Past Life Regression
This post first appeared in my newsletter. To get on the list, sign up on the bottom of this page. One of the unexpected side effects of divorce (or my divorce, as least) is the return to the brass tacks of who I am, and a rediscovering of myself that has me thinking often about my teenage years. I have been flooded with memories long-thought forgotten, hitting me at random times and asking “Remember this girl? Remember what she believed in?” I think adolescence is when you discover the foundation of who you are and who you will be, and so it makes sense that in times of great change and crisis you go back to your essential self. It’s been this way with me, most obviously from a musical perspective.
“It makes sense that in times of great change and crisis you go back to your essential self. ”
Music has always been a cornerstone of my (sparkling!) personality. I made a bang up mix tape in my day, spending hours balancing out each song and pairing it with its perfect match. It was always a labor of love. I dreamed of writing for Rolling Stone magazine (spoiler alert, I did, though not in the way I expected: It was my first full-time copywriting gig) and read everything I could on the bands and musicians I loved—pre internet.
This past weekend I was lucky enough to catch a retrospective of photography featuring Nine Inch Nails at Morrison Hotel in SoHo. I was brought back to seeing them on stage at Woodstock 1994: Trent Rezor, covered in the thickest mud, emerging from the mosh pit to perform. It was epic. I hadn’t walked onto that field a fan, but I walked away as one and remain one still.
It got me thinking about the way music connects us to our memories and to the people we were back when we were blank slates. It’s been kind of amazing, a silver lining on a challenging time.
Like I said, I was quite a mixed-tape maker in my day, and so I decided to make a playlist for you. It’s obviously heavily 90s, and includes my all-time favorites and some bangers that shaped the culture around us at that time. Here’s the link. I hope you enjoy it.
