May5

Montana MayApril 24, 2015Ashley HumphriesENC 1101Music in Life

Though our entire world seems digital now, and appears to be a technological blur, one strand of electric creations stands alone from the rest, and has helped shape me into the person I am today. For this transformation the radio deserves all the credit, it has been there with me every step, from a little girl with a seat in my mothers car to a teen with a car, I have seen my emotions and thoughts shared through music everywhere I venture and in my most stressful of times.The earliest memory of radio derives from the eighties and nineties decades erupting through the speakers of my mothers car. My mom was clearly a huge fan of older music, which was specific to her time and for that reason those songs are all I remember for the first few years of my life. But, eventually I would begin a protest when I couldnt take the guitar or odd lyrics anymore, but my mom always rebutted by claiming it was her car and she could do what she wanted. Which held a lot of truth, the car was no more mine than a random persons. As for the music, I learned enjoy the company of music no matter the time of origin which results in my unbiased opinion of music in any decade. For this reason I am appreciative that my mother allowed me to listen to her music and transform me into a fan of it even if it meant memorizing the entire Cher CD against my will. But, now since I have a wider appreciation of music I am able to listen to multiple genres and search for the message behind each song, therefore expanding my love for music by interpreting the meaning of it which will later help me deal with stressful situations such as fights with my parents.The older decades finally ceased when my mother surrendered, and allowed me to listen to my music, and while still being in elementary school you could only imagine what that was. It was of course the classic kids radio station, and the only station genuinely kid friendly on AM frequency: Radio Disney. I reminisce how my mother dealt with the station or how my brain did not rot from the simplicity of it. For instance, the music was repetitive and nothing similar to what anyone else was enjoying. I honestly do not understand why I favored it, the only hint of a reason I could fathom would be because the lyrics were never depressing, they always possessed a bright tone to them and the lyrics were easy to sing along to. But, still with all the down sides I see today I can partially blame the up-beat songs for my love of Disney and having a spunky attitude as a little kid. Against all odds, I miraculously surfaced with a favorite song from the Disney station itself, which remained with through middle school. I initially began to favor it on the simplistic fact that its title was all numbers, 1985 and the group, Bowling for Soup, who sang it, remixed one of my moms favorite songs, I Melt with You. So it connected me with my mom, for which I was grateful for, but it also gave me a sense of developing my own taste for music.Middle School then came, and with that so did gym class, which is where I officially heard a teenage radio station. The channel was named 93.3 FLZ and was the it radio station to listen to but I was absolutely clueless about it, and unfortunately I was the only with this issue. But, I took an immediate liking to it, as well as the artist I first heard on it, who they called Pink. This influenced me to make the choice and decided to listen to it in the car with my mom and grandma, which was a total mistake because they ended up judging me horribly. Their reactions to the new found music were very strict and unforgiving toward my new station, for this my grandmother thought it was a dirty radio station with nothing good to say, and my mom just plainly hated the music, which I never understood. Because why could I get accustomed to her music but she would not even give my music a fighting chance? Yet, through all the criticism I realized I was breaking free from parents grasps and creating my own footsteps through the plethora of radio stations. I felt relieved to be differentiating myself from my parents so I couldnt help but want to listen to that radio station more and more, after all it was my freedom wrapped up in dirty lyrics and disgusting words, what more could I have wanted to begin my rebellion from my parents? Unfortunately rebellion always has its downsides such as fights with multiple punishments. For these stressful and complicated times in my early teenage life I resorted back to music to assist me in coping with my feeling and trying to make sense of my emotions about the situations. Though this period was relatively short lived compared to others, this is the time when music had a strong influence on me and demonstrated that things will get better, I just have to stay calm. Then there was silence. I earned my permit and the radio was shut off from me. No more Pink, Usher, nor Flo Rida it was just me driving and listening to my parents breathing while I desperately tried to learn. But luckily there were stop lights, every red light meant a chance for me to jam out for approximately half a song, unless it was a commercial therefore the ride was ruined until the next stop light. Though through this long and silent year every time I was able to hear the radio in the car I cherished it more.Freedom of the radio was bestowed upon me when I received my license and attempted my first car ride alone. The radio was so loud. I mean so loud as in, if there was a siren next to me I would have never heard it going off, and honestly I dont even remember what song was playing, I was so overjoyed to be hearing noise while operating a motor vehicle. This was the beginning of my personal relationship with radio because it was my car now, and I was in control. No more mom cars or anything of the sort. Just my car, my radio, my songs, and me. For these reasons and others, many different types of songs were played that my mom would have never listened to, so my ears gained independence as well. This slowly lead up to my slightly anti-social period in life because since I was without the radio for so long in the car I never answered the phone or talked to anyone while it was on because that would require me to turn it down. Clearly that was just not a realistic option for me, so if anyone wanted to talk they had to wait till I got where I was going. Then there was so much rap I never knew existed, I could change the channel in the middle of a song if I choose to as well as having all six stations to myself, to say the least the power was awesome. But, though there was new music to explore I retreated back to older music, which were the songs I heard in middle school or early high school, these were the songs that lead to me, Pink, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Maroon5, and others that ultimately defined me through school and were some of my favorite artists. In a way you could say that I found my decade of music, and because these artists meant so much to me I never ultimately let them go. I continued to listen to them even though new artists were more popular. I feel as though I have this special connection to these songs and particular artists because they are what I first heard while listening to music other people actually listen to and enjoy. It was really my first glimpse at fitting in with everyone else and I truly enjoyed that.Radio was there from the start and has kept me company through long car rides, fights, and great times. The music flowing through the speakers helped me relax and discover who I was as a person, and defines independence every time I play it in my car. Resulting in me to never have a car ride without listening to the radio, inadvertently causing me to be slightly anti-social because of my refusal to answer my phone during a song, because I feel as if I worked my way through life earning this privilege and I am determined to not waste time not taking advantage of it.