Mood Music

People often talk about mood music... but most of them mean jazz or Barry White... music to set a romantic tone for a meal or an evening with an 'other' of more or less significance.

But have you ever noticed that music often creates a mood or is chosen for a mood?

When D and I are off to play paintball, we often have what my mother lovingly refers to as "angry music" playing in the car on the way there... Industrial, Metal... loud, driving beats, heavy guitar lines. It gets the energy levels up and sharpens the attention levels.

Mighty Mighty Bosstones always evoke a 'summer' feeling for me. Doesn't matter what the weather's doing outside... it could be a blizzard... but MMB always makes me think of summer. Could be because the first time I saw them was one Canada Day... at Edgefest when Ontario Place was still home to the Forum.

Or the songs that resonate with events or timeframes in life. Kim Stockwood's "Jerk" got played a lot in the time following the break-up of my first engagement (an abusive relationship I was better off out of, but also proof that I had wasted 2+ years of time and energy on a hopeless cause)... and hearing it still takes me back to reminiscing about all the assholes I've had the misfortune to date.

Queen's "I'm Going Slightly Mad" was an off-beat favourite in high school and can still take me back to chats with friends sprawled across the hall on the top floor of the school where we had our lockers in... grade 11, if memory serves.

Yesterday I heard two of the songs that evoke powerfully painful emotional 'moods' in me. Back to back, thanks to the randomizer in my iPod... and oddly timed, considering recent discussions and tentative plans. "The Impression That I Get" by Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Queen's "Show Must Go On" . I've been through a lot of shit in life. I like to think that I'm a stronger person for it... that I've managed to learn something from most of it, either about myself, or that I can use to help someone else in some way. But these two songs always make me stop and think... the first because it makes me wonder "have the things I've fought through really been all that big? If I were faced with something bigger, would I be up for it?"... the latter because it makes me wonder why every time the world has shattered I've managed to pick up as many of the pieces as I can and move on. Is it just because 'the show must go on'? Have I really DEALT with any of it? Or have I just picked up the pieces without putting them back together?

There are other songs that provoke different responses. Songs that make me dance (it's a fight to sit still when one comes on)... songs that make me sing (ok, reality check, most of them do that *laugh*)... songs that make me smile... songs that make me think of specific people (there's an Eve 6 song that always made me think of D, and for the life of me I can't think why... or 'Wipeout' which always makes me think of Andrew who died when I was in grade 10... or "Forever Young" that always makes me think of Lisa, because she requested it and dedicated it to me and an ex she was trying to get me back together with mere hours before she died in a horrific traffic accident...)... and at least one that always makes me cry. Depeche Mode's "Precious" is just plain painful... evokes all the emotions of our miscarriages and the strain they put on us as individuals and as a couple... makes me cry every time.

So... what's your 'mood music'? What songs evoke an emotional response in you? What songs make you reminisce? What songs always make you think of summer, or winter, or fall, or Christmas (without being specifically Christmas songs *laugh*), or other events in your life? I'm a curious kitten, I want to know! :)