Songs/Albums That Take You Back

[Mr. DS]

Are there certain songs/albums that take you back to a certain point of your life that you could recall what you were doing?  Maybe thoughts or feelings you had in the past either happy or sad. The Aerosmith thread make me think of the album Get A Grip.  I had just wrapped up Sophomore year in high school and it was summer time.  I recall that summer going to driving school and having a blast all vacation long.  The album was all over the radio so it kind of served as a soundtrack.

Certain songs on that album make also think of playing Revolution X in the arcade at Six Flags New England.  Particularly on cold fall nights when we'd go to enjoy their Halloween attractions.  It brings back a lot of happy memories.  

I'll mention other songs/albums but I figured I'd let you other folks get nostalgic with me first.  

[HappyGilmore]

One I can recall immediately is Running With Scissors by "Weird Al" Yankovic.  It takes me back to the summer of '99.  I was 15 years old, I was working part-time at a local corner store.  Al had a few videos released (The Saga Begins (about Episode 1), as well as a Puff Daddy parody), as well as having a "Behind the Music" special and an AL Tv special on MTV.  I also remember it as sort of a soundtrack in the car with friends as we'd be driving all over the place (to parties, to the movies (like the South Park movie, Star Wars Episode 1, etc). 

Just brings back these great memories of time long gone that I'll never get back, unfortunately, due to circumstances.  If I could relive that summer one more time, I'd be happy.

Can't explain what that summer meant to me.  Too much good stuff happened.  Life was much simpler then.

[Mr. DS]

Beat It by Michael Jackson makes me think of my brother's reaction to it.  I didn't personally see the video until later but I recall my brother coming home one night completely flipping out about the video.  He talked about it like it was the greatest thing he had ever seen.  I think he had caught it over his friend's house who unlike us had MTV. 

Speaking of that, I recall the rotation that was on MTV when we first got extended cable.  Guns And Roses had just hit big with Sweet Child O Mine (I didn't like them at the time though) and was playing what seemed like every other video.  MTV had a top 20 video countdown which I wactched all summer long.    I recall around this time discovering the early days of Nick that had shows like You Can't Do That On Television, Finders Keepers and Double Dare among others.  Like Happy pointed out, much simpler times. 

[HappyGilmore]

Speaking of that, I recall the rotation that was on MTV when we first got extended cable.  Guns And Roses had just hit big with Sweet Child O Mine (I didn't like them at the time though) and was playing what seemed like every other video.  MTV had a top 20 video countdown which I wactched all summer long.    I recall around this time discovering the early days of Nick that had shows like You Can't Do That On Television, Finders Keepers and Double Dare among others.  Like Happy pointed out, much simpler times. 

Oh, that kinda takes me back.  Sadly (or not so sadly), MTV and Nick developed my musical and television tastes for years to come.  Sounds like a bad thing, but not really.  My aunt (not much older than me, by like 5 years) was more like an older sister to me.  She had MTV on all the time in the '80s, so by the time I was 8 in the early '90s, everyone else was listening to pop radio, while I was listening to college radio, as they played what I had heard on MTV (Talking Heads, Cure, Elvis Costello, Weird Al, R.E.M, Pearl Jam, Adam Ant, Devo, and The B-52s, amongst others.)

And, good or bad, Nick had the best tv shows (Double Dare, You Can't Do That On Television, and my all-time favorites: Ren and Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life.)  Nickelodeon: What happened to ye?

[retrorussell]

The compilation albums of 70s or 80s always were chock full of hits (or semi-hits) that I grew up with.  I own the whole set of Have A Nice Day: Hits of the 70s, and Radio Daze: Hits of the 80's.  As for non-comp albums:

Boston (debut)
Boz Scaggs-Silk Degrees
Journey-Escape
Foreigner-Head Games
Foreigner-Double Vision
Foreigner-4
Asia (debut)
Blondie-Parallel Lines
Toto-IV

[Allhallowsday]

Hey!  General Akbar!  Gimme break!  Enough with the brine shrimp...  This should be youtube thread... flavor no tongue can repel!!!     
STARBUCK "Moonlight Feels Right"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOirZ-rg6Q   

PILOT "Magic"    Follow the link to youtube for this one, it's well worth it if you don't know this classic '70s top 40 hit. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iiryJwvDtc    

