Right off the bat I should tell you that I considered putting the group 311 as photo of this post, but instead stood with my initial call to use Dolores and the other dudes whose names I don’t care enough about to know. Of course, on the surface, those two bands share very little in common, both musically and in regards to their fan base. I should know. I am not what you would call a fan of either of the two bands. So why then am I saluting The Cranberries? It’s because of what they mean to me, on a deeply personal level.
The idea of a certain genre of music or artist marking a definitive point in your life is certainly not novel or unique. Just about anyone who considers themselves a fan of music can easily point out specific songs that remind them of times had, memories created, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. The difference in this instance though, is that a group like The Cranberries holds that place in my head, despite the fact that I never consciously listened to them.
Basically, the songs “Linger” and “Dreams” mean high school to me, more specifically, senior year of high school. (I enjoyed high school, but I’m not one of those people who viewed it as the end-all be-all, it was fun, but not epic, horrible at times, but not traumatizing, it just was). The only reason I’m writing about this is because I heard “Dreams” today on the radio on the way to work, and even though I’m in my 30’s, married and a father, just hearing that song brough me back to my senior prom.
*NOTE -My prom was a big deal because we didn’t have junior proms and also because my school made the awesome and totally insane decisions to hold it the day after graduation meaning 98% of everyone there was either drunk, high, or both. The evening started at the traditional event hall (never in a gym like in movies because who really has their prom in a gym anyway), and then somehow migrated to a club in NYC. How this was all coordinated so that everyone from the prom wound up at the club, and how the club let 500+ clearly underage high school students not only have access to a fully stocked cash bar but also allowed these same kids to get high in plain view of everyone on site is beyond me. To this day I don’t know who set it up but I’d like to thank them. Not only for the great night, but also for allowing me to have the visual of seeing every single one of my classmates completely wasted and grinding on the dance floor with their respective dates, fully making out and then some. I mean, you haven’t lived until you seen nerdy couples, metal couples, stoner couples, and just plain average couples all going buck wild in the same vicinity, trust me on this, it was awesome.
The interesting thing though is that “Dreams” wasn’t our class song at the prom. In fact, I don’t even think they played it at the prom. No, instead, it was song that played in my head when putting together my own personal movie montage of getting ready for and attending the prom with all of my high school friends. Yes, I realize that sounds extremely lame, however, I know I’m not alone in putting together a soundtrack in my head to score the scenes from the personal movie that I call my life. To me, that is what makes “Dreams” so amazing, and by association “Linger” which actually was on in the car a lot ( it was huge on radio in late 93, early 94) when my friends and I were driving around. Of course at the time, I don’t think any of us admitted liking it, but looking back I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who dug it.
What’s great about these songs is that in a lot of ways they have impacts on our lives that are beyond our control. The Cranberries are the music of my fondest high school memory. 311’s “Don’t Stay Home” will always make me think of my freshman year in college, even though I don’t recall any of my friends listening to the band that often. In putting together this little mental checklist I was tempted to add “Tubthumping” to represent my semester abroad in London in the Fall of 1997 before reconsidering. It didn’t make the cut because, oddly enough, that was a song we actively sought out and celebrated, albeit usually in an extremely drunken bar of club setting. We made the effort to tie memories to that, whereas, “Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny” by the Bloodhound Gang just was (a favorite of one of my flatmates), and therefore evokes more instant memories of that wonderful time period.
While I may specifically calling out The Cranberries, what I’m really doing is celebrating all of those songs that have permenantly entrenched in my brain. They may not take up the same space as bands and singers like The Grateful Dead, Phish, Beck and Weezer, huge favorites of mine that have consumed thousands of hours of listening time in my life, but they are just as important. So here’s to you Cranberries, you will always remind of me of my ridiculous tuxedo with a red checkerboard vest, my ugly haircut, my date Michelle, and amazingly wasted evening with my friends in high school. Thanks!
Tags: 311, London, Prom, The Cranberries
