Well, John from CenterS gave me an assignment.
Since he actually read some of my blog posts and took notes (!!), I thought I’d work on this.

My assignment was to come up with ten songs that influenced or are important to me.

In thinking, I’ve come up with a lot of honorable mentions but it’s difficult to say that’s “important.” But I’m going to give it a shot…. and then clean the bathroom because I didn’t get around to it last weekend.

In no particular order and probably some honorable mentions:


EDIT

———- Can’t believe I almost forgot.
One more…. “I got you babe.”
— Sonny and Cher. When Jason and I first met, it seems like this song was playing everywhere all the time. I thought that, if we married, this would be the song we would first dance to.

EDIT


1 –
Hollaback Girl
—- I don’t know anything about the artist or the song. But one of the lyrics is “This shit is bananas.”
— Jason and I were taking college classes at the same time and this song played a lot. And, yes, taking accelerated online classes is b-a-n-a-n-as. I think it became our mantra for a while.

2.
Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together.
— Again, don’t know the artist but he was introduced to me by Byron. When Byron elected to become unalive, this song played constantly in my head for probably a couple of years.

3.
Bitch
— I think I saw Meridith Brooks a couple of times with the little sister when we went to the Lillith Fair. Don’t quote me on that but this song was my personal anthem for a lot of years. Anytime I was in a car… cleaning the house… just whatever… this was playing. I knew the lyrics by heart. I couldn’t be defined (and probably <hopefully> still can’t. I can be anything at any time. It satisfies the Gemini in me.

4.
Bloodletting
— I used to listen to a lot of Concrete Blonde. When this song came out, I was heavily into freelance writing and fascinated by the vampire/wiccan/independent vibe. This is just a song I couldn’t get enough of.

5.
The entire soundtracks of Everquest and Everquest 2.
— The people I met while playing that game were more real and important to me more than anyone outside of family. I shamelessly invested time and energy into that game. This is also were Jason and I started to vibe. Although the game is all but defunct, she’s still around and it will always remain important. Although I never really knew the people I met in real life, they’ll always be young, alive, vibrant, and bold in my mind.

6.
They’re Coming To Take Me Away – Ha Ha
— Dr. Demento introduced a lot of novel songs and I tried to never miss an episode. This is back when cassette players were a thing and I tried to record what I could.

“They’re Coming” stands out as, when I was in middle school and early high school, I was in therapy and (I think) that they wanted to remove me from my home to be institutionalized for a while. Even back then, I guess I wasn’t doing so great.

Funny thing… I’ve been institutionalized via psyche ward at Methodist and at the House. I was partly (intensive inpatient) with the Charis Center. Maybe this song was foreshadowing my adult life.

7.
Mummer’s Dance
– Loreena McKennitt doesn’t nearly get enough attention. This song is simply beautiful and a bit hypnotic. It was on my playlist a lot in high school and early college.

8.
A Death in the Family
Type O Negative was a band that was introduced to me while living in Chicago. I was a house parent for MooseHeart and ran around on my days off with Darlene – a marijuana smoking vegan who collected hearses. She also published the NEVC, which was a small time zine that I wrote articles for and edited.

It was a different type of time in Chicago and I actually felt fairly independent. Almost like an adult.

9.
Always Look On the Bright Side of Life.
Despite the title, this sing encapsulates life and death. It’s an honest song that, despite life being a piece of sh*t, it doesn’t really matter. We’re all born, life, and die. What matters is how we go about that lifetime. It’s also very telling that this comes from a comedy group – Monty Python.

10.
99
This last one was difficult. I wasn’t sure what to put but wanted to reach back to how I was addicted to Japanese animation. Mob Psycho 100 seems to fit that.

Honorable mentions:
– Pocket Full of Sunshine
Natasha Bedingfield.
——– This song reminds me of when I was obsessed with SIMS 2.

• Hold On
  This helped me get through some difficult times with Dad. It was better than just caving in although I see it as kind of a defeatist song now. Don’t take action, just “hold on.” What does that get you? Not much.

• Joey
  Concrete Blonde again. I adore songs that tell a story.

• Little Brown Jug
  When I was in band in middle school, we got to play this song. I always thought it was a bit sassy. =)

• Jam On It
  Newcleus – This is another fun song. It’s just something that I latched on to as was distracting and has a catchy beat.

• The entire Jagged Little Pill album.

• Summer Breeze
  – Type O Negative.

• Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone who Cares)
  Travis Tritt
  
• Boy Named Sue
  Johnny Cash

• I Think We’re Alone Now
  Tiffany

• Katamari soundtrack
  This is a series of games where you create mass destruction for an inattentive father.

• Real Emotion
  FF – X2 This has to be the best part of the game. The song, not the game.

• I’ll Do Anything For Love
  Meatloaf

• I’m Going to Be (500 miles)
  Proclaimers

• Triangle Man

• Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
  They Might be Giants.

• Bring Me to Life
  Evanscence

• It’s not Easy Being Green
  Kermit the Frog

• Oh Death
  Jen Titus

• Gee, I’m Glad it’s Raining
  Jim Varney
  
• We All Come from the Goddess
  Lindie Lila

———- Well, I’m sure there’s more but I completed my assignment. If I want to do anything else today, I need to get to it.