For my birthday in August I received a CD tower. For months I had been complaining that all of our cd's were still in boxes from moving (two years ago!) and I hadn't found a decent holder for them, so when I saw one I liked at IKEA my sister jumped at the chance to buy it for my birthday and have her gift buying done, smart woman. When I received it I didn't run to my boxes of cd's and put them in their new home, I simply just let them sit there for a few more months, because if there is one thing you should know about me it's the fact that I can procrastinate with the best of them! Well, a few weekends ago I finally decided to get to the task of organizing the cd's and I came to a horrifying realization. Based solely on our vastly different cd collections, it's a miracle that Rob and I are married. Let's start with Rob's collection,,, we'll get to mine later because believe me, there's a lot of embarrassment there as well, but I'd rather discuss Rob's cd purchasing flaws first.
When I first met Rob I absolutely adored everything he had on his MP3 player; the Paul Simon, Eagles and James Taylor of it all. How can you argue with that collection? But now, I realize he had just put all this great music on display and had hidden all the music I would never pollute my eardrums with. It was a tactic to win my love! (And it worked.) When I was flipping through a lot of his cds the other day I didn't know who half the artists were and by the imagery on their cd casings I really didn't have a desire to know them or their music. It's nothing too crazy but if you know me, you know I am not at all a rocker or heavy metal type of girl, and that is most of what is in his collection. Sure, a lot of the cd's were purchased a long time ago because really, who buys cd's anymore,,, except for me, because I just hopped into the download universe about five minutes ago. But,,, it was nonetheless surprising when I found a cd with a group named Mother Love Bone. Ever heard of them? Nope? Me either, but Rob promises me "they have some good stuff." Yeah, and a crappy name. Oh, also, Faster Pussycat? Rob swears I should know them and I swore I would never, NEVER know who they were because had he looked at their album cover? Did it look like a group I would listen to? And their name. I would refuse to listen to them just based on the name of the group. I'm that judgemental. Yep, I said it. There was also a lot of Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Metallica, Tesla, Skid Row and Queensryche. Which isn't too bad I guess,,, just the complete opposite of my musical tastes. Thank goodness he redeemed himself with all that Buddy Holly! See? Weird, right? I shouldn't give him too hard a time because I can't say much about my own collection, which we will now turn to and stop beating down on my husband.
After I had perused Rob's cd collection I moved on to my own, very confident that mine was much more befitting of a place in my new cd tower. Wow, I was so completely wrong. Looking through the music I have a accumulated over the past ump-teen years was like having to relive every bad break up I have ever endured. Let me explain. I am a girl who finds music to be very soothing whenever I am going through any rough patch in life, and every rough patch I have ever been through was there in that box. While I was looking through the music I found many a cd that helped me through breakups because it seemed that the songs they were singing were written just for me, for that horrible break up I was going through from that one guy who was a complete bleep-hole! Or that other guy, who was also a complete bleep-hole. Or, even more rotten, the one who was actually really great and I was just too stupid to see it. It's incredible how certain songs bring back such vivid memories of times I enjoy remembering and even those I don't.
Moving on. Let's talk about the music I am a bit sad to admit is in my collection. I discovered something about myself while looking through those cd's. What, you ask? Well,,, I have kept many crappy artists employed. It seems that if you were a one-hit wonder and needed someone to buy your album, I was your girl! Damn you, Lou Bega and your "Little Bit of Mambo." It was a catchy little ditty but why couldn't you have followed up with a few more songs that were worthy of my hard earned cash and my self respect? And you, Michael Peterson, Mr. "Drink, Swear, Steal and Lie", you caught me right in the middle of my major country phase (we all go through that phase, right?) and I just couldn't say no to your cute little lyrics.
Now it's time for me to let you in on some of the thoughts that were swirling through my head as I looked at all of my collection. We're bullet pointing these as there were many (mostly embarrassing) thoughts.
- "Wow, I have every Celine Dion album ever made. And surprisingly I still like a lot of them,,, I'm keeping them!"
- "Indigo Girls. Okay, so I don't exactly fit the demographic but I'm not getting rid of the cd for that reason. I'm progressive, and 'Galileo' is suuuuuch a great song! Keeping it!"
- "The Mo' Money soundtrack!!!! The first cd I ever purchased! Keeping it just because of that reason."
- "I have a TON of country music! But I still really enjoy most of it,,, except for those one-hit wonders I keep running into. Will the CD Exchange even buy a Mila Mason cd back from me, or would they make me pay them for taking it off my hands? Which I would."
- "Color Me Badd!!!! My first concert! Wow, really embarrassing. Burn it, don't admit you ever LOVED the song 'I Wanna Sex You Up', you were only 16, repent."
There is so much more I could write about, but it would just embarrass me more than I already am so I will stop. But one last thought. Is it really, really bad that I LOVE Yanni?
