The Songs that Shaped Me

You can learn a lot about a person from the music that resonates with them, so I thought for my first ever blog post it would be fun to introduce myself through the songs that have made me who I am.

Where applicable, you will find the link to the album/film you can check out from the library to experience these songs yourself. Happy listening!

ATWA - System of a Down

Starting off the list strong with a song I’ve listened to practically every day for almost a decade. Sounds far-fetched? I’ve been using it as my alarm ringtone since 2015! The gentle opening of the song makes for a not-so-jarring awakening, and at this point I don’t think I’ll ever be able to change it since my brain is so used to associating it with being time to wake up.

I think this is a good introductory song if you want to try out listening to System of a Down. They have some really off the wall songs, and this is one of their more approachable. A bit ironic, considering the title is a reference to Charles Manson (yes, that Charles Manson), but if you can get past that you’ll be set up well to digest the rest of their music. Although the band as a whole has a lot of lyrics that are up to interpretation or just straight up sound like nonsense, there are a lot of things they are very clear about, like their anti-war sentiments, their denouncing of genocide, their constant questioning of why we turn deaf ears to the suffering of others. If you can reconcile some of the wackiness and like to figure out the deeper meaning of songs, along with listening to some incredibly solid music with two talented singers, then System of a Down may be the band for you.

Aerials - System of a Down

I intend to keep this list to one song per artist, but I had to cheat a little here. System of a Down is my absolute favorite band, and it wouldn’t be right not to mention the song that put them on my radar. I stumbled upon this song by complete accident while looking for YouTube videos about a video game I like, and it was probably the best thing I’ve ever found unintentionally. I was hooked immediately. There was a period of time where the only music we would ever listen to in the car was the Toxicity album (luckily the other members of my family didn’t mind too much!) After this summer I will have seen the band perform live on the East Coast twice, which is more of a feat than it sounds considering they have been broken up since 2006, and most of their US shows end up on the West coast.

Find the Toxicity album (which features both songs above) in the library catalog here

Also worth mentioning as a shameless plug for my favorite group- their lead singer Serj Tankian authored a memoir which is also available at the library. I had preordered it when it first came out and read it immediately, and I was hooked on every word. You may think metal band frontmen aren’t necessarily the target audience for insightful books, but Tankian’s thoughtfulness and emotional maturity make for an incredibly compelling read. Those interested in history will also get a lot out of this book, as he spends ample time telling the story of his ancestors in Armenia who were directly impacted by the Armenian Genocide, and how the generational trauma shapes the music he writes.

Find Down with the System: A Memoir (Of Sorts) in the library catalog here

Never Let You Go - Third Eye Blind

This is my ultimate “feels like summer” song. For whatever reason, I always envision it playing from a tinny speaker at the boardwalk, or being in a summer vacation montage scene in a movie. I tend to rotate my Spotify playlists every quarter, so I always make sure this one ends up there in the summer months.

With the summery sound and the lyrics, I always imagined this song being about a summer fling, probably one happening in-between grades in high school, or maybe the summer before college. The constant insistence on the singer never letting a girl go while also knowing it’s wrong and requires shutting out her mother, sounds like he’s in one of those “doomed romance” stories. It’s never said why the couple broke up in the first place, but it sounds like maybe they were headed in two different directions with life, and now that they’re older they still aren’t right for each other, but the singer never quite got over the girl he loved. I think we can all relate to trying to get the outcome we want out of a story that ended with an unsatisfying conclusion.

Find the self-titled album in the library catalog here

Roxanne - The Police

Confession: I was young when I first heard this song and didn’t know that Roxanne was a name, so I thought they were saying “rock sand” the whole time. I don’t know, maybe they were really into the beach or something? Or a thinly-veiled advertisement for a garden store?

The Very Best of Sting & The Police was quite possibly the most played album in my house while I was in elementary school, so I have heard this and other classics like “Message in a Bottle”, “Can’t Stand Losing You”, and “Every Breath You Take” many times. Even though many of The Police’s songs can get repetitive with hearing the same line over and over for what feels like five minutes, I can’t deny that I enjoy their sound and Sting’s distinctive voice. I think right now “Synchronicity II” is my favorite of their songs, but Roxanne will always give me a little chuckle as I think back to mishearing it all those times. In my defense, my sister also thought they were saying rock sand!

Find the self-titled album in the library catalog here

Sunrise, Sunset - Fiddler on the Roof

I had a few background roles in my high school’s production of Fiddler on the Roof, and I will always look back on that time fondly. I was going through some stuff, and being part of this story really helped me work through it. And the ensemble of “To Life” was quite possibly the most fun I’ve ever had as part of a theater performance.

If any of the songs really resonated with me on an emotional level, it was “Sunrise, Sunset”. Considering the song is the backdrop of a scene where two characters who really love each other are getting married, it’s a surprisingly subdued song. I didn’t really understand it until my own wedding day, when I found the song playing in my head the whole time. It’s a gentle acknowledgement that change is happening in front of us whether we see it or not, and that in that change there is hope for a bright future. It can feel scary, and sometimes we wish it was happening under better circumstances, but all we can do is move forward and learn.

