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Does anyone else here use music as a "time machine"?

Do you experience this as well?


  • Total voters
    16
Definitely. Some songs that take me back to troubling times I'll turn off if I hear them or leave the room. I also listen to music to access my feelings if that makes sense?
 
Yes, songs can bring back memories. I feel them most with those I was listening to when I first was dating my wife and was very elated.

This is one of my full moon songs


I like the quirky sound to this song, I think it would be great to listen to while driving through a city at night. ^_^
 
Does anyone else find triggering good memories of the past painful? For me, good or bad, it's not enjoyable, it's some sort of aching.

Oh yes, definitely. I always have a sort of aching feeling when I listen to a lot of the music I mentioned. It's almost as if my soul is being pierced is how I'd describe it.
 
This isn't an autism only trait, it's been observed that playing music to patients with dementia from their youth almost 'wakes' them up and they respond to this far more than anything else around them. The music takes them back to those times, feelings and experiences.

As for myself, I displace a lot of negative emotions into songs. There are many I can't listen to anymore because they will bring back too much pain.

I believe I saw something like this played out in a movie, although I acknowledge that movies aren't always accurate - it was about a college guy who had some sort of accident that took his memories, and he only snapped back when his favorite songs were played.

I do agree, in fact, sometimes I'll play certain songs specifically to help myself grieve if I am triggered by something external. It really helps me process the emotions.
 
I listen to mostly 80's because it makes me feel emotionally like I did when I was young and experiencing a lot of things for the first time in life. They were my exciting years.
And listening to them, (mainly while driving), just brings back that headstrong, Yeah, Won't Back Down
feeling inside. A bit of empowerment when I'm out in the world where I could easily feel weak.

Some songs make me think of certain people and times in my past.
It doesn't make me feel bad though.
Only a few songs I want to cry listening to and try to avoid.
Mostly the ones that were my Mom's favourites and she went around singing them.
Just too much emotional charge.

Enya is something else for me.
Somehow her voice has always made me feel warm and safe.
I listen to her going to sleep a lot at night. Soothes me like a soft blanket hug.
Angeles I think is the most comforting.

Enya is very much like that! The time that I mentioned being at that hotel listening to her album was a very bad time in my life, and I kept her album playing the whole time in my earphones. It felt so warm and secure.
 
Enya is very much like that! The time that I mentioned being at that hotel listening to her album was a very bad time in my life, and I kept her album playing the whole time in my earphones. It felt so warm and secure.

Yeah and I think she sings in traditional Irish.

Remember that song "Orinoco Flow" from, oh when was it now? Late 80's/early 90's? The video to it was sublime.

 
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Modern music is vile and the music industry is near death, so pretty much any music I enjoy is like going back in time to when it was actually good.
 
Modern music is vile and the music industry is near death, so pretty much any music I enjoy is like going back in time to when it was actually good.
Modern music is vile and the music industry is near death, so pretty much any music I enjoy is like going back in time to when it was actually good.
I don't know about modern music - I've been stuck on 50' 60's and early 70's music and never grew out of it. :)
 
Modern music is vile and the music industry is near death, so pretty much any music I enjoy is like going back in time to when it was actually good.

Is there any factual evidence that makes you think the music industry is near death or is it just a feeling you have?

One common error people make when evaluating modern music in comparison to music in the past is that when we look at music in the past we look only at the best. It's the music that has lasted, the music people remember, and so all our of examples are the highest quality productions of their time.

But when we look at music of today, we see everything. We're bombarded with music from the entire spectrum of quality.

I don't believe the ratio of good music to bad music is much different now than it ever was. Your statement is a micro version of what many classical musicians say about this century's music compared to previous centuries, and I believe it's the same error being made in both cases.
 

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