My early teens were spent listening to the Bee Gees, Chic and Dr. Hook, wearing gold skin-tight satin pants with incredibly high heels attempting to mimic Olivia Newton-John. It was a carefree and fun time.
My family pretty much fell victim to all sorts of dysfunction and alcoholism run rampant during my mid-teens and my musical taste went right along with it. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin blared through my days of anger, disappointment and gave me a shield of the horrid day-to-day realities. This was also the time I got my first tattoo. Rebellion to the max!
When I met the love of my life, he introduced me to classical music and Ravel's Bolero will forever remain in my memory as the song to make love to.
During the 80s (and after my first and second divorce) I wasn't really certain who I was, who or what I wanted to be; consequently, my music choices ran the gamut from Duran Duran, Aha and Eddie Money all the way to Toto, Kansas and America. I never bought entire albums, it was one song from each artist that spoke to me and that's what I stuck with. Still do today.
In the 90s I discovered jazz and R&B; George Benson, Najee, Grover Washington Jr. and Marvin Gaye. The soothing guitar rifts, caressing sax and gentle crooning calmed my frayed nerves and oft frazzled chaos that was my life.
As I survey my digital library of tunes, re-arranged to suit my every mood, I can at an instant transport to good times as well as bad. I sing along, most often out of tune, sometimes not (I can do a hell of a Marilyn Monroe. Ha!). I cry when the memory is painful, I get up and dance around my living room if the sun is shining and Huey Lewis tells me that "It's hip to be square". I can recall jumping up and down on my bed as a four-year-old when Evans & Evans lament about the year "2525". Elton John sang about Daniel on my way to the hospital to give birth to my first-born; that's the middle name he got as my first gift to him. I sang to my now last ex-husband that he would "never get my love" although En Vogue sang it much better.
Of course, the list of musical genres is endless, as are memories that shaped who I am today. I still cannot decide who I really am, maybe I should just leave it be and enjoy the variety.
