I think it's cool how our brain identifies memories with music
 

I was listening to a song last night that instantly brought back a memory I had like 6 or 7 years ago with this girl I met that I completely forgot about. I haven't thought of her in the longest time(5+ years), but I listened to an old song that I first heard around the time I met her and within seconds the memory came to me.

I always thought it was cool how your brain associates memories with songs. You could have a memory buried so deep into your brain and one day you could be listening to an old song and bam that memory comes right back to you. Something in the song triggers that memory that nothing else could make you remember.

Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else sometimes?

Definitely, when it comes to mainstream music and video game music. Typically, VGM will remind me of a specific point from a game I once played, and rarely will it have any connection to "real life" memories. As for the more mainstream (read: non-VGM) music, there are definitely several tracks which have memories attached to them. Generally speaking, these memories are good ones; ones that bring a smile to my face.

Nostalgia can be a very powerful thing.

Smell has actually been proven to have a stronger correlation with memory than the other senses.

I correlate Linkin Park with 9/11... A true testament to how shitty the band is.

Interesting enough what you said is true. Last Christmas I dug up my personal stash that has been under my basement for almost 5 years. I look through some stuff, and decide to convert my tapes to digital form.

While the conversion is going on I decide to listen to the tracks as well. Surprisingly after a few tunes, water works (tears) start to swell. I can almost feel like jumping back to the past and living that life again and again. As I closed my eyes, I can smell, and sense those sad/happy moments. I had a good 4 hrs of melancholy reminiscence with a full box of tissue.

I can say that music is considered as quite a important part of my life, since I am often around music (non-lyrics music mind you!). Either I play, compose, listen or teach... so to me music stores a lot of precious memories that I will always want to remember. Musics that reminds me of my first date, first kiss, first fist fight, first hospitalisation... dang, its everything!

As Muzza said, Nostalgia is a powerful thing!! QFT :p

I was going through old cd's - burnt and unlabeled. It turned out to be a time of self-reflection for me.... But I find that a lot of the songs are rather inappropriate for, or have absolutely nothing to do with the moment I remember...

Like associating "Unstable" by ADEMA with riding the Eugene LTD from NEHS to 5th street....

I often hear music in my dreams, sometimes even music that I've never heard of. I think it's such an amazing phenomenon.

Definitely. Anything by Jason Mraz makes me think of some guy I dated for a while - he introduced me to the artist. Other music evoke similar memories.

Nice thread idea. =p
http://gamingforce.org/forums/showth...ht=keith+sweat

Yeah, I have plenty. Like my first kiss ever was during the Keith Sweat song "Twisted." Nothing really new comes to mind at the moment, though.

I just have a horrible sinking sensation that someday "The Final Countdown" is going to bring back touching memories. God, I must be the lowest thing on Earth. Ever.

True. There's nothing like the smell of grilled onions on a fajita at a mexican restaurant that reminds me of my childhood.

I grew up in the kitchens and the backyard (now a parking lot) of a Benihana restaurant. Naturally, grilled onion on flat iron surface = instant nostalgia.

On that note, I always think of Ontario, California (my hometown) when I smell manure and pasture together. WHAT. Just remember the smell and I got so used to it because of all the fields in Ontario it got to the point that it didn't even bother me anymore. It's not so bad really.

Now there's probably not so many fields in Ontario. Probably because of the airport it now has a bustling, booming economy and even the State's largest outlet mall.

I had Rammstein completely ruined for me for a while because I listened to them a lot back when I dated this girl who was an immature twit. Now I can listen to it sometimes, but I don't go out of my way for it.

KMFDM always reminds me of high school, that's where I was introduced to it and the friends who introduced me to it, I'll never forget.

Yeah, it happens to me quite often. Actually, I generally have music in my head all the time, whether is was from listening to it from that day, or if it was weeks, or months ago... I think its neat too.

Sad thing is that the first time I heard the RHCP - By the Way was on the street in Taipei. Still brings back the fond sounds and scents. On the same line, I think that scents bring back stronger memories for me - more nostalgic and direct.

Music doesn't really seem to evoke memories for me.

Instead I find certain shampoo smells do that.

Its really weird, especially since I can only smell through one nostril for some sad reason I have yet to discover :(

With scents I do get a very intense feeling of nostalgia, but only with certain types. Colognes remind me of people; deodorants remind me of games and events; subtle ambient scents remind me of places and long spans of time. Other aromas generally evoke nothing.

Music doesn't do it at all.

You've clearly never been beaten with trash cans while "Immigration Song" by Led Zeppelin plays in the background. I can't be within 500 feet of a radio playing a classic rock station. *shudders*

Quite a few songs remind me of previous trips I've been on. Usually just hearing the first few seconds of the song can bring back a lot of memories and even scents. I sometimes remember what I was actually doing at the time while I was listening to the song.

Every time I hear "Semi-Charmed Life" by that one band, Lit I think, it makes me think of sitting on my bed in 6th grade playing Mega Man Legends.

Whenever I hear anything from the 90s -- especially one-hit wonder stuff like "Flagpole Sitta" -- I think of the two summers I spent in middle school drawing for hours in my room with the radio blaring, after a friend in art class re-introduced me to radio (I had previously become completely disconnected with mainstream music because I was more interested in things like video games and comic books). Maybe that sounds slightly sad, but for me it's a nice association.

Classical solo piano music makes me feel slightly sad, but that's mostly because I was seeing a talented pianist and it reminds me of when he would play :(. However, I'm expecting that association to fade over time.

It's an awesome nostalgic trip when this happens, and it can be frequent with me, I grew up on VGM, so a lot of tracks bring me back to my teenage days in middle and High School. Some good some bad.

I was hospitalized for a couple of months in January of 2006, and I listened to alot of Dream Theater during that time, so now when I listen to certain songs, it takes me back to that time.

Nostalgia is both a good and bad thing, but it's there all the time.