Assignment 23 Garrett Peavler

     We've always gone to my grandparents' house every week, but as my brother and I grew older he began to drive me there, which led to an hour of my older brother and I having actual conversations and listening to music. Since he was the driver he would always have the first pick in music, and while at first, I wasn't crazy about everything he played, as I grew to his age (and after listening to them so many times in the car) they eventually grew on me. These songs now represent good times, and I am very nostalgic towards them. They are songs that provided a soundtrack to me and my brother becoming less distant and they are songs that positively affected who I became. While they may seem unrelated, all of these songs represent good times.

1. Is This It - The Strokes: This was the first song on an album that I feel like I must have listened to a hundred times in the car, an album which, traffic or no traffic, always seemed to perfectly end right before we got to my grandparents' house.

2. How Many More Times - Led Zepplin: This was a song that my brother and I would often play together (I played bass, he played guitar, we went back and forth on drums). Even though that was about 3 years ago, I still know the bass and drum parts by heart.

3. Let Me Go - Cake: This was another song that my brother and I would play. For a long period of time, my brother was obsessed with the guitar part in this song, and would constantly request that I play the bass part so that he could have a backing track, most of the time I obliged.

4. Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys: This is one of the songs that my brother played at his first gig with his sophomore band. I distinctly remember him telling me about how much he hated playing this song and how his stupid singer made him, then, about six months later, he wouldn't stop playing it (I had always kind of liked it).

5. Stand By Me - Ben E. King: This song is definitely the odd man out in this line up, but without this song, I might not have stuck with music. See, unlike guitar or piano, there aren't many easily recognizable beginner bass songs, but Stand By Me is definitely one of them. I learned it early on and played alongside my grandpa who plays the piano. Being able to participate in music and have fun immediately sparked a passion for music that I still carry today.