Recapturing my youth

Birthdays are a time of self-reflection and reminiscence. Mine was February 10th. On that day, and the days leading up to it, I thought about how much I've changed over the years and how far I've come. Compared to last year, I'm accomplishing much more and at an accelerated rate. 2020 was a slow process the whole way through. I am currently working on a web site for my children's books and cartoon t.v. series. This time last year I couldn't put one word on a page due to writer's block. It took me from the end of January until about Christmas of 2020 to finish my third children's book. My book may not have been 600 to 1,000 pages, but it had over 2,500 words. Which later had to be reduced due to a great number of publishers who have a 2,500 word limit. Its hard to write one sentence, much less a 3,000+ page book when you've got writer's block.

I also thought about the past and the roles people played in my life. Where are they now? Some left, some stayed, and some have entered. That's life. There's a lot from my adolescence that I wish I could get back. While I cannot be sixteen all over again, I can still revisit my youth through music. One song that comes to mind is Echo & the Bunnymen's "The Game" from their self-titled album. The lyrics are, "While you reminisce about the things you miss, you won't be ready to kiss good-bye." Echo & the Bunnymen's self-titled album encapsulated my youth. So when I want to return to that special time of my life I simply turn up the volume on that album and I'm there. Isn't it amazing how music can take you back in time like that? Or how it can transport you to a place you have never been before? Music has that power. It can also lift you up when you're feeling blue, or it can make you cry uncontrollably.

Here are five albums from my youth that bring back good memories.

Echo & the Bunnymen's "The Game":



Echo & the Bunnymen's self-titled album playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_keikctsoFGEhtB6ldMkStSRjIU11hK4jk

Echo & the Bunnymen's self-titled 1987 release is among my top 5 favorite albums. It evokes so many emotions for me. Words cannot express just how much I love this album. I love it just as much now as I did back then.

Radiohead's "Planet Telex":



Radiohead's The Bends playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mcdDsRfBo6p9yWwUCOLxjSMVV9sd2LjtU

I owned every Radiohead album. The Bends, Pablo Honey, Kid A, and OK Computer were staples in my alternative music collection. I later acquired Hail to the Thief after it came out in 2003. I heard In Rainbows and A Moon Shaped Pool, but I haven't kept up with them since A Moon Shaped Pool came out. I may need to check them out again.

Talking Heads' "Sugar on My Tongue":



Talking Heads' Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites (two-disc compilation album) playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ks0VnNJ02SgEBAOUPF-vpJcQm8JreUHTQ

No music collection is complete without a Talking Heads album. I recommend this two-disc compilation album to anybody who likes the Talking Heads, or to a first-time listener. It has all their hits on it and is a fine starting point for those who have never listened to them. This was the first Talking Heads album I ever owned. I graduated to this album after being just a casual radio listener. I had made mixed tapes of their songs from the radio, but eventually ordered this album from Columbia House and the rest was history!

Blur's "Chemical World":



Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l2_DBIh4d9AlVKYgp3-LgglUJYapOW-dg

Oh, where do I begin? I was a big Blur fan in my early teens, but had listened to this album religiously through my late teenage years and my early twenties. This album takes me back to a time when I was so young and free with no worries at all. So many hopes, dreams, and desires amidst a lingering uncertainty as to what the future would hold. This album kept my spirits up and my creative mind going.

INXS' "Don't Change":



This band was unpopular among my friends, but I could not help but love them! When I was fifteen somebody told me, "You need to listen to new music." It's funny because some kids today actually DO listen to INXS and Adam Ant. Though the INXS listeners, from what I have observed online, mostly reside in Australia and England. There were many young listeners from other countries like Brazil. Australia comes as no surprise as INXS were an Australian band and their music is influential there. At the Adam Ant concert, in 2017, there were a LOT of 14 and 15-year-olds with their parents. My guess is their parents got them into Adam Ant. I brought up Adam Ant because many INXS listeners like Adam Ant and vice versa.

What I think it has to do with is the type of music. Take punk music, for example. The Ramones are still popular among teenagers and they formed in 1974. Punk music in general is a genre that most teenagers and young adults like; I did and still do! Another band that has stood the test of time is The Beatles. People of all ages on YouTube have said they love The Beatles. So when I think back to that comment from 1999 about how I "need to listen to new music," it just does not register as The Beatles came before INXS and kids back then (when I was fifteen) were listening to The Beatles. INXS many not have been The Beatles, but I had an affinity for them from a young age and their music gave me so much joy. That is really all that mattered to me.

Shabooh Shoobah is a new wave masterpiece that opens with "The One Thing," the band's biggest hit at that time. "Don't Change" is my favorite track off this album, but I also like "To Look at You, "The One Thing," "Jan's Song," "Spy of Love," "Here Comes," "Black and White, and "Soul Mistake"; that's nearly the whole album! Not a bad track on it. I won't "change a thing" and will continue to be my true self, no matter how unpopular something may be. This band has always been about love and peace. I always liked them more than U2 and thought they should have been the bigger stadium band. I don't think they got the credit they deserved. I may write about them again soon.