Music I loved in my 20s

Music can define a time, an event and a person as a whole.  A song can bring me out of a funk and make me dance like the white girl I am.  It helps me think.  It helps me relax. It helps me just be.

There are artists/groups that I discovered or rediscovered throughout my 20s and they will always take me back to that decade.

• Kate Nash (Stumbled upon her and fell in love with album “Made of Bricks”)
• Hush Sound (My Buddy Josh Cockerham introduced them to me.  I tagged along with him and his wife to my first Hush Sound Concert.)
• Foo Fighters (I love David Grohl, but their album “Wasting Light” helped me through rehab.)
• Adele (Her album “21” also got me through rehab.)
• Def Leppard (Brandy and I saw them in concert 5 times.  Yes, FIVE!)
• Ignorant Sluts, Latch Hook Robot, Angries (Bands that makeup the Punk Rock scene in Corvallis.)
• LavaCola (Joel and Tim of Walter Ego joined bassist Rob to form this awesome band.  It filled the void after  Walter Ego broke up.)
• Nora Jones ("Her voice sounds like Christmas.")
• Ingrid Michaelson (She has a very unique sound and I love every song I've hear by her.)
• Dr. Meat (Hardcore death metal isn’t my favorite, but they played Peach’s in Yellow Springs a lot.)
• Essex Juncto (They were a band of guys at Miami U.  I first saw them at Pachinko’s in Oxford.)
• Yael Naim (I heard her song “New Soul” on an Apple commercial and fell in love.)
• Kingston Trio (They make me think of Monroe and that’s not a bad thing.)
• They Might Be Giants (They continue to be my favorite band and I saw them quite a few times this decade.)

There are specific songs that remind me of different times or events in my 20s.

• Wind Beneath My Wings, by Bette Midler (Ellen and I will call each other and sing this song whenever we catch it on the radio.)
• When Daddy Let Me Drive, by Alan Jackson (Jeff and I have been known to drop a few quarters in a jukebox to hear this song that reminds of us our father. Our daddy let us drive.)
• Kung Fu Fighting, by Carl Douglas (When my mom was sick she was hopped up on some crazy pain meds.  This song came on during a commercial on the TV we were watching in the ER.  She sang along and it was pretty funny.  I shouldn’t laugh, but if you saw it, you would giggle too.  She was able to laugh at herself.)
• I Can Only Imagine, by Mercy Me (Tyler Evick sang this at my mother's funeral. Before she was even sick she told me she wanted him to sing.)
• Since U Been Gone, by Kelly Clarkson (This was the first ringtone I had that was an actual song.  Yes kids, I predate that technology.  I also didn’t stray away from those nokia phones until ‘05.)
• Love is a Battlefield, by Pat Benatar (Nobody can karaoke better to this song than Funky.)  
• The Sign, by Ace of Base (So awful, I'm not going to put a YouTube video up. I hate this song and group so freaking much and my jerk friends know this so they play it all the time to piss me off.  LavaCola even covered that stupid song.  Thanks guys.)
• Nobody, by Sylvia (One of Brandy’s karaoke songs.  I make her sing it every time I’m with her when she sings.)
• Pour Some Sugar on Me, by Def Leppard (I will always remember the FIVE Def Leppard Concerts Brandy and I attended.)
•  Punk Rock Girl by the Dead Milkmen (Brandy and I like to dance to this song.)
• Loving You, by Mini Ripperton (I have sang this song to Danica since she was born.  She can sing it too. Just the cutesy riffing parts...not the sultry parts about making love. That's just wrong.)
• Paper Planes, by MIA (This song was played over and over and over by the DARC Men’s team.)  
• Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, by Reba McEntire (The lights did go out in Georgia when DARC invaded Savannah for the St Paddy’s Day Tournament.)
• Jump Around, by House of Pain (Reminds me of the Frenchie I dated.  So funny to hear this in a French accent. “I nevar eet zee peeg cause zee peeg eez a cop.”)  
• The Garden, by Mirah (I would watch So You Think You Can Dance at Chrissy’s every Wednesday and our dinner would consist of Block-O-Cheese, Jug-O-Pretzels and Box-O-Wine.  Courtney and Mark danced to that in season 4 choreographed by Sonya Tayeh who is amazing and I love everything she does.)
• Mercy, by Duffy (I fell in love with Twitch from Season 4.  Mia Michaels, who I also LOVE, choreographed my favorite piece ever with Twitch and Katee.  Twitch is so yummy.....)
• Lucky Stripe, by Walter Ego ("I'm Lucky 'cause I'm getting all my bad luck outta my way.")
• Wide Open Spaces, by The Dixie Chicks (I heard this song on my drive out to Oregon from Ohio and was in the middle of Wyoming when it came on the radio.  I cried a little.)
• West Coast, By Coconut Records (Any time I think about someone back in Ohio, this song runs through my head.)

Songs that remind me of love and heartache in my 20s

• New York City, They Might Be Giants - Everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty
• When You Say Nothing at All, Alison Krauss - It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart. Without saying a word you can light up the dark.
• Be Still, Kelly Clarkson - Far away from it all. You and me with no one else around. A brand new start. Is all we need, is all we need, to mend these hearts.
• Nicest Thing, Kate Nash - I wish you couldn't figure me out, but you'd always wanna know what I was about.
• Why Try to Change Me Now, Fiona Apple (Cy Coleman) - You know I'll love you til the moon's upside down. Don't you remember I was always your clown? Why try to change me now?
• The Heart of the Matter, Indie Arie (Don Henley) - I've been learning to live without you now, but I miss you sometimes.
• Cold Cold Heart, Nora Jones (Frank Sinatra) - A memory from your lonesome past, keeps us so far apart. Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold cold heart.
• Funny Girl, Barbara Streisand - And though I may be all wrong for the guy, I'm good for a laugh.

If you couldn't tell by the pics, I did make the Lucky Stripe video myself...I kind of just threw it together, but wanted people who weren't lucky enough to have ever heard the wonder that is Walter Ego to be able to do so. The song is very uplifting because because I'd like to think I've gotten all of the bad luck out of my way. The pictures feature friends of the band doing random things, mostly flip cup games. It has the potential to be really awesome because it shows a group of people that were really close at one time. Band members, if you see it and hate it....I'm planning on redoing it when I have more time with better pictures and timing. If you don't want it out there at all...I completely understand and I'll take it down. Just let me know. I probably should have asked first, but you guys know I don't really plan things well. I love you long time.