It was a crisp spring day. My mom made her way, windows down, in our blue 2003 Honda Accord down Goodwin Ave. We drove past my dad’s workplace at Noyes Laboratory, my mom’s adjacent workplace at the Chemistry Annex of Davenport Hall, and Krannert. We were driving towards the Early Child Development Lab on W Nevada St. Behind her sat me and my sister, both only four years old. On the radio, Get Back by the Beatles played.
Since I didn’t get my first phone until the summer before I entered Uni, my music knowledge, especially in preschool and elementary school, was limited to songs that I heard from the radio and songs that were on CDs that my family owned, meaning that the songs I listened to were mostly the same. In preschool, I remember listening to the Beatles and Kidz Bop. Although we own two Beatles’ CDs, Rubber Soul and Love, I only really recall listening to the latter. We owned other CDs as well, such as Tracy Chapman by Tracy Chapman, but the Beatles’ were always my parents favorite. My mom had listened to it as a child in Japan and introduced it to my dad when they met in America. I remember listening to the Love CD on road trips and daily commutes and not realizing that the album had multiple songs, because they seemed to blend together. The Kidz Bop album we owned was listened to far less, and the only reason I remember it was because All Star was on it. I don’t remember any other songs.
In preschool, the only memories that I have from the radio are the taglines from FM 97.5 and AM 580. However, in elementary school, songs on the radio became a lot more recognizable. Songs like Just the Way You Are, We Are Young, Uptown Funk, and Somebody That I Used to Know were played on repeat. Additionally, I often played Just Dance, so I listened to popular songs featured on the game such as Moves Like Jagger, Call Me Maybe, and Starships. These songs were the first pop songs that I listened to and definitely made a mark on my current music tastes. In fact, many of these songs are still in my playlist. The other way I found music in elementary school was by playing Just Dance. I often went to the house of one of my closest friends, who owned a Wii and the first few Just Dance editions. Eventually, we got a Wii and some games including Just Dance 2012 (4) and Just Dance 2014. My favorite songs on these two games included Umbrella, Disturbia, The Way, Superstition, and of course What Makes You Beautiful, which I always got five stars in.
The rise of easily accessible music streaming platforms has facilitated the process of listening to music, so thinking about the past and listening to music without Spotify is interesting. Now, it’s far easier for smaller artists to get recognized. Additionally, any song can be played at the press of a button instead of having to have a physical disk. As much as I loved playing Just Dance, I’ll always be forever grateful to Spotify for allowing me to find a broader range of musical artists.
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