Ultimate Blog Challenge - Day 18: Music

Photo by Jace & Afsoon on Unsplash

Today is Day 18 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and we're talking about music. More specifically about songs that bring back memories and / or get us in the zone.

Music is an important part of my life, and I like many genres from Classical to Rock'n'Roll, 1980s, some Country (think Tim McGraw and Faith Hill) or alternative rock pop (which seems to be the classification for Coldplay).

A few years ago I made a top ten feel good songs' list. It contains Katrina & the Waves' Walkin' on Sunshine, an all-time favorite of mine.

Just the other day I was blogging about the new ABBA album. 

I'm still blown away by some of the songs. So I would probably have to add Just a Notion to above list. Such a catchy melody and rhythm. Love! 

I read that is was originally recorded in 1978, and looking back, the band members can't remember why the track didn't make it onto the "Voulez-vous" album. 

Listening to said album I say it's probably because they already had plenty of hits like Chiquitita, I have a Dream, Does your Mother know on it? However, they could have replaced If It Wasn’t for the Nights or Lovers (Live a Little Longer) with Just a Notion. 

Well, I'm glad they preserved Just a Notion so we get to enjoy it now!

It's funny how the 40 years between the first ABBA era and this year's comeback have changed the way we consume music. Just the other day we were just talking about this on Debi's blog.

As a kid - not even a teenager yet - I had a cassette tape recorder. It was just that. A device to play tapes. Tapes I asked for Christmas or birthdays. Tapes I listend to over and over. Until...

On Sunday afternoons I would put this thing as close to the loudspeaker of Dad's stereo equipment where the charts were being played  That's how I recorded my favorite hits. I could only pray that the radio host didn't interrupt the song before it was completely finished!!!

As a teenager I had a summer job and got myself a radio recorder. I think that's what it was called? Recording from radio to cassette became so much more convenient! Of course these radio guys would still begin to talk too early. Annoying! One had to wait for another week for another chance to record the entire song!

What 12 or 13 year old had the money to just buy all the songs their young hearts desired?

Don't get me started on the lyrics. 

English is / was not my first language. We weren't taught at school until in Junior High. So we basically sang along to what we thought it said. I often took it upon me to try and write the refrain down so I could look up the words in the dictionary. Yes, a book that contained hundreds of words!

A couple of years later, my brother and I were thrilled when Dad got a CD player to complete his stereo equipment. No more rewinding or forwarding. Just skip to your favorite song! 

However us kids were not allowed to use Dad's electronics unsupervised, so we had Mom put in the CD.

I'll never forget the morning she got all confused.

"I don't know what I did wrong" she said. "The music won't play?" 

My younger brother, man in the house while Dad was at work, offered to help. 

Upon fixing the problem he couldn't stop smirking.

"You know what she did? She actually turned the CD, thinking there was a B side."

One more thing. 

Every once in a while you'd hear a new song. Typically it was easy to identify if it was by Michael Jackson or Tina Turner. What if you had no clue who this was, but you wanted to know badly!

It happened in the mid-1980s. We were on vacation in the Italian part of Switzerland and my brother and I discovered an Italian pop channel that we both liked. 

One night there was a thunderstorm, and the reception was super bad.

A song came on that literally struck me. Even though I could barely hear because there was so much crackling and static noise going on. 

At that point in time I had only attended about 18 months worth of English classes, 

Wishing you'd come back to me, it hurts me more than you know, she took your smile away, I can't forget you...

That's about how much I could memorize. Plus I was pretty sure the song must have been called all at once. 

Just as it was fading out, there was a giant thunder exploding above our house, and what I thought I understood, sounded like "Houston".

So, as I was saying, it was circa 1985. No internet, no Google, no nothing. 

I wrote down the partial lyrics and tried to play the melody over and over in my head so I wouldn't forget. 

The next day we went to a department store, and I visited the entertainment floor. Do you remember headphone bars? You would pick a vinyl album and ask the clerk to play it for you, and you'd stand there, headphones on, listening to the music?

Well, I couldn't find any artist called Houston, so I asked the clerk. Remember it was the Italian part of Switzerland. I had to ask about an English song in Italian. Not only did I ask, I sang. 

I don't know if I did so badly or if the guy really had not heard of that fantastic singer. 

Either way he couldn't help me. 

When we were back home, I - unsuccessfully - kept looking for this Houston lady, asking all my music aficionado friends, until, shorty before Christmas, there she was in the Swiss singles charts with saving all my love for you. It was unmistakably her! Such a great voice!

I'm sure my son's generation will have their share of amusement with us middle aged folks, even though they have no idea how good they have it with their Google, iPod Playlist, Spotify, Shazam, Translation Apps and YouTube!

What's a favorite feel good song of yours? Do you have an embarrassing technology episode to share? I'm all ears...