The Lighter Side of Teen Angst

It's amazing the insight you can get on your life when you are listening to the music that shaped your life over 15 years ago. 

The summer between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college I lost a friend to a freakish and completely unnecessary accident.  Making the transition from high school to college is difficult enough.  Especially when you're moving 2,000 miles away from home.  Doing so while contemplating a world in which really random shit can kill you is just mind boggling.

The day after the funeral I bought Yaz's Upstairs at Eric's, specifically for the song In My Room, which is one of the most depressing songs ever to come out of the Depeche Mode family*.  Oh, how I listened to the tape over and over and over again just contemplating the world as only a teenager can do.

But in going back and listening to the tape today, I discovered something I never realized before.  A lot of the songs are very happy, poppy songs.  Or completely random sampling.  Stuff that might actually cheer you up.  Give you a glimpse of sun behind the clouds.  Perhaps help lead you to a cheery day.  And thank god for that!

* Vince Clark was an original member of Depeche Mode, who left to form Yaz and later on Erasure, so in the family tree of 1980's new wave, these all fall under the Depeche Mode family.  A fairly easy family to follow,  as contrasted to the Bauhaus family, which we do not have enough space to get into here.