lifestyles
What music do you associate with
A Valentine's Day special
By Jake Arnold
Illustrations by Micah Laaker
In much of Latin America seranata is an integral part of blooming love.
"In Latin America, it is traditional for the boyfriend to go to the girlfriend's house and sing to her," said Clara Escamilla, San Salvador, El Salvador junior. "She must leave the house when the song is finished. Then they can talk or kiss or hold each other. It is very important for the relationship."
Escamilla's first love serenaded her with "La Barca," which means "The Boat." The song remains very special to her.
In the United States, not too many boys venture to stand under their beloved's window and belt out pop tunes. Music
is still a strong part of Americans' romantic and social lives, though. We play music in bars, at dances, during romantic dinners and when we are suffering alone in a dark room after a traumatic breakup.
As such, certain songs and albums for each of us have the power to take us back to important moments in our lives. I set out to find some of these signposts on the road of love for college-age people. Random interviews produced musical memories that many in our age group hold in common. Because we don't always remember the exact title or album name, I left the memories just as they were given me. Perhaps you remember them, too.
your first love
just love that quickens your heart can bring about more general musical associations. Show them from Time
Shawn Fapp, Topeka senior, associates her first love with "gushy love songs" in general, but particularly Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do."
Melissa Smith, Lake Forrest, III. Junior, associates love with country music. I didn't start listening to her.
"I didn't start listening to it until I dated this one guy and he was my first love," she says.
who love has a lot to do with musical associations.
Scott Stanley Wilkes
associations. Scott Stanley, Wilmette, Ill., sophomore, thinks of Peter Gabriel when thinking of his first love.
killing of his mother she loved to listen to," he says. "It was on all the tapes she gave me." Andy Holmes, Shearer
Andy Holmes, Shawnee junior,
thinks of Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight."
"I love it."
it mentions a girl with long blonde hair like my girlfriend has," he says. "The song
talks about how she puts him to bed (when he has been drinking too much), and she has done that for me many times."
"Note that for me many times."
Ideas expressed by songs also
link them to our past.
"Leather and乳胶" by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley makes Sheri Petering, Deep River, Conn., senior, think of her first love. "It is about the whole if
about the whole 'forever' thing, she says.
Richard Ebel, Wichita senior,
can't name the song, but it is still
stuck in his head.
"The boy."
this head.
"The lyrics went, 'Every time you go away, you take a little piece of me with you.' he says, "I saw it."
of me with you." he says. "I was in Hawaii that summer. The song was always on, and I had a pretty interesting relationship."
Jenny Trickle, Bonner Springs senior, thinks of Tesla's "LoveSong." "It seemed kind of optimistic," he says. "We were kids getting
also something new.
Several people remember
bands typical of
'80s music, such as
Def Leppard and
INXS.
ving your heart b
song is a reminder. Melissa Smith, Lake Forrest, Ill., junior, said that after she had her heart broken the first time she just had to turn off the radio. "Any song that screams
"Any song that says anything about love makes you want to cry," she said.
actor for heartbreak music.
"I listen to anything by the Smiths," she said. "They tend to be very depressing."
Jenny Trickle, Bonner Spring senior, thinks of depressing songs, particularly "Cuts Like a Knife" by Bryan Adams, when thinking of that first break up. Jannette Salisbury, Dodge City junior, also sees depression as a factor for her success.
Jannette Salisbury, Dodge City junior, also sees depression as a factor for heartbreak music
Sheri Petering er,
Conn., seni, Otis
Redding's "Dock of the Bay."
"It is my favorite song
when I'm depressed,"
she said.
For many, one
For many, one song is the
For Shawn Fapp, Topeka senior, it is Extreme's "More Than Words."
more," she said.
Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" always takes Alison Buckley, Chicago freshman, back to that moment.
Aerosmith's song, "What It Takes" is a reminder for Scott Stanley, Wilmette, Ill., sophomore. He took in the
epit-
ome of that
first heartbreak
"I realized we wouldn't be together anymore," she said. Van Morrison's "Inst
your first kiss?
"It took me a long time to get over her," he says.
Two musical pleasures.
Katy freshman. "Hard to Handle' by the Black Crowes and Tesla's album Psychotic Supper," he says. "We were at a party and 'Hard to Handle' stands out. That was when my heart got broken. The morning after, I listened to Tesla."
Two musical pieces suspend that moment in time for Brian Henry, Junction City freshman. *Hard to Handle.*
tic love starts with that first kiss. The
associations.
Music reminds Sheri Petering,
Deep River, Conn., senior, of a specific emotion.
cine emotion.
"I associate my first kiss with a song about panic," she says. "I was scared."
For Shawn Fapp, Topeka senior, though the memories come when he Starburst commercials.
and thus the start of the road to love has definite associations. Kindle Short Peterin
Others get into dairy products when describing that first pucker. Sam Billing, Topeka junior, associates the band Chicago's album Seventeen with his first kiss. "He says, 'Oh
en with his first kiss.