SWEET "Fox on the Run"  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MDCbIhTa_w 

GARY WRIGHT "Dream Weaver"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJEuiibhpcE 

GERRY RAFFERTY "Baker Street"   Follow the link to youtube for this one, it's well worth it if you don't know this classic '70s top 40 hit. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgbGaYTkkPU   

[AndyC]

Guns and Roses' Appetite for Destruction takes me back to the summer of '89, going to the drive-in and waiting for it to get dark. I'd just graduated high school. In fact, I saw Star Trek V at the drive-in on the same day I finished school. Had that tape playing in the car constantly that summer. That and Aerosmith's Greatest Hits (1979), which stirs up similar memories.

Alice Cooper's Constrictor reminds me of jogging at night around the same summer. Had that tape in the walkman on auto reverse and just kept listening.

Heart's Brigade reminds me of a summer in the early 90s. Three friends and I packed up and drove to Toronto for the Labour Day weekend. Strictly a last-minute thing, and the only accommodation we could find was at a shabby motel in an industrial area. When we went out on the town, this was what was in the tape deck. Wasn't my car. To this day, Fallen from Grace still reminds me of riding in the backseat through the streets of Toronto after dark, on our way to the Hard Rock Cafe, the CN Tower, etc.

Sweet Home Alabama reminds me of the annual camping trips I used to take with the same bunch of guys every May long weekend. The official start of summer for us. We were playing Skynyrd in the campsite, the car, the boat. That and Stompin' Tom Connors' A Proud Canadian album. But Stompin' Tom reminds me more of doing home improvements at my best friend's house in the early to mid 90s. It was our working music, played during whatever job we were doing.

This list could go on and on.

[HappyGilmore]

The Very Best of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons- Takes me back to the summer of 2005.  I had just turned 21, and my summer vacation.  We vacation every year at the Jersey Shore, and my grandfather had just be re-diagnosed with lung cancer (had it once, beat it, then two years later it came back), and he would blare his Frankie Valli cd on a loop the entire summer.  Particularly while we'd be driving all over the shore.  Which was a great soundtrack, having the 'Jersey Boys' playing while cruising the Jersey Shore.  Really was the best vacation I'd had, as I'd be at the beach and boardwalk all day, then at night I'd cruise the nightlife (I just turned old enough to drink), then head back to the motel to party with my friends and family from midnight to 4AM.

[Mr. DS]

Bohemeian Rhapsody reminds me of the summer Wayne's World came out and the song was everywhere.  My class had taken a trip to the beach in June.  I went through the 50 bucks my dad had given me on mostly games in the arcade on the boardwalk.  I had to bum a buck off a kid I know for a drink because I was beyond thirsty and out of money.  Overall, it was a great time.  It seems my fun in high school lasted through 10th grade and went downhill after that. 

[hellbilly]

Jill Jones - Jill Jones takes me back to the summer of 1987. I was a huge Prince fan and also bought every album of his protegees. I remember being so happy that I was able to get Jill Jones on CD! A friend of mine was working at a record store back then and she was kind enough to order me a copy. It was my most played album and I loved each song and had such a huge crush on Jill   Another highlight that same summer was catching a rare showing of Jill's one and only music video from the album, "Mia Bocca" on TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC1488biMTg

I started my first job in September, and Jill was accompanying me on my portable discman when things got boring during my shift. I still own the (long OOP) CD which at some point went for a couple hundred of dollars on e-bay and amazon a few years ago.

[Psycho Circus]

Pretty much every song by L.A. Guns makes me remember being dressed like a hooker, getting thrown out of bars and fighting with my ex-girlfriend.

[HappyGilmore]

SWEET "Fox on the Run"  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MDCbIhTa_w 
 

Is it wrong of me to say that I really like Sweet?

[retrorussell]

Nothing wrong with liking Sweet, even if Brian Connolly looks like a banana with a vest in this video.  I love to karaoke this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3XGjnQgsJA

[Joe the Destroyer]

Yeah, I was born 1980, did most of my musis listening in the 90's.  I'll post the 80's edition of my albums later (I'm at work right now, and there's downtime).

[venomx]

Songs that take me back ... hmm I have a few.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfdWQcfs4yo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj1ktBPjMMk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GxOoZXyO48