Big Wreck – That Song

When The Daily Soundtrack launched last summer, we did so in hopes of bringing a passion for music to our readers. We all love music. We crave finding more of it. We love it across genres, even if we each obviously have certain places we are most comfortable.  I believe, and certainly I know this to be true with my closest colleagues, that we all approach our own playlists in this way: it’s not about making sure we have the newest hits (or even hits at all… every group has its own shared soundtrack of tracks that seem obscure to others but are touchstones for that particular group). There is more attention paid to mood than genre: if one wants to dance, it doesn’t matter if it’s Billy Ocean, Frank Ocean, or Frank Black, so long as there’s a groove behind it. A good playlist, also, should be randomized. There was a period in my life, when I was trying to get more exposed to metal, that Finntroll might play back to back with Paula Abdul. So it goes. Music isn’t about genres, even if we prefer certain ones over others. It’s about how it makes us feel.

So with this in mind, we set out to simply talk about the music we wanted to talk about, for the reasons we wanted to talk about it. There is no shortage of places to read opinions on the newest music: sometimes this will be a place for that, too, but that is not our goal. To me, The Daily Soundtrack exists in the realm of how we believe the music fan listens to music. We try to focus on how the song itself connects to us. Sometimes it is the deep connection, the moment that a track engrains into the fibers of our life. Other times it is the way a moment makes us reflect on a song. Still other times, the songs inspire us in different ways. It’s about the many roles music can take in our lives, as ideal background or center stage as a crucial part of a moment, as friendly confessor or awkward challenger. It is something which many of us play, and which plays us. If we had a mission statement, somewhere in there would be some language about the human factor in music.

For me at least, Big Wreck wrote this site’s theme song long ago. Certainly, they wrote what has long felt like my personal theme song for my love of music. This song, “That Song,” not only makes for deliriously awkward sentences, but captures a small moment of how music can infiltrate into our lives. The unnamed song, forced into the singer’s room, brings up a certain nostalgia, leading into memories of lost love, where the song remains for its bulk. Only the chorus comes back to the song itself, a moment of turning up the volume, zoning out, and letting the music wash over our protagonist. It’s a moment I believe all music fans understand. Maybe it’s the outro that cuts to the quick, making us pause even when it comes on as intended background. Maybe it’s the lead riff that causes us to break into air-guitar. Maybe the song as a whole brightens or darkens a rainy day with the memory it carries. Whatever the reason, a song comes along and halts us, and we drown, just for a moment perhaps, but utterly and deeply into the world of the song. Outwardly, we pause, we “sit and stare,” but inwardly we live out the scenes that the song paints… not the lyrics, but the memories we associate.

It’s not every song, of course… it couldn’t be (thankfully)… sometimes we hear a song and just think about seeing the band live, and how they performed it. Sometimes we hear a song and laugh over one unintentionally funny lyric. Sometimes we discover a song and it makes us feel like memories we haven’t had, or moments that the song could never have been a part of. Sometimes it is just the blind rage we feel toward the song, or the calm sense of appreciation that it makes us feel. Whatever. Even I’ve found new songs from some of this site’s contributions, and this always excites me. We hope that this is part of the experience for you, too… that even as you seek out the music you love, you perhaps also stumble onto new friends. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment this little site could claim is being a part of your memory of a track, because you discovered it with us.

As TDS version 2.0 begins, we will be growing slowly back to full capacity. We hope you bear with us, and continue to join us. We’ll continue cranking the tunes and reminiscing about the times. Perhaps we’ll also be lucky enough for you to chime in with “I really love this tune.”

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