There are certain songs each of us have permanently associated with something, either because of the situation in which we first heard it or the general atmosphere/vibe of the song (or both).

I can think of an example in each category...

Always Makes Me Think of pr0n: "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys" by Traffic

The only pr0n video my Dad used to have was Debbie Does Dallas, which was actually a pretty lousy pr0n flick, but there were a good number of previews/trailers for other pr0n movies at the beginning of the tape...all of which were better than DDD. The best of these trailers was for an Oedipal tour-de-force called Taboo, which used the above-mentioned Traffic song as theme music. Now, every time I hear that slow, seductive bassline, I immediately think of pr0n.

Always Makes Me Think of Pot: "Bridge of Sighs" by Robin Trower

Unlike the Traffic tune, I never heard this one in the context of an actual situation. It just SOUNDS like smoking weed. I can't imagine anyone not conjuring up images of a gigantic bong whenever the stoned guitar riff kicks in. This song is audio marijuana.

Boston's Smokin' I associate with gas grills these days.

Ludacris - What's Your Fantasy was playing when I got into my first car wreck when I was 19.

I got a few Pogues songs permanently associated with an ex...and the Cranberries Linger with my wife. Tom Waits: In the Neighborhood always immediately brings a picture of standing on the back balcony of this really crappy apartment I lived in and looking over the trash covered alleyway with a smoke and a drink in the early morning. Alice in Chains: Dirt always conjures memories of dingy hotel rooms and drugs. A Bunch of old hardcore songs remind me of friends long gone. Nelly's Batter Up puts me back in a late night East St Louis dance club.

Hell, memories and music are so closely tied that there is little music that I have any sort of attachment to that doesn't bring something to mind. I could probably just keep listing about a hundred songs here.

Just, wow.

For me, "Bring da Ruckus" (I think... I do know it's on 36 Chambers) always brings to mind second thru fifth grade. On the track, they namedrop "Shinobi" (please excuse if the spelling is off), & knowing that, I know I am not hallucinating when I seem to recall my classmates wiling their recess playing "Shinobi" (a live-action version that one of the bigger dweebs in the class, a fat-fuck art-faggy type (prolly would have been Kathy Kegel's type ten years later, had I known the two of them simultaneously), devised). Shinobi... actually exists.

Always makes me think of college:
"Love Shack" - The B52's
It was ubiquitous, whether at frat houses or underground parties. Everybody was freaking into this song. At least for a week or two.

Wish You Were Here make me think of being incredibly stoned..the whole album..

'The Bee's" by Belly...... || ex-g/f
Blind Melon 's/t' || ex g/f

Scott Walker's entre last record I've associated with heroin...not that I was doing smack then, but I had tried it a couple of times back in college and it reminded me of that.

The song that always makes me thing of college, and was played at every party and dance club for pretty much ALL FIVE YEARS (at least it seemed that way) was "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order.

makes me think of college: "smells like teen spirit" nirvana

Thanks to Chase (in Cotton's relocation thread), Interpol's "Heinrich Maneuver" is now Chase's face saying "How are things on the WEST COAST?" in my head.

concrete blonde - mexican moon
sitting on my balcony in atlanta on a late summer evening, drinking sangria

ramones - rock 'n' roll highschool
going to georgia tech to spend the weekend with my sister (I was about 9 or 10). she took me to see this movie on campus.

elvis presley - jailhouse rock/margie rayburn - i'm available
I think these were two of my favorite 45's that my mom had, and I used to listen to them ad nauseum when I was about 4-5. I just remember sneaking into the living room, opening up their old stereo cabinet, and listening to these over and over.

naughty by nature - o.p.p.
too many damn parties in college had this one on, so it usually is associated with drunken debauchery. I specifically remember this playing at a cross-dress party (girls came dressed as boys, boys came dressed as girls), and the party got busted by the atlanta cops twice. I remember one of the hosts standing out in the backyard, talking to the cops, all the while in his little orphan Annie red dress.

ah, there are others, but I will keep those memories to myself.

In my last semester of college, I lived behind the Jolly Fox in Huntsville. They used to blast this song that really stood out because it caused certain vibrations that other songs didn't. I could never hear the melody. And I didn't know the actual song, just knew the bass. One day I finally heard the actual song. No denying...it was "No Diggity" by Blackstreet. They blasted that thing at least once or twice a night when they were open, during the time the song was popular (1997). Anyway, when I hear that song, I think of sleeplessness.

I never really liked that club. 17th Street was cool.

Spoon's "Stay, Don't Go" ....I like to oil my bod to that song.

The first one that comes to mind is the Spin Doctors' "Two Princes". Make's me think of playing vids in the local arcade, back when smoking inside was socially acceptable/required. Oh, Street Fighter palm-blister, how I yearn for you...

Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill -- the night my (now ex-)wife and I decided to get a divorce. We discussed it, I went upstairs, she stayed downstairs, and the next thing I know, she's cranking that album.

When I think of that place, I always think of Damn Yankees "Higher".

"High Enough"

Creed did "Higher."

And now I must R. Budd Dwyer myself for not only knowing this, but feeling compelled to announce such.

Man, I have this memory of this amazingly hot chick that I was totally into and she completely snubbed me, but not on purpose, she just wasn't into me. I was like 14 or 15. Turns out, years later, she actually was incredibly hot, and I wasn't completely deluded by visions of her grandeur when I was young. That's what I think of when I think of Damn Yankees "High Enough."

Way to dig up memories DumpJack. Thanks for not reminiscing about frigging Nelson.

Too bad about the catch, F(oley, mat)T. Although I suppose willingly mentioning Nelson might be a little lame.

reminds me of the time i was assraped.

I tried to sell this disc yesterday at Rasputin. They offered .05 cents for it.

I actually did know that, Bob. I'm surprised that I got that wrong because I remember a lot of shitty music. Even worse, I think it was F4 on the juke where fatwrapper and I used to eat cheap Chinese food and greasy coffee.



Who's that? And hey I could have dug up worse memories, like Trixter.

ah yes, a good thread to post to.

"elderly woman" - pearl jam and "if i can't change your mind" by sugar- reminds me of my first boyfriend mike.

"i want a little girl" by t-bone somethin' (his last name escapes me right now), "jesus everyday" by treat her right and "picture in a frame" by tom waits - all remind me of my ex-husband.

"holland 1945" by neutral milk hotel, "start of something" by voxtrot, "raging red" by dear leader, "going missing" by maximo park - remind me of my last relationship.

better than ezra reminds me of college.

faith no more reminds me of seventh grade and finally getting to buy my own music.

this guy and i talked about the song reclamation project where some songs really, really hurt to listen to because they remind you of something lost or sad. you have to like, listen to them in a new situation over and over again until something else clicks instead of whatever you previously associated it with. that's some tough shit.

It took way tougher fags than some Cranberries' fans to ass rape me.