[CaptainCrunch]

I know we have multiple threads on music. What are you listening to now, Music of 2019. But I wanted to not neccessarily bring back the list thing that I did a while a go. But I was thinking about musical memories today over beers with some friends.


Music is so different in that it attaches itself to our emotional cores and attaches itself to our memories. It creates our own internal sound track.


There are songs that we attach to sadness, joy, manic energy, anger. Music makes us laugh, cry it makes us horny or sympathetic, its different then any other form of media out there. We don't associate books or movies or TV shows in the same way. But when we hear a song it brings up memory. The song that played during our first kiss, or our first punch in the face in the bar. The first time we drove. That first night with a significant other.



So we were talking about songs that bring smiles to our face whenever we hear it. I'm not really looking for the memories that are attached to them, but these are the songs that whenever I hear them, I smile


1) Sass Jordan - So Hard





First of all, this song to me is just so much fun that when I hear it I crack a smile. From the simple manic fun guitar work, to Sass' smile coming through the speakers. It comes across as the song that you want to hear at 1 am in a bar when you're with a fun date who just wants to dance fast and crazy.


2) Bon Jovi - Its my life





For a lot of the same reason as above, except it adds in that call of defiance that just hits you in the center of your being when your young. From the waa waa sound effects to the simple music and loud drum beat. I smile and my energy goes up every time I hear this, when I'm driving the Km's just seem to go faster and the speedometer rises.


3) Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark





Lets face it, Bruce Springsteen music can be dour and emotional, but when he springs a party song it shows that at the heart of it all, he and the E Street Band can jam with anyone. Everyone that was in high School remembers this song. Everyone who went to a Springsteen concert loved this song in the encore and I remember Bruce pulling a really tiny girl out of the audience in Vancouver and dancing with her and her smile lit up the place.



4) Jane Wiedlin - Rush Hour





Ok, you're thinking. But Captain, this song is too poppy even for you. But I dare you to go on a long road trip and play this song loud and not start bobbing your head and drumming the steering wheel. In music 101 this song is so full of hooks that no fish gets out alive. Jane's voice is so full of innocence in this song and you can hear her smile through the speakers


5) George Thorogood - Who do you love





I saw these guys in concert in Dallas at the famous Dallas Alley Boiler room and when this song came on the girl I was with started jumping up and down and dancing along and I remember seeing that sparkle in her eye, its a great memory. Of course afterwards we saw a murder in the streets. But I love this song, its just the ultimate bar band song and you wait for that guitar slide in the course. This song makes you want to move.


6) Motley Crue - Kick Start my heart.





Again another song that I associate with long drives and live concert. The lyrics are pretty much nonsense and it follows the old rule of 80's metal, faster and more intense. Now when I hear it, I feel my heart race a bit. One of the first concerts that I saw in Dallas with all of my friends. We started at the bar at 6, carried through the concert and two days afterwords and I remember sitting at a Denny's at 3 in the morning on Monday after partying the whole weekend, knowing that the hangover of hangovers was coming and not caring.


7) Bon Jovi - Lay your hands on me





I remember Bon Jovi opening their concert in Calgary with this tune and the into in the above video and it was amazing. I love this song because it just instantly turns my spirits. Its a great party song and I remember a lot of parties in the summer where when this song came on every shouted "Turn it up"


8) ACDC Thunder struck





This song is still on my workout play list. I associate this one with my final year of playing football because we'd play it super loud in the dressing room and the coach was always respectful of not telling us to turn it off and listed to his speech until the last bars played. This song dumps a quart of adrenaline in my system whenever I hear it and I feel like I can do anything when I hear it.


9) Van Helen Jump





Everytime I hear the start and Roth's primal screen at the start I can't help it, I smile. I remember loving this song in the bar and it got everyone stirred up. Realistically this song has attached it to so many memories that hearing it is like opening a photo album of good memories for me. I remember one of the rare goals I scored in organized hockey that to me was an amazing goal. I remember winning my first city championship as a football coach because this played in my car on the way home. I remember this song playing at my high school after grad and I remember all of my friends and classmates sitting around a fire, not knowing that this was the last time we'd probably see a lot of us until the 10 year reunion, but not caring because we were in the now. I remember going with my dad on a summer road trip for his job when I was a teenager and him telling me to turn that crap down.


10) Ritchie Valens - La Bamba





Such a great summer time song. Everything just works and this is a song that gets me out of my chair when I was in school. Its a song that you also can sit back and listen to while drinking cool beers on a hot day.



So what song's bring a smile to your face, change your mood or bring back memories that you cherish?