Music

Music has always been a huge part of my life. At the age of 11 I told my school teacher that someday I will be a famous rock star. Of course, it didn’t exactly happened; I became instead a dance music star in 1994 with Capital Sound! The band did well between 1994 and 1997. Although “I” never was famous, as a band we did win a Juno Award in 1995! So, that’s that. Then, in 2000 my ambient music project called Blue Tonic World was the hot cake download on the famous Mp3.com and brought me a few spotlights and a bit of cash!

But, this post is not about my success story, but instead about how music will save us. More precisely, how it saves us everyday and the way it creeps into our lives just at the right moment.

This post is about myself honoring 5 songs that has had a huge impact in my life…in a very good way, of course :) Songs that when I hear them today brings me back exactly at that precise moment in time when I needed it the most. And they always feel good when I hear them because they help me to remember something wonderful I felt inside, something exciting, profound, inspiring. Something real that I felt and will never forget. Music does that to me. And I’m sure most of you agrees – Everyone has got at least one song that touches them deeply.

Here are 5 songs that means the world to me (Order is of no importance):

1. Avalanche by Matthew Good

Early 2003 something tragic happened to me. My now ex-wife and I separated then finally the divorced was pronounced a few months later. Tragic, yes it was at first, but in the summer of 2003 I started feeling better. I began feeling lighter, happier and philosophical even. I could breathe again. Then, as I was visiting friends at a cottage, somebody asked if I have heard the new album from Matthew Good. I said no. So, we sat by the lake on a beautiful Saturday afternoon and listened to the album called Avalanche. Then the titled track “Avalanche” came on…the lyrics just hit me in the face. You know, that song that seemed it was written just for you? For me, that song was just it! And musically, I thought it was so incredible. The build up, the emotion and Matt’s voice “…Hey hey hey Avalanche, start inside of me, hey hey hey Avalanche, hell down through the trees…” Powerful. Emotionally connected. Just perfect.

2. Right in the Night by Jam & Spoon

The first time I have heard that song from the German techno duo of Jam & Spoon it was in the summer of 1994. Pico and I were driving to Toronto for a Capital Sound gig. As usual when we played in T.O we were tuned in to Energy 108 FM, a popular dance radio station. Just there, the host announced “…and now the number one song this week…” It was the greatest euro-dance song I have ever heard in my life, seriously! A wicked, wicked synthesized flamenco guitar riff that just blasted out of the car speakers (and Pico had a pretty good car stereo) and I said to Pico “…this shit is amazing! Just listen to this incredible lick!!!” So, the entire weekend we listened to the radio, hoping to catch “Right in the Night”. The entire band loved it too, not just me! Heck, it was a hot track and it was a hot summer for Capital Sound, which made it even more memorable.

3. Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode

Spring of 1990 something bad happened, not as tragic as the divorce, but sad. My girlfriend dumped me :’( Oh yes I was sad, very very sad. But it wasn’t Depeche Mode’s fault who ruled the charts with “Personal Jesus”; a great song, for sure. But, for me, it was “Enjoy the Silence” that truly captured my heart. I loved the melody, the guitar, and the dance groove, which, you could say, is the first dance music song I fell in love with! While my friends were listening to heavy metal and industrial music, I thought Depeche Mode’s album Violator was just the next level of tones I needed. My quest for producing electronic music began there in 1990 ;)

4. Hysteria by Def Leppard

Yeah, okay, Def Leppard were a bit cocky. I admit it. But when you have a producer like Robert John “Mutt” Lange co-writing and producing your shit, you know it’ll be good. And the song “Hysteria” was, to me, a phenomenal track. But, of course, what made the track twice more special was the fact that it was the song that was playing when I first kissed and fell in love with the girl of my life, my first love! I miss being a teenager!

5. When The Smoke Is Going Down by Scorpions

Ah yes, 1984, my dad’s country house. I was just a kid back then. My parents had separated a year prior and I was feeling a bit lost and confused. But my dad who had struggled with alcoholism for years was suddenly waking up from his comma that he had no idea struck him. It was an awakening that he badly needed. And as he woke up and began enjoying life again, so was everyone around him who saw the transformation. Separating after 20 years can be hard but what a breath of air fresh it must be when you find the will to live again.

I remember sitting down one evening by the quiet lake; fog gently rising on the water front and another cottage near by playing Scorpions’ “When the Smoke is Going Down”. Tears of joy risen as I watched my dad through the cottage window, looking happy, smiling at me.

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