It'll change your life, I promise you...

[TheLuckyOne]

"You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life, I promise you."
~Sam

Those of you who've seen Garden State already (and if you haven't, shame, shame) may recognize the above quote, in reference to a song by The Shins. So here's your question for the day- what single song actually HAS changed your life? It doesn't have to be your favorite song; in fact, it could be a song you hate, one that you paid so much attention to frantically changing the radio station to avoid hearing it that you lost control of your car and now need to use a special machine to poop. Conversely, maybe it's a song that helped you and your S.O. fall in love, or one that made you a new friend. Maybe one song affected you so deeply you ran off and became a groupie, or maybe one song gave you the courage to dump the loser you were with. It could be anything, really, and I'm curious- let's hear what we've all got to say.

Personally, I've got a few, but one of the major ones is REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), which I credit for vastly expanding my musical tastes. I'm not ashamed to admit that I used to be a complete pop radio whore- if I listened to music at all, it was solely what was playing on the radio at that time. But ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF) changed that- though it, in and of itself, IS a radio-friendly song that gets played a lot, it led to my seeking out other REM albums to see whether I would like them as much as I did Document. Well, surprise, surprise: I did, and that in turn led to a major change in my attitude toward music. (So there WERE songs recorded in the 80s with more depth than the Safety Dance!) I'm still no hipster or Empire Records employee, but I'm a LOT more willing to give older or obscure music a chance now, a liberality that I think has had some impact on the way I live my life in general as well. So thank you, REM, for making me less musically conservative. We salute you!

Anybody else?

-D

[dajaymann]

Riding in a car on the way back from Baltimore, during a trip back when I was about 15, I found out my mom had made a copy of a Cream tape from one of her best friends we were visiting up there. Reason being, is that I had been learning to play guitar for about a year, and she was pretty sure I would like it. This, however was a vast understatment. For the uninitiated, Cream was a rock band from the late 60's that consisted of Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton. When "Crossroads" came on, I was blown away. And since then, I've been chasing that power, that feeling, that clarity that is embodied in Eric Clapton's guitar. It's almost like a spiritual journey or something.

Oh, and I (kinda) named my daughter after "Layla". That's pretty important too, I suppose.

[Deleted]

I'd have to say "Aliens Exist" by Blink 182, which I first heard in...6th (or 7th) grade. This is gonna sound really stupid, but before that, I mainly just listened to stupid pop stuff, or didn't pay any attention to music at all (oddly enough, I was a pretty frenetic music listener in ELEMENTARY school.) But after my friend played that song I was like "Woah...awesome!" And that's what got me into rock-y type stuff.

[pythianlegume]

Sum 41's "Fat Lip" did the same thing for me. I decided I liked them, and a hip eighth-grade friend burned the CD for me along with The Donnas' "The Donnas," Green Day's "International Superhits," and the Ramones' "Rocket to Russia."

[duckie]

I think the song that fits for me is Alive, by Pearl Jam. First time I saw the video on MTv (back when they still played videos), it just opened up a whole new world. At that point, I was sick of all the glam rock that was out there, and Alive was surfacing at the perfect time.

I think that's the song that really ushered in the grunge movement for me (although Nirvana was already out there). I fondly look back at my moshing days, and recall many weeknights where I was heading home at 3AM, knowing I had to get up for work in a few hours...

[Hucklebubba]

TheLuckyOne said:

ITEOTWAWKI(AIFF)

Is that Cherokee?

Take all that stuff you said about REM and you no longer being a pop whore, but replace It's the End of the World As We Know It with Styx's Mr. Roboto and you have the story of my life-changing song.

My quest for an album with Mr. Roboto on it lead me to like the rest of Styx's stuff, which in turn lead to a fascination with similar bands like Boston and REO Speedwagon. This, in turn, developed into a liking for almost all 80s music. So, I'm still a pop whore, just outdated.

[ThePickleMan]

About 3 years ago I was just sitting on my computer downloading songs (like any other innocent 13 year old!) and I saw "The Get Up Kids" on my brothers shirt, and he told me it was a band. I d/led some of their stuff and I loved it. First song I heard of theirs was "Red Letter day" and that was the song that opened me up to Emo and Indie Rock. Sure, they may be more pop then my favorite bands American Football and Owen, but they were the band that got me into listening to music that had meaning behind it.

[Ms. Jellybean]

Meh. There's too many for me.

I heard "The Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe this summer, and now everyone knows me as "The chick who likes that freshman song". Among other sordid things. Seriously, it's one of those that helps bring back the memories of SVSM, which really opened my mind to a lot of different things politically, socially, and academically. Summer science and math camp is just a cover-up for something much cooler. ;D

There's also "On My Own" from Les Mis, which has become one of those songs with a deep personal meaning that should not be revealed online.

"Tiny Dancer" by Elton John (freshman year of marching band), "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin (got me on my LOTR kick), "The End" by The Doors (opened my eyes to psychedelia... is that even a word?)...

Speaking of changing me from a pop whore, Aerosmith's "Dream On" was solely responsible for that. After seeing it live, with everyone holding up a lighter... priceless.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

"Dragula" by Rob Zombie. I've talked about my relationship with this song elsewhere, I'm sure, but I'll elaborate here:

Up until I was 12 or 13, I didn't listen to much music. Honestly, I remember I had Napster, and there were only 10-20 files in my folder. And most of them were Monty Python soundbites and Weird Al Yankovic songs. Then my sister started listening to loud, metal crap like Slipknot and Kittie, which I hated instantly. I couldn't stand it, I thought it was obnoxious and annoying, and what made it worse was the fact that she would listen to the same annoying songs over and over again. One of those songs was "Dragula".

