iPod brings back music memories

The other day when I was driving home I had my iPod playing on random and "Boys Don't Cry" by the Cure came on. It's one of the songs I can't listen to without singing along. I hadn't heard it in a while, but it's one of those songs I love from when my junior high years. Of course, the CD came out in 1980 when I was only two. The "Wish" abum, however, came out in 1992 when I was in junior. My friends and I fell in love with the Cure while watching the "Friday I'm in Love" video on MTV.

Back in the day before iPods, YouTube and MySpace music sites, I'd head up to Streelight Records in Campbell in search of all the CDs of my favorite artists, including a dozen Cure cds that are stored in a binder in the garage. Streetlight was awesome because they sold used CDs for super cheap, and often had hard-to-find albums such as the Passengers, a experimental album U2 released under a psuedonym. I sometimes miss the click-clack of searching through used CDs for a find instead of listening to 30 second clips through iTunes.

I used to think of my road trips to and from Los Angeles while I was in graduate school and college as a five-to-six CD drive. I got really good at changing CDs with one hand and not taking my eyes off the road - at least not for very long. I always had at least 30 CDs in the car for variety.

But when my sister gave me an iPod mini in sherbert green for Christmas one year, the way I listen to music changed forever. I'm now on my third iPod, again a gift from my sister, and I love the option to create playlists even though mine probably only make sense to me. I've got the pop/punk list, klamath man, rap/dance and nearly every U2 song ever recorded. But mostly I like the chance to play the songs on random so every once in a while I get surprised by an old favorite.

This morning it was songs from the Nirvana "Nevermind" album that came out when I was in junior high. The lyrics don't really make sense, and at the time it didn't matter to my friends and I. It just mattered that it was loud, and it was music our parents couldn't understand. The songs bring me instantly back to slumber parties with pizza and cheeseballs and headbanging late at night until our necks hurt the next morning. Only an iPod can collect that many musical memories at once.