You probably won't want to put quarters in my personal juke box

 I’m sort of a music whore. Take a spin through my iPod and you’ll soon notice that I’m far less choosy with tunes than I am with men. Which, I mean, at least it’s not the other way around, right? I have a few—very few—limitations when it comes to what I’ll listen to and honestly, a lot of times they’re more related to the artist as a person than to the music they produce. For instance, I hate U2 because I think Bono has a God complex the size of Mt. Everest and often thinks he is the Savior of Humanity and, hello? we all know that position has been filled by Oprah. I mean, duh.

The first song I remember learning all of the words to, outside of nursery rhymes and Wee Sing tapes, was “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks. I was in kindergarten, riding the bus to my grandma’s after school when the bus driver’s daughter taught me the words. Is this one of those you might be a redneck if instances? Possibly. I had no idea what I was singing and I thought it talked about a bear chasing people. I ended up with the cassette tape somehow and would lay on the floor on my stomach in the living room, listening to my tiny purple boombox for hours.

I’ve got binder of CDs and my car is filled with the newest ones, but pre-high school I tended to lose a lot of my tapes or CDs. In honor of last night’s Grammys, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite lost music, in whatever format, in no particular order.

1) Bryan White by Bryan White – I’m not sure what happened to Bryan White, but in this album he is country. I don’t follow his career at all now, but back in the day I could still sing along to almost all of the songs on this album. Most of these songs don’t even show up on a quick YouTube search and that makes me sad.

2) B*witched by B*witched – Apparently I really like self-titled debut albums. And as much as those Irishmen in U2 annoy me, these Irish girls are awesome. Awesome in a jumping on your bed with a hair brush as a microphone sort of way. They were for sure riding on the Girl Power wave created by the Spice Girls (which makes this the 2^nd time in one month that I’ve referenced the Spice Girls on this blog) and the music was fun and bouncy. I pulled some of their songs up on YouTube for my friends last year and they had no clue who I was talking about. Guess they missed out on fabulous songs like this. Also, the dude’s outfit in that video is awesome.

3) Pieces of You by Jewel – Yet another debut album and another one I spent hours earnestly singing along to. And you know what, Jewel? I’m sensitive, too. Jewel’s more recent stuff is just eh, but I was enamored laying on the floor with the liner notes from this CD.

4) Middle of Nowhere by Hanson – I am not ashamed to admit to loving Hanson. In the same way I hate the stupid curly-headed Jonas Brothers, I love Hanson. Sure, they sounded like girls and that one was only like 6 years old but they made some damn good music. I introduced one of my college roommates to one of their lesser known songs one day and it ended up on every CD she burned for the next few months. (Seriously, check out that video, it’s creepy weird.) And this was just last year, proof that Hanson has staying power. Or that my friends have similarly crappy taste in music. Also, all of those Hanson boys are now married with many children. And I live with my parents.

5) Firecracker by Lisa Loeb – The first non-debut CD on the list, I still remember the soft pretty pink of this CD. I remember my copy had my name written on it, evidence that I once donated my music to be used at our middle school Valentine’s Day Dance. Lisa Loeb is cool, despite that horrible reality TV show she had to help her find a man. I’ll forgive her for that. I may have lost this CD but I downloaded some of the songs awhile back and they’re still on my iPod.

6) Enema of the State by blink-182 – I held on to this CD, and this one for a long time before they were stolen from my binder of CDs. In my opinion, everything blink-182 puts out demands respect and attention. They’re no B*witched but I’m beyond thrilled they’ve announced their reunion. These are almost the only CDs from my high school years that I’ve lost and they’re really the only ones I want back.

So, what have we learned? I have crappy taste in music but sentimentality makes even the worst song enjoyable. I lose shit. That’s about all.

Comments

[abdpbt]

I like a lot of different kinds of music, too. Many of them don't "match," but that's kind of what makes it fun.

Of course, I do like U2, though I agree that Bono has a God complex!

[emily]

haha! i hate Bono too! finally, nice to see someone else in the world hasn't fallen for that crap also. awesome.

[Maddie]

Yesss!!!! B*witched. I thought I was alone on my love for that=)

[Candice]

I still listen to Hanson...

[Bekah]

I listened to the Hanson song. Even though I was TOTALLY into Hanson back in the day and I'm pretty sure I liked this particular song quite a lot today it made me want to punch babies.

[Lynn]

Gods, B*Witched. I LOVED them! Even made a B*Witched fansite sometime in 1999, 2000 :D