Every Era Has a Soundtrack

I don't remember every detail of my childhood. I don't remember every meal I ate, every toy I played with, or every conversation I had growing up.

But I remember the music.

Music has a way of attaching itself to moments. A single song can transport you back to a specific place, a specific year, or even a specific version of yourself. That's what makes it so powerful. It doesn't just remind you of the past. It brings it back.

Some of my earliest memories are tied to the records and 45s that filled our house. Growing up in a family with thirteen kids, there was always something playing. We had music from my parents, music from my older siblings, and eventually music that belonged to my brother and me.

We had an old Bee Gees record player and stacks of records ranging from Chicago and the Carpenters to countless artists from the 70s and 80s. Looking back, I realize those records were quietly shaping my taste in music long before I understood what that meant.

My sister once gave my brother and me a speaker box with an 8-track player and a radio. To most people it probably looked like junk. To us, it was a stage.

We plugged in a microphone, sang along to the music, and put on imaginary concerts for anyone willing to listen. We didn't have cable television, endless entertainment options, or smartphones. We had music, imagination, and time.

As the years passed, the soundtrack changed.

My first cassette tape was Milli Vanilli, which I won at a school dance. I grew up in South Florida during the rise of 2 Live Crew and watched music evolve alongside changing technology, culture, and attitudes. Records became tapes. Tapes became CDs. CDs eventually became streaming services.

But no matter how much the technology changed, music remained constant.

My first concert was Strafe performing "Set It Off" at Six Flags Atlantis. After that came Guns N' Roses with Soundgarden opening. Then Pink Floyd, Metallica, Anthrax, and Stone Temple Pilots.

For anyone who loves music, the 90's was an incredible time to be alive.

Lollapalooza was a great experience and a way to see artists like Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice in Chains, Beastie Boys, Helmet, Ministry, and many others. Every year seemed to bring another unforgettable show and another collection of songs tied to a specific season of life.

One concert I never got to see was Nirvana. Their show was canceled, and not long after, Kurt Cobain passed away. To this day, it's one of those historical moments that sticks with me.

When I moved to Gainesville for college, music became more than something I listened to. It became part of my community.

I discovered local bands, met musicians, and found myself immersed in a local scene where music felt personal and accessible. Some of the artists I listened to were people I knew. The singer of one local band worked as a bartender at the Purple Porpoise. Another musician was in one of my classes.

Music no longer felt distant. It felt woven into everyday life.

One of my favorite experiences came while working security at the Alachua County Harvest Festival. What started as a simple job turned into a backstage pass to a world I never expected.

Over the years I worked around performances by artists like James Brown, The Roots, Widespread Panic, Ben Harper, and George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars. I helped manage crowds, worked alongside crews, and even helped rebuild a stage after severe weather brought it down.

The festival itself was unforgettable. The smell of incense and weed in the air and the intro music let you know the show was about to begin. During the day there were concerts, food, and crowds. At night there were raves in the woods lit by Christmas lights. It was strange, chaotic, and completely unique. Those weekends felt like stepping into another world.

Today, music remains just as important to me as it was when I was a kid singing into a microphone attached to an old speaker box.

I listen to music throughout the day and continue searching for artists and songs I haven't heard before. For years I listened to movie soundtracks and NPR's All Songs Considered because it introduced me to music I never would have discovered on my own. More recently, The Current out of Minnesota has become one of my favorite stations because of its variety and willingness to play everything from emerging artists to timeless classics.

My taste in music has never belonged to a single genre.

Some days it's classic rock. Other days it's folk, blues, alternative, funk, or something completely unexpected. Good music is good music.

A Few Songs That Stayed With Me

Over the years, I've collected thousands of songs, albums, and artists that have meant something to me. Narrowing that list down was nearly impossible, but I wanted to share a small sample of the music that has stayed with me through different stages of life.

To accompany this blog, I've put together a playlist featuring ten songs that represent some of my favorite artists, memories, and musical influences throughout my life. It's not necessarily a list of the greatest songs ever recorded, just a collection of songs that continue to find their way back into my rotation. Also it is a way to pay tribute to artists that are no longer with us and share the songs so that they will live on forever!

I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I have over the years.

Listen to the playlist here: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0k4J1IuC3LeC0CeCX3552L?si=b0eb75628adf4f79

What I've learned over the years is that music isn't really about the songs themselves. It's about what they represent.

A first concert. A road trip. A friendship. A relationship. A summer. A memory.

Every chapter of life seems to come with its own soundtrack. And if you're lucky, all it takes is hearing the first few notes of a song to remember exactly where you were when that chapter was being written.

That's why music will always have a place in my life. And that's why it has a place here at Only One Life.