Find the Fiddler on the Roof DVD in the library catalog here

Good Morning Baltimore - Hairspray

I LOVED the 2007 movie adaptation of Hairspray as a kid. My good friend had it on DVD, and she would always get a little annoyed at me because I asked her if we could watch it every single time we hung out. What can I say, I know what I like.

Hairspray has a ton of iconic songs. Who could forget “Mama I’m a Big Girl Now”, “Welcome to the 60s”, and “You Can’t Stop the Beat”? For the most part I’m picking “Good Morning Baltimore” since it’s the very first scene in the movie so I’ve heard it the most, but also because it holds up really well. Who can’t at some point in their life relate to feeling like the world is passing you by, knowing you’re being left out of things for reasons that have nothing to do with your moral character, just wanting to fit in with your peers? It is also is a really smart way to set up the later themes of the story, as much of the plot is informed by the pro-segregation attitudes present in 1960s Baltimore.

Find the Hairspray (2007) DVD in the library catalog here

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)- Dead or Alive & Surrender - Cheap Trick

These are my dad’s go-to karaoke songs, so I will always think of them fondly for that. When my sister and I were younger, he built a little stage in our basement and set up a few mic stands facing a screen, so we were always having little karaoke parties. Even though you wouldn’t think it by looking at him, my dad used to go around to karaoke bars on the weekends, so he is an experienced showman when it comes to that.

Find the Cheap Trick Greatest Hits album in the library catalog here

Nails for Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks - Panic! At the Disco

Panic! At the Disco was the first band I ever saw live (besides The Wiggles when I was little, as my mom reminds me). I went through a bit of a wannabe emo phase in high school (I mean, who didn’t?), so of course they were on my radar.

If you look at the lyrics, this song is actually pretty macabre. If there’s anything I learned from putting together this list- if a song is catchy enough, I can and probably will ignore most of the more depressing themes. It sounds so upbeat, but the subject of the song is someone suffering in a hospice setting who has to take a bunch of medication, and then more medication on top of that to offset the side effects. I suppose there is a reason that (at least for their first few albums) Panic! was one of the top bands associated with emo.

The library does not have the album this song is featured on, but you can find other Panic! At the Disco albums in the library catalog here

With Arms Wide Open - Creed

While I’m not much of a Creed fan now, I can admit to having listened to this song and the album it comes from many times. My mom says she listened to this song a lot while she was pregnant, and looking at the lyrics it’s easy to see why. The song is the story of a man who just found out he’s going to be a father, and is committing to showing his new child love and teaching them to embrace life with arms wide open. I can’t think of a better song for a new parent to listen to.

Find the Human Clay album in the library catalog here

Schism - Tool

I’ve been in a bit of a Tool phase lately. The songs I like the most tend to be ones with interesting vocals and pronounced bass lines, and this song has both of these. The punchy intonation of the lyrics really scratches an itch in my brain, and not only that, the content of the lyrics is really interesting as well. The song is, on its most basic level, a plea from one person to another to talk things out and figure out what made them work in the first place. Almost all the verses end with a reference to communication, being “testing our communication”, “crippling our communication”, “rediscover communication”, and “doomed to crumble unless we grow and strengthen our communication”. It doesn’t get more on the nose in that sense than a song where the whole bridge is “Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion”. Even though the song has references to lovers, this feeling of desperately wanting to improve communication can be felt by anyone who has been in any kind of relationship- family, friend, romantic, or otherwise.

If you’re into music theory, this song is fascinating on that level as well. By some accounts, the time signature of the song changes 47 times throughout. 47! For those not so familiar with music - time signatures determine how you count out a measure. The standard time signature is 4/4, with a measure being counted as a simple 1, 2, 3, 4. Each time signature has its own cadence for how it’s counted, for example you might throw some “ands” in there and count it as 1, and 2, and 3, and 4, and. You also don’t always count to four, sometimes you only go to three and sometimes you go past four. So to play this song, the band constantly had to switch the cadence with which they were counting the notes to make sure everyone matched up. With the time signature switching that many times, one incorrectly counted measure making you lose your focus could throw you off for the whole song. I give a ton of credit to anyone who performs this live!

Find the Lateralus album in the library catalog here

I Can’t Handle Change - Roar

I’ve had a few people tell me that this song makes them feel depressed, and I can totally see why. There is absolutely nothing positive about the lyrics at all, especially when a decent chunk of the song is just “Nothing I do is ever good; Nothing I do is ever good enough”.

I think it’s the instrumental track that really sells it as a song that somehow instills a bit of hope in me. It has very bittersweet-song-you-hear-in-the-end-credits-of-a-movie-where-not-everything-turned-out-okay vibes, almost nostalgic sounding. As someone who used to have a very negative self-image and think nothing I did was good enough, it feels comforting in a way to hear those words I used to say while knowing I don’t think they are true anymore. And the title is the same way - I tend to be very resistant to change, but I know I can handle it because things have been changing my whole life. If I couldn’t handle change, wouldn’t I not be here anymore? This song to me is a reminder that what once was, no longer is, and while in the moment it seemed like the world would move on without me, I am still here.

Find the recording for “I Can’t Handle Change” here

 - Anthony, Information Technology