I was sitting in my drawing class and I decided to put on the album “M!ssundaztood” by P!nk (which is a vibe by the way). This was based purely on a whim after I had seen a Tiktok starring P!nk and it unlocked a memory — me in the car on the way to school years ago vibing to her music — this album in particular — with my dad.
This unlocked memory took me down a path of remembering.
My childhood house in Colorado is almost an hour away from civilization, so my morning commute to school was a long one that was often filled with music. These were moments with my dad that I will treasure forever. It was often just me and him in the car.
My morning commute consisted of driving to the nearest town 30 minutes from home, then being picked up by the bus which took me the rest of the way to school. This lent itself very well to listening to copious amounts of music.
The genre in the car often varied and led to my musical taste being what it is today. From Black Sabbath and AC/DC to P!nk and the “Shrek 2” soundtrack, our car vibes were all over the place.
What I’m saying with all this is just take the time to listen to old music that used to bring you joy. I’ve found myself back in my dad’s silver Toyota Tacoma singing along to “War Pigs” long before I understood what the lyrics meant.
I rekindled my appreciation for Black Sabbath recently after my bluetooth connector in my car died. I was then left with a few options: sit in silence while I drive (no thanks, I don’t want to hear my thoughts), listen to the radio (I can’t focus on one channel long enough for it to be meaningful) or to turn to the collection of CD’s I had in my car. As I flipped through my CD options, I saw “Paranoid,” Black Sabbath’s second studio album and one of my more “hardcore” listens as an elementary schooler.
These two random events — a Tiktok about P!nk and the untimely death of my bluetooth car speaker — led to me rekindling my love for the music of my childhood. It happens all the time when I see a photo and I’m brought back to a moment in time, or when a certain scent or meal will unlock a hidden memory.
I deeply value the feeling of nostalgia and take time often to appreciate it when I feel it. I think that everyone, as they go through their mundane lives, should “stop and smell the flowers” or at least listen to a song they enjoyed as a kid.
Wilder Isom is the Sports Editor at The Beacon. She can be reached at isomw24@up.edu.
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