💬 The Memory Wall

“almost a month since i buried you mum, i always promised you would go out to this. i hope u boogied ur way back home, where ur 17 and nothing bad has happened yet.”

“absolute banger”

“getting rickrolled”

“Another song that makes me think of going to the pool when I was younger. Now it's one of my favorite songs and bands in adulthood!”

“We constantly chase material things and overindulgence to fill a void inside us, yet that's never been the true meaning of a rich life.”

“Summer days at the pool!”

“You weren't a drummer until you could play this!”

“My first tape. Remember the original cover? My parents "loved" that 😬”

“one of my faves! takes me way back and I saw them in concert when they were all alive. RIP Dimebag and Vinnie!”

“Oh the good ole days before all the controversy. At least Michael is making a comeback!”

“I skateboarded all over Ohio State's campus — I sucked, though. This is what was in my head while I did it. Felt like the whole city was my park for a couple of years there.”

“love this one. Was just enjoying life without responsibilities and riding my bike.”

“Catering at the waterpark as a teenager meant hauling trays through July heat until my shirt was soaked through. Five minutes in the shade with this in my headphones and I was somewhere else entirely. I still smell chlorine and fryer grease the second it comes on.”

“Ten was on constant rotation. This one hit different at that age — windows down, too loud, convinced every word was written about our whole generation.”

“If you went to Ohio State in my era you know exactly what a night at Mustard's sounded like. This one cleared anybody off the floor who wasn't there to dance.”

“First high school girlfriend, my freshman year. She could drive — a couple years older — and Journey's Greatest Hits was always playing in the car.”

“Insomnia coffee shop, a rainy night, a paperback I wasn't really reading. Some of the quieter alternative stuff belonged to that room specifically — soft, a little sad, perfect.”

“This was everywhere the summer I was falling in and out of love with about three different people. Porch parties, somebody's brother's keg, that harmonica solo.”

“After the bars there was Insomnia — the coffee shop where the night came down slow. I'd nurse a cup way too late, this drifting out of the speakers, and feel like the whole world had finally exhaled.”

“Every school dance ended with something like this. Slow-dancing at arm's length in a sweaty gym, both of you pretending you knew what you were doing. Terrifying and perfect.”

“This is one of the songs I loved to hear at The Pit on campus. I can't hear it without smelling that bar.”

“Long-distance love and a full tank every Friday night. The Cranberries got me through a lot of dark highway miles to see a girl who was worth every one of them.”

“The back of the band bus, somebody's boombox playing Floyd the whole ride home from the away game. Those bus rides were honestly the best part.”

“Drumline brain never leaves you — I can't hear Bonham kick this off without my hands twitching through the part. Friday night lights, sticks flying, completely alive.”

“We learned this in a band I played a Battle of the Bands with at Newport Music Hall, and it nearly broke us. The day we finally played it start to finish without falling apart, we felt invincible — cranked it until somebody's mom pulled the plug.”

“Nevermind basically scored my summer in the waterpark catering kitchen. I'd duck into the cooler to snack on pickle chips where it was finally quiet, hit play, then cool off out in the sun — which somehow beat the kitchen — for a few minutes before somebody yelled for more funnel cakes.”

“Power ballad, last dance, the lights down low in the gym. At the time I was certain slow dances were the highest-stakes event in human history. Maybe they were.”

“Mean Mr. Mustard's — we were there basically every night. The second this came on, the place came alive. Sticky floors, buckets of beer on the bench, and not one thought about the 8am the next morning.”

“Nobody I knew was into Ned's Atomic Dustbin, which made loving them feel like a secret handshake. Two bass players. I thought that was the coolest thing in the entire world.”

“The underground stuff had two sides for me — the loud one was the dance floor, the dreamy one was Insomnia at midnight. This lived entirely in the coffee shop, wrapped in steam and quiet.”

“I only made it through freshman year at Ohio State, but I never stopped showing up at Mean Mr. Mustard's. Stayed till last call for stuff exactly like this. Best worst decisions of my life.”

“Every kid in our drumline worshipped Neil Peart, and this was the gold standard — we'd argue over who could come closest to those fills. Friday night, full uniform, freezing in the stands, trying to play like him. Nobody could, and we loved it anyway.”

“If this came on at a dance in 1990, you grabbed whoever you were brave enough to grab and prayed it was a long song. Cheap cologne, gym decorations, my heart absolutely pounding.”

“Some songs you save for when you're alone in the car. This was that one. Pearl Jam knew exactly where it hurt.”

“Mustard's most weekends, school or no school. Somewhere between the third bucket and this song, the whole night would tip over into legend.”

“Wore this CD out on my breaks at work. Sixteen, sunburned, minimum wage, and completely sure these songs understood me better than anyone alive.”

“My high school band covered this. We were not bad, and maybe not great. But standing in a basement trying to nail that intro, feeling like we were actually onto something — I'd give a lot for one more rehearsal.”

“Dave Matthews was basically required listening if you had a girlfriend in the mid-90s. This one belonged to a specific person and a specific summer — and it still does.”

“There was a corner at Insomnia I always ended up in, coffee going cold, something hushed like this playing. The opposite of Mustard's, and exactly what I needed some nights.”