Let me get one thing clear, straight off the bat - I am terrible at remembering most of the things, most of the time. The reason? Well, mindless reel scrolling is the usual suspect. But post-pandemic laziness has its fair share too. You know what, letās blame the pandemic for my memory fatigue for now.
But there are certain ācoreā moments - Mood Indigoā18, Nightouts and countless hours passing like minutes in the music room that I actually do remember very well. And I remember all these things so vividly not only because some of them have shaped me emotionally, but because there was music in the background, foreground or surrounding.
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But why are memories and music so interlinked? Why does some music feel like summer 2017 or third semester midsems? How is it that songs I used to dislike hit different now?
If I had to boil down why music is important to me other than the obvious reasons, it would probably be due to the fact that it creates a moment in time that I can be transported back to. A time machine of sorts, if you will. I want to talk about why that's so cool and why it can be dangerous, but mostly why it's cool.
I used to think Eminem was so annoying and overplayed, but now I kind of listen to his songs on loop. On the other hand, songs that I used to love are like 10 times better now. I used to think that āA sky full of starsā by Coldplay was good, but now it's like I'm transcending into another pocket dimension in time. Controversially, I'd argue that music is only as good as the memories that are attached to it. I think memories can have as much to do with your enjoyment of the song as the actual quality of it. Like it can be good on its own but the memories attached to it can make the music a hundred times better. It can make supposedly ābadā music āgoodā - if you know what I mean.
Most people like me think that the music that they grew up with sounds better than the music that's out today. But lo-fi obsessed kids today love it and they're going to grow up and think the same thing about their kidsā new music. Then there are people of the firm opinion that the music of the past was waaay better and everything that's come out since they were born is pure shit. That's how you get people that claim that they were born in the wrong generation. I kind of get where they are coming from though. Music from the past can make you feel nostalgic for times you weren't even alive yet. Music is processed and stored in our brains like nothing else - it activates parts of the brain more than any other stimulant . How do I know this for sure? I do not, not in the least. But why do you think the first thing they teach us are alphabets and that too through a damn catchy song. Youāre singing it right now arenāt you?
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Why do we feel nostalgic for summers that were like just three or four years ago the way everybody on Instagram talks about summer 2016. You'd almost think that a life-changing global event happened then, but it was just a lot of good music that came out. Also PokĆ©mon Go and Harambe were topping the charts. But yeah, mostly good music. Or maybe thatās just me, since I finally started listening to good music that year.
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I have these playlists that I make every time I go somewhere, where I add songs that people introduced me to. Songs that I canāt go back to because itās like I'm back there. I see certain songs on there and I'm like oh yeah that's the song that was playing in Spotify when I was in Laxmi Dhaba. There are songs I listen to in the living room and there are songs specifically for the bed. Similarly, songs for winters, summers and monsoon. Well it does rain here quite a lot, so I end up listening to the monsoon songs on repeat.
There are songs where I can close my eyes and actually be there. Memories I completely forgot even existed are coming back because of the music playing. And this where I believe it can be dangerous. You may not always want to go back to that place and time, when you first heard the song. People like me get stuck in the past and refuse to make new memories with new music. I have been trying to get past that phase, that initial resistance of trying new music, And the pandemic- influenced isolation from everyone has helped a lot.
This little writing outburst is a courtesy of Nathan Zedās video on the power of nostalgic music. Iāll end this with the hope of getting acquainted with new music from newer artists this year (Yes, I deal with FYs now) and a link to this playlist that I discovered a while back.
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Adios amigo, powering off.
