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Does anyone else here use music as a "time machine"?

Do you experience this as well?

  • Total voters
    16
Deluded Dragon

Deluded Dragon

New Member
I find myself attaching emotionally to certain songs as they correspond with the event in which I first heard them.

I have a certain music album by Enya that I listen to in order to take me back to my stay at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in November of 2015. It exhilarates the experience in my mind once more.

My winter songs are chill mixes, while my summer songs are rock and alternative. The feeling that arises in the atmosphere depending on the song I choose moves me and makes me feel like I'm being hugged. I feel that I can transport my mind back to a certain era or year by the song or album that I lose myself in. The Winter of 2016 happens to be wrapped up in Carly Rae Jepsen's dual album, Emotion & Emotion: Side B.

I also have moon songs, (my favorite). Say Lou Lou (music artist) is a great example of what the full moon sounds like to me.
 
I replay a lot of old video game OST and it make me cry , but old music reminds me off my past aswell.

I am not as well organised as you thought.
 
Music is a powerful reminder of past times. I'm in my late 40s and my 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s playlists always bring back powerful memories. I also have noisy and mainstream playlists which evoke different memories and emotions.
 
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Never on purpose, and usually it's not positive. But sound and smell are two of our strongest triggers for memories, so that's going to happen to most people, whether they like it or not. But I guess you're asking if anyone else does it on purpose, in which case, nope! I often do the opposite and avoid songs that would do that. Nostalgia hurts too much.
 
I think it depends on your attitude to the past. I try to focus on the good memories so it works for me. There are certain songs that trigger bad memories so I avoid them like the plague!
 
I definitely prefer old hits to modern stuff, in fact IMO anything after about 1992 was rubbish except from 1996 when the Spice Girls came in (but only because I kind of fancied the Posh one)
 
All the time. Can't think of an easier way to go back to the 60s than put on a Beatles tune. Or Boston to be back in the 70s. Or Duran Duran to be back in the 80s.

As for the 90s and beyond, there is only silence.
 
Yes, songs can bring back memories. I feel them most with those I was listening to when I first was dating my wife and was very elated.

This is one of my full moon songs

 
Deluded Dragon said:
I find myself attaching emotionally to certain songs as they correspond with the event in which I first heard them.

I have a certain music album by Enya that I listen to in order to take me back to my stay at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in November of 2015. It exhilarates the experience in my mind once more.

My winter songs are chill mixes, while my summer songs are rock and alternative. The feeling that arises in the atmosphere depending on the song I choose moves me and makes me feel like I'm being hugged. I feel that I can transport my mind back to a certain era or year by the song or album that I lose myself in. The Winter of 2016 happens to be wrapped up in Carly Rae Jepsen's dual album, Emotion & Emotion: Side B.

I also have moon songs, (my favorite). Say Lou Lou (music artist) is a great example of what the full moon sounds like to me.
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I listen to a lot of British classic rock from the sixties and seventies because it reminds me of the fun times when I was a young adult. My favorite is Pink Floyd.

I like Enya too. Her music does not remind me of anything, it is just easy to listen to.
 


Elton John - Daniel
This song was playing when I worked in a resort as a teenager. It reminds me of a boy who I fell for hard the first time we met. He wrote plays and reminded me of a fair haired young hemingway. He worked at the bar on the lake for the summer. When summer ended we both said goodbye to one another and went our separate ways. The song reminds me of my youth, and those real emotions I felt for the first time.
 
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Another Elton John winner. This one has always helped me justify my need to kick against the pricks and fight back in life.

 
Sportster said:
I know what you mean. This is the song that does it for me:

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That's a good 'un for sure. I'm more familiar with the Tom Petty version and Johnny Cash did a cracking version too, but it's got the same spirit and has provided similar inspiration. Good call :)
 
Music takes me back big time - mostly good, some bad, and some I just can't listen to and have to turn it off and not sure why.
 
Does anyone else find triggering good memories of the past painful? For me, good or bad, it's not enjoyable, it's some sort of aching.
 
Fino said:
Does anyone else find triggering good memories of the past painful? For me, good or bad, it's not enjoyable, it's some sort of aching.
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Fino said:
Does anyone else find triggering good memories of the past painful? For me, good or bad, it's not enjoyable, it's some sort of aching.
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that's what confuses me - I know why I don't want to listen to songs that triggers bad memories, but the songs that I say I don't know why I have to turn them off are not negative feelings, but maybe some good feeling that I just don't want to feel. ???
 
I listen to mostly 80's because it makes me feel emotionally like I did when I was young and experiencing a lot of things for the first time in life. They were my exciting years.
And listening to them, (mainly while driving), just brings back that headstrong, Yeah, Won't Back Down
feeling inside. A bit of empowerment when I'm out in the world where I could easily feel weak.

Some songs make me think of certain people and times in my past.
It doesn't make me feel bad though.
Only a few songs I want to cry listening to and try to avoid.
Mostly the ones that were my Mom's favourites and she went around singing them.
Just too much emotional charge.

Enya is something else for me.
Somehow her voice has always made me feel warm and safe.
I listen to her going to sleep a lot at night. Soothes me like a soft blanket hug.
Angeles I think is the most comforting.
 
Most definitely - sometimes I spend some time just playing songs from various periods of my life that give me a real nostalgia trip!
 
This isn't an autism only trait, it's been observed that playing music to patients with dementia from their youth almost 'wakes' them up and they respond to this far more than anything else around them. The music takes them back to those times, feelings and experiences.

As for myself, I displace a lot of negative emotions into songs. There are many I can't listen to anymore because they will bring back too much pain.
 
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