for the first time. The video was amazing and the song fit so perfectly with the end of an era. Whenever I listen to this song, I instantly think of Friends, which is weird because it was barely used in the show itself. Less sad is 'Why Can't We Be Friends?' by Smash Mouth. There's actually a few Smash Mouth songs on this nostaglia playlist, and this probably isn't even the most nostalgic, but it kind of is at the same time. The song was used in an episode of Lizzie McGuire, played over a scene where Lizzie and Gordo tie-dye her sheets while Miranda is off at a pool party with Kate. For this reason, the song was included on the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack, so it was one I listened to quiet a lot at a kid. If we're talking about Lizzie McGuire, we can't go past 'I Want Candy' by Aaron Carter. Who could forget the moment Lizzie gets to meet Aaron, be in his music video, and is then kissed by him. Other than that, it's such a catchy song and definitely defined a generation! Did you know that Aaron actually released a remix for it earlier this year? It's still just as good now as it was eighteen years ago! Then of course, there's 'Unwritten' by Natasha Bedingfield, best known as the theme song to The Hills. I could have easily listed a whole bunch of songs that have been used as TV theme songs, but this one seems to stand out the most, even though The Hills isn't my all-time favourite show. There's just something about this song that makes it really nostalgic - maybe it's the flashbacks to the good old days when Lauren and Heidi were still besties... Moving onto some songs that now sum-up my high school experience. These aren't songs that describe what high school was like, but rather are songs that are connected to moments in high school. The first is 'Dani California' by Red Hot Chili Peppers, which, if I'm being honest, was really the bane of my high school experience. While I can totally enjoy the song now, this was a song that essentially became our high school anthem, and not for a good reason. In Year 7 or 8, one of the senior students performed this song at one of the assemblies throughout the year - she was a great singer and the song was awesome. Clearly, our music teacher thought the song was God's gift from heaven because pretty much every year after that someone else performed the song, multiple times a year. It's a great song, don't get me wrong, but there's millions of songs out there and here we all were listening to this one on repeat, year in year out - and I bet it's still performed at assemblies now, five years after I've graduated! Onto my senior year of high school, which is highlighted by two songs, the first being 'Blue (Da Ba Dee)' by Eiffel 65. At the end of our first term of our senior year, the school had a 'blue day' to raise funds and awareness for Beyond Blue, with the day concluding with a talent quest. As a year group, we decided to have a bit of fun with it and do a little dance to Blue since it fitted in so well with the day and out attire. We literally practiced for about half an hour, with some of the year group not even bothering to practice, and we definitely looked a tad ridiculous when it came time to performing - the verse had the dance and then we jumped around for the chorus. Oh, and I was also wearing an owl onesie. But we had a blast and it marked the start of many memories made in our final year with the people we'd be graduating with. Then, when graduation came, we spent the morning doing 'muck up' - our chance to wreak havoc on the school before we left. During our muck up assembly, several of the guys decided to do a routine to 'Call On Me' by Eric Prydz - the one you see in the music video. They started off in long fleece pjs and ended in their boxers and it was hilarious, especially after having watched them try to learn the routine the day before. I can't help but think back to this point in time whenever I hear the song (I'm also glad I have the whole thing on video...) I feel like here's a good place to stop for now - I have enough songs with stories attached to them for another post or two! As I said at the start, there's well over 170 songs on my nostalgia playlist, and while many are there because they are awesome songs that I loved when they came out, many have stories/moments/memories attached to them. I could probably go on with a novel-length blog post, but I don't want to bore you. Instead, I'll be back with a sequel at some point in the future.
I'd love to know, what are some nostalgic songs for you? And, if you want to know what other songs are on my nostalgia playlist, check it out on Spotify here. See You Soon! Victoria :) |
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