FEATURE:
Selective Memory
Going Back to My Childhood Mixtapes and Favourite Songs
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THIS is a subject that I have talked about…
PHOTO CREDIT: @greg_wwm/Unsplash
quite a few times before but, after such a hard year, I am listening back to a lot of the songs and mixtapes (not literally; the songs on them) from my childhood. I have argued against nostalgia before. Some people say that, if you are reverting to the music you loved when you were younger, then it is pure nostalgia. I would say that, for the most part, one can indulge in the great hits from the past as it is simply great music – and one is not particularly trying to live in the past. I think 2020 was a year when I was also experiencing some much-needed nostalgia and warmth. I have spent a long time looking back on 2020 and the best albums and songs. I have been keeping abreast with all the new songs and artists that we need to look out for through this year. I think this year will be a much better one than the last but, as we are still in a bad situation and a sense of normality might not occur until after the summer, I am spending some time enveloping myself in a childhood bubble. A lot of other people are doing this but, rather than it being me trying to merely return to a better time, there are so many songs that I have been revisiting that one does not hear talked about and played much. I will put out a Spotify playlist at the very end – a personal mixtape/playlist -, but I have been listening to a lot of great playlists like Spotify’s Summer Hits of the 90s, and 90s Smash Hits – in addition to a great All Out 80s, and All Out 90s.
IMAGE CREDIT: Spotify
What I love about the songs of the 1980s and 1990s is how much variety there was! I know we have variety now, but there will big musical movements and scenes back then – something we do not really have nowadays. My earliest musical memories revolve around experiencing something very powerful and new. This feature is going to be all about me, but I will try and widen it at the end and talk about how many of us have been returning to out prized childhood songs whilst things have been really rough. From my first memory of life listening to Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World, to seeing the video for The Bangles’ Eternal Flame when I was very young…these memories are indelible and in my mind all of the time - and they opened my eyes to the way music can move and overwhelm. A lot of my most-treasured memories of music occurred when I was in middle and high school. The concept of mixtape arrived in my life when I was in middle school. I was born in 1983, and I had my first mixtape when I was about, maybe, eight or nine (before then, I was listening to albums on cassette), I think. I was listening to a lot of the big Pop artists of the day like Madonna and Michael Jackson, but I was also being introduced to stuff from my parents’ record collection: classics from The Beatles, The Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, and Billy Joel.
IN THIS PHOTO: Billy Joel in 1983
I was a massive fan of T. Rex at that age, and I was also discovering to a lot of eclectic music – from early Beach Boys stuff to Freddie Mercury, all the way to The Tremeloes, Del Shannon, The Righteous Brothers, and Johnny Tillotson. It was amazing to discover all this contemporary and older music! I think, when we are younger, we are far less discerning; our imaginations are more receptive to a variety of sounds. I am not sure whether it was me or my parents putting together mixtapes, but having all these great artists together was not only important when it came to discovering the full breadth and beauty of music, but it was a great social tool. My friends and I would swap tapes and bond over our favourite tracks from the cassettes. From Kate Bush to Carole King, seeds were being planted that would bloom years later – in the sense that I would pursue a much deeper love of music when I was an adult. High school was a tough time but, when I think of the happy memories, I recall all the great music of the 1990s that I was drinking in. I started high school in 1994, and I was immersed in all the Britpop music…but there was so much great Pop around that was so uplifting and wonderful. Although Smash Mouth’s Walkin’ on the Sun, and the Spice Girls’ Spice Up Your Life are songs that sound-tracked harsher and more upsetting memories from high school, I listen to these songs now and so many memories flood back from before and after that time (that are happier).
It is the way music can open up memories that were stored away that stuns me. I have remarked before but, most of the time, I cannot vividly remember my earliest years and what happened with bringing music to mind as an aid. I think music is the big reason why I can retrieve memories at all! From these humble and vital mixtapes that I had when I was very young, through to the eye-opening wonders of the 1990s, I have been listening back to many of these songs that I fell for as a child. I have also said before, but Now That's What I Call Music! 24 of 1993 was the first album I bought (on double cassette, I think); Graceland by Paul Simon holds very special memories; I have especially precious memories of family holidays, simply because of the music that was played when I was there or on the car drive to and from the airport – from Kylie Minogue to Charles & Eddie, through to Shakespears Sister, and Deee-Lite. Maybe some of the Pop I listened to when I was very young (such as Betty Boo) has not aged all that well (though I still love it!), but it means a great deal to me – and, at this tough point of life, it is helping me greatly. Whether it is recalling why Red Alert by Basement Jaxx, and Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer were bittersweet in my last year of high school; how important the Dance and Electronic music of 2000/2001 was regarding fitting in when at sixth form college, and who introduced me to The White Stripes when I started university…all of these songs/artists are hold a very special place in my mind (even though I have said the playlists contain songs from my childhood, I am squeezing in a few tracks from my sixth form college and university days - so, technically, they are also about young adulthood).
IN THIS PHOTO: Belinda Carlisle
Things will get better this year but, as we are all looking to keep going and finding something positive, I am revisiting songs from my earlier life. If it is big Pop songs by Belinda Carlisle and Lisa Stansfield, or some classic Beastie Boys or some Deacon Blue, all of this music has really resonated. I think that we all have our bank of musical memories that could find their way onto a huge mixtape. It is lucky we have streaming services now, as I would spend hours and endless cassettes putting together all my favourite songs – whereas I can fit everything in on one digital playlist! I would encourage everyone else to think about the songs they have been coming back to – whether they are from your childhood or from only a few years back - and compile your own digital mixtape/playlist. I am going to keep hold of the one I have put together, as I can generate so many happy memories and emotions from listening to the songs. I think nostalgia is not a bad thing now as we all know better days are ahead, but I think we can find the determination to look ahead by thinking back to our brighter days and childhood years. The music from that time is so transformative and important to all of us! I am going to end with the tunes that I have been listening to a lot lately. They are not going to be chronological – in terms of when I first heard the tracks -, but the songs are very special to me. If you have a spare moment, mix some songs onto a playlist that hold a special place in your heart and get…
IN THIS PHOTO: Deacon Blue
A warm rush of needed and nice nostalgia.