A Song to Represent Each Decade of My Life

Age 0-10: 1989-1999

I was technically born in the eighties, but with only 10 months left in that most vibrant of decades, I missed out on all of the amazing music and culture. I fleshed out in the nineties, however, when boy bands were king and Leonardo DiCaprio was every young girls' future husband. I vividly remember loving Nsync and Backstreet Boys like my life depended on it. I remember sleepovers with hairbrushes as microphones and beds as stages, where we'd muse and debate over what our lives would be like in 10 years when we'd married our favorite Nsync or Backstreet Boy member (for me, Chris Kirkpatrick or AJ McLean, respectively).

I also had a complete love of all things seventies' rock as a young kid. I would listen to cassette tapes in my parent's front yard ad nauseum, until the tapes themselves were warped. One of my all-time favorite tapes to crank at top volume (I'm sure to my neighbor's dismay) was the "Hey Stoopid" album by Alice Cooper. Between Alice Cooper, KISS, and Bob Seger, you would think a fifty-year-old stoner lived in my six-year-old brain. The song "Wind Up Toy" by Alice Cooper captured my young imagination and I clung to it, singing the lyrics as if I had written them myself. I think the line: "Daddy won't discuss me, oh what a stain I must be" was something I related to on a hidden level because my biological father wasn't in my life. I was a dark little kid.

Age 11-21: 2000-2010

The early 2000s was a magical time. I remember the Y2K scare quite vividly (and being completely upset when I got grounded at the last minute from watching New Years celebrations on TV because I was worried I would miss some astronomically historical event). I remember the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 (because who could forget?). I was in seventh grade and the world turned upside down.

I started the millennium transitioning into middle school, that insanely dramatic microcosm of puberty driven politics. Then onto high school, where problems from middle school seemed so small because there were way bigger things to worry about like: should I give this love note to my study hall teacher, or not?

I moved out of my parent's house in this decade, I got my first job, I started college. So many big life events in those ten years, I don't know how on Earth to choose one song to embody it, but I will try.

Even though this song isn't from the decade itself, it definitely seems to convey who I was during that time: Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again". When I was gifted my first vehicle from my parents after getting my license at sixteen, a rusty old pickup truck I named Danny, I went on my first solo driving trip and that song was the one that happened to be playing when I turned on the radio dial. That feeling of the wind in my hair, and the total freedom of being behind the wheel of my own vehicle was so intoxicating, and the song so fitting, that that moment has been frozen in my memory forever and brings a smile to my face whenever I think of it.

During those years of my life, the world was still this big, beautiful, intensely wide open place where the possibilities were endless. My potential was endless. But there I went again on my own, down the only road I've ever known. Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone. And walk alone, I did. I was independent to a fault and ready to strike out on my own.

Honorable Mention for this Decade: "I Drive Myself Crazy" by Nsync to give a nod to my obsession with Nsync as a middle schooler. It was my favorite song by them, mainly because the lead vocals were by my favorite member, the aforementioned Chris Kirkpatrick.

Age 22-29: 2011-2018

A song immediately popped into my head for this 'decade' (it's not a full decade because I'm not yet more than 3 decades old. Almost there, though!): "The Logical Song" by Supertramp. I'm using yet another seventies' era rock song, but the lyrics of this song really embody how I currently feel and where I've come from since graduating college. I was always pretty liberal-minded, but not very aware of politics. I had a friend who pushed me to register to vote, and I did, begrudgingly. I've come a long way since then and I actually follow politics now.

In this day and age, being a conservative or a liberal is an entire identity in and of itself. It's like being on one or other side of a sports' matchup between bitter rivals. And everytime I hear "The Logical Song" on the radio, I just nod to myself and think, "Yep. Exactly!"

So those are my choices for songs that embody each decade of my life. This was a fun challenge to write about!