Reelin' in the Years

Dio's music with Sabbath will always give me chills....

I just read an interesting article on the web about the phenomenon of our vivid and fond memories of the music from our teenage years. Apparently, there are scientific theories that explain the factors involved. This new information makes me think about how our teenage years are more than a blueprint for our developing selves... these are the times when everything we do becomes a part of us, for better or for worse, and remains a part of us for the rest of our lives, even if we seem to forget that along the way. Because that stuff - let's say the good stuff - will resurface now and then anyway, and we'll be pleasantly reminded of those great carefree years. 

I got into music before I even hit my teens, so I began my conditioning a little early. Oldies like the Beatles and Monkees became ingrained in my psyche long before Rush and Cheap Trick moved into that department. But there was plenty of space for all of those guys, so I just kept the door open and let any music that I fancied wander right on in. 

The huge amount of time we have as teens to devote to music.... listening to it, learning song lyrics, dancing to it, learning to play it on instruments, and generally obsess over it.... is one key component of this phenomenon. The sheer repetition of listening to the same songs over and over plays a role, as we now understand when we can still recite lyrics from songs we may not have heard for decades. And yet we can't remember what was on that grocery list we forgot at home. 

We always say nostalgia, fond memories of our youth, explains our still-strong attachment to the music of those formative years. But nostalgia - the word - doesn't fully explain why this occurs. Like why can I still air-drum in synch to the complex time signatures of an early Rush song like La Villa Strangiato? 

There is certainly a cultural component to this, since we often get into certain songs or types of music because of our friends, or even people who aren't our friends yet. The sense of developing ties to others and belonging comes about by the shared interest in certain music. So back in late public/primary school, when I began listening to Kiss, that was part of a wish to belong to the group of guys who already liked that music. Kiss's music was new to me but when I discovered I really liked it, hey, I was in the gang! That social need was satisfied. And so it goes in the teens, when peer acceptance is even more crucial. Oops, I can't (say I) like the BeeGees, but AC/DC will keep me in good stead. Get the idea?

Studies say our reaction to the music is also a key.... songs that we really loved would activate certain parts of the brain, and our physical response dictated just how many parts of the brain would become stimulated. Nodding your head, tapping your fingers or foot.... might only kick one portion of the brain into activity. But add in humming or singing along, and you've got another chunk of brain "waking up"; then if you dance or even play along on an instrument, you are engaging even more bits of grey matter. So this is more than social or cultural programming, but also neurological.... a brain command that embeds that all-important music in there, to be activated whenever one of those favourite songs plays... with just the same amount of emotion as back then. Cool, huh?

So when I listen to a song that triggers personal memories, say Tom Sawyer by Rush, something called the prefrontal cortex in the brain, which maintains information about my personal life and relationships, jumps into action. And I remember that sunny winter morning of 1981 when I walked downtown to the record store to buy the "limited edition" cassette version of the album Moving Pictures (which featured the song Tom Sawyer). The strong feelings of anticipation and pleasure I felt that day flood back every time I hear that song. 

And the strength of the emotions associated with our favourite songs stimulate the brain's pleasure circuit, releasing neurochemicals (like dopamine) that send us to the moon. An all-natural high. When I'm a Believer by the Monkees plays, it's like a warm wave washes over me and I am left smiling and energized.

During our teens, the brain undergoes rapid neurological development, and just about every experience is ranked as equally important as it's stored away, including songs associated with good times (and bad times), so they are all fixed permanently into our wiring. The heightened emotion we feel when recalling a favourite song is due to the puberty growth hormones that stamped that memory in there in the first place. 

The teen years and early 20's are the most memorable for us because this is the time when we are generally the happiest, at least based on the stored musical moments associated with those wonderful days. It is from ages 12 to 22 that "you become you", as one theory states. This is when all of the chaos of puberty gradually gets sorted out... we experience and grow through education and socialization and jobs. These things establish who we are - and will be - for life. And all of that music gets slapped in there, linked with its associated life events.

And even if we move on in our adult years to prefer different music than we grew up with, those strong emotional ties to the songs of the past will remain. I know of guys who still crank up Iron Maiden on a regular basis, decades after their heavy metal-infused adolescence. And they are perfectly happy listening to that same sort of music their whole lives. That energized "high" can be relived over and over again. 

I, on the other hand, have always been curious to seek out new music. Sure, I was deeply into metal and progressive rock in my teens and 20's, but I'd retained my love of artists as diverse as The Monkees, Beethoven, and Fleetwood Mac. By my mid-30's, going through a bit of a life crisis, I realized I needed some positive, though not too drastic, changes. And that was when I sought out challenging stimulation in electronic music, jazz, and even opera (don't judge me!). Some of that stuff was a phase that insisted I obsess over it for a few years, then it became less important to me. I am still fascinated by electronic music (of which EDM is one branch to today's dance music), though, and have taken some logical - and illogical - leaps from that into electro-dance and dance-pop. 

So even though I now enjoy the music of Deadmau5 and Kylie Minogue, I still get a huge rush from hearing Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath. Same goes for Roll Over Beethoven by the Beatles. And all because of those musical links implanted in my brain during adolescence.

A trip at the brain..... 

.... even if Kylie is more my speed these days