the monster's riot

For the past several hours, I found myself asking the same question over and over again: why do I love songs of the 80's and 90's? This introspection was triggered by my sister's snort when I blurted out earlier that I love listening to these songs, after hearing Wilson-Phillips on the car radio.

Wednesday is my radio day. It's the only day in the week when I prefer having the radio on instead of the TV or my iPod. This is not to plug, but I love listening to RX Monster's Riot, which goes on for the entire Wednesday. 24 hours of listening to OLD songs. By old I don't mean those oldies but goodies tracks; what they play on this station every Wednesday are songs that were popular during their day. These songs are at least 10 years old, not necessarily award winners, but they had a good share of air time around the time they were released. Most of the songs they play are tracks of the 80's and 90's, and I just love listening to these songs.

I guess my strong affinity for music from these two decades have a lot to do with what was happening to my life then. I was born on the last year of the 70's and grew up during the 80's and 90's. My formative years coincided with these decades. Music from these years were often in the background, and though hearing them do not bring specific events or memories, they do bring about a happy feeling, a sort of nostalgic feeling for the era in my life when I was most positive, so full of dreams and not the slightest bit jaded. During those years, I saw my adult life as an eagerly awaited adventure, and anything is possible.

I grew up during the 80's watching movies from betamax and vhs. As 80's movies go, these movies are about adventures and misadventures, and often the situations were too fantastic to be true. To my young mind, they left an imprint of how adult life was to be: one big adventure. I loved the soundtracks of these movies, and up to now, hearing them sparks in me some hope, reminding me that life is nothing but a big adventure.

I was a teenager during most of the 90's. I think I felt then that I'm on the brink of THE adventure and that at any moment, LIFE will start. I'd like to believe that I wasn't a typical angst-filled teenager. Though I did pretty well in high school and college, I know I wasn't the perfect student, far from it, and I had my share of misdeeds...for which I wasn't caught. Grunge and alternative rock music hit the mainstream around this time, and I found myself liking these genre. I still do, though I feel more recent tracks lack the passion of their progenitors. Nevertheless, I still love the genre. The Gin Blossoms, Alanis Morrissette, Bon Jovi and Mr. Big were some of the notable artists in this decade that have set the bar and for me, very few can measure up to their standards.

The first decade of the 2000's is ending, but I'm not as enamored to music from this decade as I am to the 80's and 90's music. Probably because for me this decade is some sort of a dark age. I've spent majority of this decade being a slave to medicine while fighting to control an inner turmoil that is best described as a quarter life crisis. It's only now that I realize that many times I've sought comfort from music that reminded me of better times. As I struggle with my inner demons, the music from my past reminds me of how sunny my outlook used to be. I strive to live my life now as close as I can to how I used to think this adventure is to be played out. Hearing music from time past reminds me of my younger self's vision of today, and because this vision had given me so much hope, I do my best to try to live it.

So, perhaps this is why I love getting my weekly fix of 80's and 90's music. Or maybe there is no other reason at all, except that I simply love music from these decades.

Disclaimer: This is not a promotional piece from the RX Monster's Riot. No profit is being made from its use in this entry.