@travis_mitchell

2 years ago

Flashback to 2014, I was 15, and only had one album on my phone because I didn’t yet have money to buy new music. My iPhone data was long used up, and there was no WiFi at the school. I was in Science listening to Kyrie by Mr. Mister for the 18th time in a row, when all of a sudden, a song I had never heard started playing and it scared the hell out of me. It was Every Breaking Wave by U2. I remember the shock stopping me from checking to see what the hell was happening. From there, Volcano, Sleep like a Baby Tonight, and the rest of the album. It was one of the most beautiful pieces I had ever heard, so much so that it wasn’t until a year later I realized that the album downloaded itself for free while I was in bed the night before. My mother is the kind of person to buy an entire album of a band, just to listen to the one song that was on the radio at the time, Buying Torches by Foster the People just to play Pumped Up Kicks on repeat, Night Visions by Imagine Dragons just for Radioactive, and so on. And if they weren’t full album, her collection was Greatest hits compilations of the 80s. Musically I grew up so safe and mainstream when it came to music, never wanting to go below the surface, Until that day in science class with Ms. Altevia, skateboard under my desk, Mountain Dew in my hand, as Songs of Innocence played in its entirety, making me realize the true art of completion, and the thrill of exploration. Every album my mom had, I would ask to put it in on car rides, and listen to every song but the popular one. Every One Hit Wonder of the 80s, I’d look up the band and listen to everything they ever did. U2 was instrumental in my growth as a person, by showing me the road less traveled is a road of undiscovered treasures.

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