Right from the beginning, there was something about that song I liked. Something separated it from the other likeminded stuff I would hear her play. So I downloaded it, and some other songs by him, and thanks to www.allmusic.com, I learned about other similar bands, and I grew into the wretched figure I am now. I've been learning guitar for a year and a half now, with a desire to learn a million other instruments, and music seems to have influenced me now more than anything has before.

And ironically, I had first heard of Rob Zombie a year or so before then, when a song of his was advertised on a compilation album on TV, and right away I thought he was a knock-off of Marilyn Manson.

[HeyCreepy]

I don't think any song necessarily changed my life. I'm too stubborn. But there are some songs that came close.

"Poor Man's House" by Patty Griffin. It nearly brought me to tears. It was gritty, honest and hit close to home. It made me want to run out and give a random person a big hug and say "It's okay!"

"Blue" by LeAnn Rimes. Made me want to be a singing sensation by age 17. Didn't happen.

"Angel, Angel Down We Go Together" by Morrissey. The song made me feel like I wasn't alone and put me in a better state of mind.

"Llorando" by Rebekah Del Rio. You may recognize this song from the movie Mulholland Drive. It made me want to learn the language. (Hasn't happened yet...but hopefully it will!)

"You're Still You" by Josh Groban. I decided that if anyone sings that song to me perfectly, I would marry them. I then found out that there are some really shallow baritones.

[DarthToad]

Wow, this may take a while.

Smashing Pumpkins - Bullets With Butterfly Wings. the Smashing Pumpkins were my first favorite band. I mean, I really wasn't into much when I was little, but then my friend Daniel introduced me to this song and well, the rest is history.

Green Day - When I Come Around. Green Day was my second favorite band, and I don't know, I just used to feel very loose while listening to them, and I guess I still do. And I'm a pretty tight/nervous person. I remember there were a few songs when I was in 4th grade or so that my friends and I would call "rare" songs because they'd never play them on the radio (never meaning that they would play it, but really rarely). When I Come Around was one of them. The other two? Waterfalls by TLC and...

Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffanys. The "rarest" of the "rare" songs, there was something almost mystical about this song. There still is to me. But then there was this whole thing when I was in 8th grade when "everyone" was listening to this a cappela version of it, and you'd imagine that i'd be really exited since it's such a good song, but I thought that they were spoiling the meaning of it to me. Of course, listening to it off of Napster kept that feeling.

Fuel - Shimmer. The one thing that reminds me of camp in 1999. I thought that was a good year for camp (though soon it was exceeded by 2001 and, of course, 2004), and this song recieved a lot of airplay back then. I'm not sure if it exactly "changed my life," but I'm not sure if a lot of these other songs did either.

Stroke 9 - Little Black Backpack. It's not exactly the type of song I'd like now, even though I still would say I like it, but it helped me get through 7th grade. I probably would've snapped without it. I don't know what this song (or any of these songs on this list) mean to other people, but the meanings are all different to me.

Collective Soul - The World I Know. This song has had influence on my life for a while. When this song was played on the radio, I usually didn't think much of it, but when I did, I was in one of those "bad" philisophic moods, where you're just wondering why the world is how it is. After I downloaded it, well, I could play it whenever I was in the mood, so it really helped me get through some things.

David Bowie - Changes. I had a lot of changes since I donwloaded this song. So whenever I play this song, or almost whenever, it has some special significance to the time changing. So it helped me get through that.

Okay, I could go on forever. Seriously. I don't even think what I wrote so far can do any of these songs, and especially the other songs that have influenced me tremendously, justice. But I suppose I have room for the top three.

3. Mmmmbop - Hanson. I will be perfectly honest with you. I'm allowed to put songs I hate on this list. I seriously hate this song. It may be the dumbest thing ever created by a major corporation. This is the song that tought me what bad music really is. Yes. It is. I could not listen to it no matter where it was. I started losing my power and sinking to the ground like it was melting me with its evil sound waves. I visited all the anti-Hanson sites (bad obsession for a little kid. My parents shouldn't have let me use the internet at that young of an age). Yes, I hated this song. It annoyed me for years. However, I do not ever have to listen to it again now. And hey, if it wasn't for this, then who knows what stuff I would have ended up liking later. I could've been a Backstreet Boys fan. Oh God, the thought scares me.

2. The Who - Baba O'Reily. Before I heard this song, I was fairly lost as a teenager, being a loner and all. But then, "it's only teenage wasteland." Everything has it's own significane to me, so those words, they've helped me get through all of that. It sort of turns those things around, makes everything feel like it's only passing. And that is a good feeling.

1. David Bowie/Queen - Under Pressure. It's my current favoirte song of all time. Yes. It is. It reminds me of the ocean. I know that sounds weird, but it does. It just expresses something in me that I can't tell anyone what it is. I'm not even sure if I know. But it reminds me that at the end of the school year, after it's all over, I can see the ocean. And it calms me down. Then there's that feeling that I'm always a person who puts himself under pressure, who always doubts himself, but it all goes away when I listen to it. After being introduced to it, I just felt so much better about everything. Especially a while afterwards. I mean, the meaning sort of built up over time.

I could write a book about this, about how songs influenced me. Well, anyway, it's late, and I have this "being crazy when it's late" thing, so if I sounded crazy there, uh, well, just keep in mind that it's late. Yeah.