What’s on the soundtrack to your life?

"Amazin" Aerosmith

"Self Esteem" Offspring

"What it Takes" Aerosmith

"Sanitarium" Metallica

"Goodnight Good Guy" Collective Soul

Each of those songs represents a time period and an emotional state in my life. I’m sure there are many more, but they aren’t coming to me. These are all from elementary school/jr high/high school.

Amazin was my first favorite song. The first song I ever owned. Someone, I think my sis, gave me the single on a cassette tape when I was in about 4th grade. She owned Get a Grip, and on road trips she would always give me the headphones so I could listen to that song. I remember feeling so inspired when I heard it, like I could reach out and help people. Good childhood memory.

Self Esteem. 6th grade. My introduction to punk and modern rock. Our class formed groups and each presented 2 songs to be nominated for class song. My group was Steve (best friend), Paul Kelly and me. We played Aerosmith Eat the Rich, but Self Esteem was the big prize. No one else in the class had heard it yet. When it came time to vote, that became our class song, beating out down on bended knee by boys 2 men.

What it Takes. Kelly Byrne. 7th grade. First real crush. The most ridiculous infatuation imaginable. I was so in love with that girl I could barely even look at her across the room. The only problem, Steve was also completely head over heels in love with her. We basically thought about everything the same way. I remember we were both so guarded about it that we had to agree to write down the name of our crush on post its and exchange them, and of course it turned out to be the same person. I think knowing we were both on the same page heightened the feelings that much more. We talked about her constantly. Months passed, and neither of us made a move. It was overpowering. FInally, literally several months later, I got up the balls to ask her out. I got her phone number from someone. I remember it literally took me 30 minutes to make the call. I just sat there with the phone in my hand. I’d dial one digit, then hang up. Then 2 digits. And so on. Finally made the call. Awkward small talk, then I come up with the ingenious line "hey, do you want to go out with me?". Of course she says no. She was nice about it, but I was completely crushed.

Sanitarium. Want to know what kids listen to when they don’t want to hear what’s going on in the real world. Here you go. Pretty simple really. Dark, meaningful, tortured. Virtuoso.

Goodnight Good Guy. For a long time, I listened to this song every single night before I went to bed. Somehow, it was reassuring to me.