Current Playlist

Music makes me happy. It makes me reminisce about the good times, the not so-good times, and makes me optimistic about what possibilities tomorrow can breed. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not really a pessimistic person. I really am not, I swear. Sure I don’t embrace the rose-tinted glasses as often as I should, but I try to remain upbeat and music makes that goal a little bit more attainable.

As told in prior entries, I grew up listening to whatever my father liked. He always listened to the oldies: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, The Bee Gees, Moody Blues, and Elton John. My mother’s taste of music left one huge dent : Juan Gabriel. I was so in love with him. I’d listen to his cassettes and sing my heart out. I’d imagine that he was crooning those words to me. Of course I had no idea what he was saying and didn’t have a clue that I would never be his type. What a cruel world it is…..anyways…my childhood was ruled by the 60s. There was a teeny, tiny period when the 70s captured my fascination. Donna Summers, KC and the Sunshine Band, ‘take me down to funky town’….come on, the dancing episodes were spectacular!

I’ve already spoken about my tejano habit back in the 90s, so I won’t dwell much on that. My early teenage years were driven by what La Mafia, La Fiebre, Los Palominos, and Selena’s lyrics dictated to me. I was cool, with my outlandish Jamaican inspired get-up (I vividly remember that particular outfit…it probably would’ve gotten me beat up in school if I wore it now), my huge Walkman attached to my hip, and those monstrous headphones that embraced my ears in a sweaty hug. There was none of those discreet ear pieces that I now own…nnnambre, I was happy with those giant ear muffs. As long as I had my musica, I was doing goooood. 

I used to own a shirt like this....you can imagine the comments I'd get

During my rebellious teen years, alternative rock was my thing. My fav store was Hot Topic and any article of clothing that had tons of chains, zippers, glitter, and the happy bunny were my staples. My rebellion was also spelled out on my backpack with safety pins and liquid paper writing on it. I had tiny pins that stated ‘you suck’, ‘bite me’, and some that declared my homage to various bands like Linkin Park, Matchbox 20, NIN, and my all time favorite group, Bush. I think Glycerine was the theme song to my teenage angst-ridden years. Gavin just seemed to understand my situation.

I belonged to that group of emo kids before it was considered cool. The only bad thing about my awesome attire was that I’d always get the chains on my pants hooked on the bus seats when I’d try to get down at the VMT (magnet school). People would also steal my pins which, although they were small, were freakin' expensive. Let me tell you, being a goth/punk kid wasn’t easy. Oh, and don’t forget the blue bangs. Yup, I was rockin' it.

My college years were filled with the classical stuff: Chopin, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven; I especially loved the piano sonatas. It wasn’t because I was a nerd (ok, I am, but that’s beside the point) but because I had read research that had found that studying while listening to classical music helped you retain information better. Well, it was either the music or my nerdy tendencies that helped me breeze through college. Also during that time period…it’s my deep, dark secret….I was a huge (BIG) reggaeton fan. Yes, it was kinda a 180 from the classics, it was what it was. I even managed to go to a couple of concerts headlining some of reggaeton’s heavy hitters: Don Omar, Daddy Yankee, Rakin y Ken-Y, and even Tito El Bambino for good measure. 

 Ah yes, my fling with reggaeton made me do some weird things. No, I ain’t referring to those weird things. I’d constantly venture to that club (rhymes with beers) cuz the atmosphere lent itself to reggaeton dancing. But that phase was just that, a phase, a fad, which eventually fizzled out. Now my taste in music has, somewhat, matured.

I’m not saying I have, or ever had, any taste in music, but I thoroughly enjoy what I listen to, obviously. One day I can cheerfully be listening to The Beatles, the next day The Cars , other weeks The Smiths, the following month Breaking Benjamin, and the next I’ll be tuned in to the 90s pop station on Pandora. Yes, my tastes are quite varied but there are two genres I won't touch: tejano and country. For some reason, I just can’t make myself listen to them. La Mafia and La Fiebre make me want to start drinking and country makes me want to cry from all the heartache.

I wanted to work on a top five all-time favorite song list but that would be extremely hard cuz there’s so much to choose from so I’m gonna list the top five songs that I currently have on repeat. So, in no particular order:

Gang of Four: Damaged Goods- To be honest, I’d never heard of them before but I ran into this song on YouTube and liked it.

Tonic: Mean to Me-A friend introduced me to this song. By the lyrics, I figured he was complaining about my being mean to him; but that’s his fault cuz he continues to stick around.

Erasure: A Little Respect- There’s a special place in my heart for their other popular song, Always, but for some odd reason this song was playing in my brain all last week. Don’t read too much into it…I guess I must’ve heard it somewhere.

Breaking Benjamin: Crawl-Sometimes I need to hear a little rock to make the day go by faster. The lyrics to this particular song also hit close to home.

The Smiths: Half A Person- There are a whole bunch of songs I could list here but this one is the one I’ve been playing often this week. My love affair with The Smiths is a fairly new thing. I gotta give it up to Pandora’s The Cure station, otherwise I’d never know of them.

There ya go, these are the canciones that make me smile.