On Saturday, as I was watching the Gamecocks whoop Kentucky, a commercial for ESPN's "Grantland.com" intrigued me. There were a few variations of the commercial, but each of them portrayed Grantland as mysterious, concealing its purpose. I took a few minutes to check out the website and was stopped short of solving the mystery because of Chuck Klosterman's article about "Nostalgia." The article discusses gaps in the popular "phenomenon" of music and emotion or in this case nostalgia, which makes it a great read because it challenges my passions! Anything that challenges, pushes the line, or plays the devil's advocate creates a space for me to think about new ideas on the topic of music and emotions and motivates me to prove, discuss, or show what is working.
There are many interesting points that Klosterman argues in his lengthy article, but I'll choose just one. In his last paragraph, Klosterman talks about "Connectivity." Klosterman suggests that people place a "false nostalgia" value on a specific song based on repeated exposure to a particular song. He says that people don't even have to like the song and are able to do this with any song. In a side note, he urges the reader to listen to a song they might not normally listen to over and over for six months and that at any point in the future, hearing that song will make the reader feel "incredible."
Klosterman says that, instead, people should place the value of a song based on fleeting moments that we share with many people. To paint a picture, below are Klosterman's exact words:
"It won't be a kid playing the same song 1,000 times in a row; it will be
that kid remembering when he and 999 other people all played the same
song once (and immediately discussed it on Twitter, or on whatever
replaces Twitter). It will be a short, shared experience that seems vast
enough to be justifiably memorable. And I don't know what that will feel like, and I don't know if it will be better or worse."
Unless I'm misinterpreting his meaning of "repeat," and I don't think I am, here are brief versions of my counterarguments, all of which I can provide a collection of detailed short stories to accompany, if anyone is interested:
"Forever and Ever, Amen" by Randy Travis - My Grandpop Picking Me and My Mom up in the Mornings.
"O-o-h Child" by the Five Fairsteps - The Death of a Friend
"With a Little Help From My Friends" by the Beatles - My Senior Prom Song
"I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues" by Elton John - My First Heartbreak
A ton between here and the time of my wedding song, which was "Crazy Love" by Van Morrison
"Birthday" by the Beatles - The Birth of My Daughter...and the list goes on.
One last point, is feeling nostalgic such a bad thing? I'm pretty sure I can name a few feelings that are worse.
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