"It was pretty cheesy," he says. "It was in seventh grade at a junior high dance and they were playing a lot of songs from that album."
nears the starburst commercials. "We shared a Starburst and then kissed," she says. "It was a very fruity kiss."
music that brings them Andy O'Keefe, Edina, Minn., freshman, doesn't like Testa, but that is the group he thinks of when remembering his first kiss.
Corn comes to mind, too. Jim Smith, Winfield sophomore, remembers "Queen of Hearts" by Juice Newton as the song he kissed to
songs from that album
Corn comes to mind, too
as kiss-related memories.
You don't necessarily have to like the music that brings memories of a kiss.
Culture phenomenons also play a role. Songs from the romantic Top Gun soundtrack came up several times as kiss-related memories.
"Part of the lyrics in What you give fit how we met," he says.
Coums because it was played TGIF. Brian Henry, Junction City freshman, had just finished listening to the rap album Adventures of Slick Rick when he kissed a girl on a bus to Worlds of Fun. Culture phenomenons also play a
"It was just as corny as the first kiss," he says.
Location often dictates the music we hear.
Andy Holmes, Shawnee junior,
remembers the Michael Jackson
album just before *Thriller* because it
was popular at the roller skating rink.
Alison Buckley, Chicago freshman,
remembers "Groovy Kind of Love" by
Phil Collins because it was playing at
Phil Collins because it was playing at a TGIF, Brian Henry, Junction City
osing your virginity
Alison Buckley, Chicago freshman will always have a special memory associated with Robert Plant's Manic Nirvana, and Jim Smith. Winfield sophomore, associates the event with the Beatles.
ing one's virginity is a once-in-a lifetime occasion, so it tends to keep people's minds busy. It was definite
Jenny Trickle, Bonner Springs senior, thinks of Whitney Houston's "I'll Always Love You."
minds oussy.
"It was definitely to music but
I can't remember what," says
Andy Holmes, Shawnee junior. "My
mind was occupied."
Some do remember.
hindi was occupied.
Some do remember what was playing the first time, though.
"That was how I felt about that person," she says. "I got all swept away." Brian Henry, Junction City freshman, associates that time in his life with "November Rain," by Guns and Roses. The Ramones take Sheri Petering, Deep River, Conn., senior, back to her first
"We used to listen to the Ramones a lot and I think of that whole time period," she says.
The musical tastes of the person you are with often color the memory.
Shawn Fapp, Topeka senior, associates the Nine Inch Nails album featuring the song "Head Like a Hole" with her first time.
"He introduced me to Nine Inch Nails, so the two are interrelated," she says.
ed, snee says. Cameron Heeg, Overland Park junior, also thinks of that same Nine Inch Nails album.
Nine times I said about it,
"It was my girlfriend's tape," he
says. "It is seductive and powerful
music."
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
music. Andy O'Keefe, Edina, Minn., freshman, when recalling his first time, sees Led Zeppelin as a fitting background.
"It is good music to do it to," he says. "The way they put it together is erotic. The Grateful Dead is the same kind of stuff."
: :
KU Life
People and places at the University of Kansas.
THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
■ In August, police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, arrested master thief Robson Augusto Araujo and confiscated a stash of his business cards with the firm name (in Portuguese) "Thefts and Robberies," Ltd. and his job title "Thief." Though the card's address was fake, the cellular phone number was real, along with the legend "325 IS," which is the model of BMW he specialized in stealing.
Also in August, police in Chandler, Ariz., confiscated a videotape allegedly made by fourteen age boys known as the Insane Skate Posese and containing inspirational promotional messages of mayhem and destruction designed to recruit new members for their gang. They are shown having fun by smoking marijuana, drinking beer, destroying a parked car and making harassing phone calls.
In July, the Catholic Church in the Netherlands announced it had reached an agreement with cellular home companies to sell space on church steeplees for the companies' antennas.
In October, The New York Times reported that Kimberly-Clark Corp. had received a patent for chemically realistic, synthetic feces that it
regards as crucial for testing diapers and incontinence garments. Technicians had concluded that makeshift substances, such as mashed potatoes, peanut butter and canned pumpkin pie mix were inadequate because they separated into liquids and solids more quickly than feces did.
Vermont Business Magazine reported last spring that the Holstein-Friesian Association, which exports pedigreed dairy cattle to their clients in Europe and Saudi Arabia, delivers the animals by air in Federal Express planes.
OVERREACTIONS
The Charlotte Observer reported in June that a Sanford, N.C., man drove to City Hall, wearing only a towel, to complain that his water had just been shut off in the middle of his shower. After the city pointed out that his account was overdue and that it had mailed two warnings, the man stood in line, paid his bill, and drove back home to finish his shower.
In June, in Liberty, Ohio, police officer Bradley L. Sebastian, tired of waiting for his food order at Denny's, stormed into the kitchen, held his service revolver to the cook's head and told her he would kill her if she didn't hurry up.
MISCELLANEOUS ELOQUENCE
Oklahoma City prosecution Pattye Wallace, on a jury's recommendation that Charles Scott Robinson be sentenced to 5,000 years in prison on each of six counts of rape of a 3-year-old girl (which the judge ruled were to be served in sequence, from 1995 until the year 31995). "I don't know if we'll get more 30,000-year sentences or not, but [this one] was deserved."
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