Tagged . . .

I've been tagged with a meme by trusty getto. I've never done a meme before, but I guess we'll see how this one goes.

1. Tell us of some songs in your life that remind you of a person, place or a specific event in your life. The kind of song that everytime you hear it, it will always, no matter what, make that person, place or "thing" pop into your head instantly. You can write as few or as many "songs" as you want. And it can be a song or two songs or a whole album.

2. Give a brief description of the person, place or thing it reminds you of.

3. You can choose to tag people or not. Whatever you want to do. And you can tag as few or as many people as you want.

4. You don't have to link the songs or the lyrics unless you want to.

5. If you play, you have to leave me a comment so that I can come and read yours.

OK, the thing for me is, I listen to music for music's sake. I don't associate them with a particular point in time or person or anything like that. It's not an emotional attachment for me, but rather an appreciation for the music. But here are a few, anyway, that do remind me of things.

1. "Enter Sandman" by Metallica: Sometimes I think about this song because it is what introduced me to music. I never liked or cared about music until my friend played his dad's tape of this song, my first experience with heavy metal. After that day in 8th grade, I had to save money for a CD player, and music has been a big deal to me ever since.

2. "No Scrubs" by TLC: This reminds me of a bitch ex-girlfriend who made me listen to it repeatedly for about an hour. Not the album. The song. She hated me even while we were dating, so I think she was trying to tell me something. (She's the only person I ever dated that I would now call a bitch. Don't ask me to explain why I dated her and continued to date her . . . I've been trying to figure that out myself.)

3. "Twist of Cain" by Danzig: I recall, now and then, when my (first) crappy band and I were going to play this song in the high school talent show. I had made mix tapes that weren't so much mix tapes but this song over and over and over and over, so that each of the members of the band could know it by heart. We practiced it. We could play it really well. But then, five minutes before we were to go on stage, the band member who was supposed to be on vocals for this one said he couldn't remember how it went. I played a few bars and he had the lyrics right but the rhythm all wrong. So I had to play bass and sing at the same time . . . two things I was not very good at and together I was even worse.

4. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana: this was a song that I did with my (second) crappy band. I was a late-comer to the band and was supposed to be vocals-only, but the bass player they already had still insisted on doing much of the vocal work, leaving me to stand around on stage like a fool. And he was an even worse vocalist than I.

5. "Bother" by Stone Sour: eh, this song was big when my wife and I started dating, and we both liked it. That's everything about it, but it's also rather unusual that we like the same song. Turns out, for some reason, she didn't like any of the other songs on the album.

6. Anything by Bon Jovi: reminds me of another ex-girlfriend who was always nice, but not at all exciting or intellectually stimulating.

7. Anything from Zebrahead's Waste of Mind: my friends and I listened to this album a lot in high school and shortly thereafter. It particularly reminds me of the trip back from the Metallica concert in Denver '00 in my friend's 96 Grand Prix, when all of us (including the driver) would take turns standing out of the sunroof on I-80.

8. Anything from Kid Rock's Devil Without a Cause: (embarassing, I know) reminds me of cruising around in high school in my '88 Towncar, wearing my fedora and smoking cigars with a friend.

9. "Black Funeral" by Mercyful Fate: reminds me of a good friend from college, when we would sit around and listen to a bunch of MF stuff and alternate between growls and falsettos in order to alienate everyone else on the dorm floor.

That's it. I tag no one.