I’ve been a hardcore music guy for most of my life. I use it for everything:making car rides go by faster, playing it when I’m doing homework/studying or even now as I write this article, I’m listening to some Kanye West.
Music is more than just notes, sounds and lyrics that create a pleasurable experience. It becomes the soundtrack to our lives. I think everybody can point to three moments in their life that were important to them, and if there’s music playing during it, you’ll always remember it and the feeling it gave you.
As an example, like a fair amount of kids, I ran away from home. This was no easy feat, and the stress weighed on me like a ton of bricks. So naturally, I had a playlist going to keep my spirits up and encourage me to do the stupid thing I was about to do.
There are also those moments after a successful date where the right song plays that captures the mood. And certain songs/artists will take you back to times when you first met someone, and will be a reminder of them for years to come. I can’t listen to anything from The Neighbourhood without thinking of one of my friends, who loves them and introduced me to them.
But it goes beyond personal feelings and experiences, as the media we consume every day incorporates music into it. Movies, TV shows and video games all use music to trigger emotional responses in us, and certain songs take new meaning or gain new life following their use in one of these.
For example, I will never not think of “Wayne’s World” whenever I hear Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” (a bit of a dated reference, but 16 year old Henry loved “Wayne’s World). I’ll still headbang to the heavy part every now and then.
Plus, its appearance in the film brought the song back in the public eye, placing number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart 16 years after its original release. And it’s all because of some silly Mike Myers comedy.
Video games make use of this with radio stations. While this is mainly used in free-roaming, open world games like Fallout and GTA, it’s become more common for a game to have radio stations that play a variety of music on a random loop.
The results were astounding, as it made every level and every area have a different mood depending on what was playing. I’ll never be able to hear 40’s and 50’s era big band music like “Rhythm for You” without my mind taking me back to the creepy and long subway system you used to get around in “Fallout 3.”
Among the peppy, jazzy tracks were the sounds of gunfire, shouts from enemies trying to kill me and screeches from the ghouls in the game. A true symphony of destruction.
Also, true bliss is running to your settlement to stop an attack in “Fallout 4” while “Ride of the Valkyries” is playing in the background. Nothing makes you feel more badass than that. Really, putting “Ride of the Valkyries” over anything makes it seem epic.
One of the funnier stories I have about video game music relates to “Fallout: New Vegas.” Since it took place in the wild west, it was filled with country/western music. Now, I can’t stand country music, it grates on me.
Yet if I hear “Big Iron,” “Heartaches by the Number” or any of the other songs from the “New Vegas” soundtrack, I’ll sing along and it’ll take me back to the hundreds of hours I spent exploring the Mojave Wasteland. That is always ingrained in me due to the fond memories I have from that game.
But maybe the most satisfying and memorable music experience I had in games happened in “Grand Theft Auto 5.” I beat a pretty hard heist in the game and the first song that comes on when I get back to my car is “Baker Street,” by Gerry Rafferty.
Now, for those who haven’t heard it, “Baker Street” is a nice little song that is made immortal by the saxophone part. Words can’t describe how much emotion is put into this sax part. It is heavenly and for some reason always makes me feel prideful and accomplished. So after beating some missions I struggled with and hearing that song, it was such a triumphant feeling.
Even pro-wrestling is susceptible to this. For most big matches in the WWE, they’ll play a video package recapping the events leading to the match, and play a song over it. It’s one of the things WWE does better than anyone else, and has etched many songs into my memory. I can’t listen to “Monster” by Imagine Dragons without seeing Triple H vs Daniel Bryan from Wrestlemania 30.
WWE also uses several different songs and artists as themes for their pay per view events, and these songs will get stuck in my head long after the event. One year they used “Good Feeling” by Flo Rida as a theme for Wrestlemania, and that song still gets stuck in my head whenever I think of The Rock vs John Cena. It’s all worth it though, when I’m introduced to a new song or band I’ve never heard of.
These are just a few examples of music in media that has stuck with me. That’s the best part is that everyone has these moments and they’re all different from each other.
Nothing is better than hearing your favorite song integrated into a movie or game, as it creates a long lasting memory and attachment to that specific movie or game. It’s even better when you hear new music in a piece of media and you go out and discover a new band that becomes part of your usual rotation.
But what about you? What are some of your favorite uses of music in media? What moments have stuck with you because of the song played during it? We want to know, so tell us at our email clarion@sinclair.edu, or message us on social media. Your responses could be used in an upcoming Voices of Sinclair article.
Henry Wolski
Executive Editor