I just read "Love Is A Mixtape" and it took me back. My girl and I aren't in the best of places right now so I emailed her a "mixtape" of youtube links that would help explain how I feel about her, myself, and us as a couple. Turns out I sent her half of Relient K's MMHMM ha. Incredibly therepeutic.

You made me move. Awesome piece.

The best part of my Wednesday night/Thursday morning graveyard shift is reading these columns.

With my wedding 80 days away, there have been many discussions about life-defining music in my house. Spotify playlists have served as my new mixtapes, all aimed at picking music relevant to my relationship.

When I picked out my ring, the first thing I did was have "The Weight" engraved on the inside, along with my wedding date. It's my favorite Thrice song, and the acoustic version will be our first dance. We saw it performed at Warped Tour together, and we both instantly fell in love with it. Reading and analyzing the lyrics only heightened our interest in it, especially reading Dustin's explanation of the four Greek loves - we met while attending a Christian university, and hearing one of our favorite vocalists reference agape love threw us for a loop.

Rise Against is just as important to us. They're Ashley's favorite band, and much to the chagrin of the community, we both love The Sufferer & The Witness and Appeal To Reason, and have little knowledge of anything before that. Early into our dating, I surprised her with tickets for Rise Against, Thrice, Alkaline Trio, and Gaslight Anthem (yeah - incredible line-up). I rounded the story out by proposing following our next Rise Against concert, 4 years later. Too bad our favorite song of theirs is "Savior," which seems to be about loving someone enough to let them go - probably won't be making the wedding playlist, haha.

The other really notable one comes from Aaron Lewis. We watched the Staind frontman perform a solo acoustic set, and were blown away by how powerful his voice was. When introducing a song, he explained how it was written for his wife, inspiring a girlie "aww" from Ash. "Fill Me Up" was "our song" for a long time before "The Weight," and she'll be walking down the aisle to an instrumental acoustic version based off this performance.

There's a longggg list of others, but those are the three that come to mind.

Originally Posted by bobcatbob18

I just read "Love Is A Mixtape" and it took me back.

That book is so good. Glad to hear someone else on AP read it!

I made a mixtape this past February, it was one of the scariest periods of my life, there weren't any deaths involved but I basically felt like I was losing my mind. There's a lot of Motion City Soundtrack's Commit To This Memory and The Wonder Year's Upsides. It's unveliebable how much these two albums have helped me for past three months, and I'm incredibly grateful for it.

Originally Posted by bobcatbob18

I just read "Love Is A Mixtape" and it took me back. My girl and I aren't in the best of places right now so I emailed her a "mixtape" of youtube links that would help explain how I feel about her, myself, and us as a couple. Turns out I sent her half of Relient K's MMHMM ha. Incredibly therepeutic.

Holy cow, MMHMM is such a ridiculously amazing therapy CD - it's even better than Forget and Not Slow Down. Crazy. So good.

Originally Posted by Jack Appleby

Much to the chagrin of the community, we both love The Sufferer & The Witness and Appeal To Reason, and have little knowledge of anything before that.

I love TS&TW! And congratulations about the whole marriage thing in general.


I'm really interested in responding to this, but it's gonna take some time and poring over my journals, haha. Will post once I figure it all out.

Originally Posted by Spencer Control

I love TS&TW! And congratulations about the whole marriage thing in general.

Haha, I usually get my chops busted by the "truepunx" who started calling Rise Against sell-outs by TS&TW. I love that album.

And thanks!

Originally Posted by Jack Appleby

The best part of my Wednesday night/Thursday morning graveyard shift is reading these columns.

With my wedding 80 days away, there have been many discussions about life-defining music in my house. Spotify playlists have served as my new mixtapes, all aimed at picking music relevant to my relationship.

When I picked out my ring, the first thing I did was have "The Weight" engraved on the inside, along with my wedding date. It's my favorite Thrice song, and the acoustic version will be our first dance. We saw it performed at Warped Tour together, and we both instantly fell in love with it. Reading and analyzing the lyrics only heightened our interest in it, especially reading Dustin's explanation of the four Greek loves - we met while attending a Christian university, and hearing one of our favorite vocalists reference agape love threw us for a loop.

Rise Against is just as important to us. They're Ashley's favorite band, and much to the chagrin of the community, we both love The Sufferer & The Witness and Appeal To Reason, and have little knowledge of anything before that. Early into our dating, I surprised her with tickets for Rise Against, Thrice, Alkaline Trio, and Gaslight Anthem (yeah - incredible line-up). I rounded the story out by proposing following our next Rise Against concert, 4 years later. Too bad our favorite song of theirs is "Savior," which seems to be about loving someone enough to let them go - probably won't be making the wedding playlist, haha.

The other really notable one comes from Aaron Lewis. We watched the Staind frontman perform a solo acoustic set, and were blown away by how powerful his voice was. When introducing a song, he explained how it was written for his wife, inspiring a girlie "aww" from Ash. "Fill Me Up" was "our song" for a long time before "The Weight," and she'll be walking down the aisle to an instrumental acoustic version based off this performance.

There's a longggg list of others, but those are the three that come to mind.

Picking out wedding music like that is such a blast. There's kind of two fields of thought though: pick crowding pleasing music with a few of your personal favorites, that may not be a hit with everyone, intermingled, or just embrace the fact that this is 'your' day and play whatever you want. Which direction are you guys going?

Originally Posted by nickstetina

Picking out wedding music like that is such a blast. There's kind of two fields of thought though: pick crowding pleasing music with a few of your personal favorites, that may not be a hit with everyone, intermingled, or just embrace the fact that this is 'your' day and play whatever you want. Which direction are you guys going?

Haha, we have had that discussion so, so many times.

We're leaning towards crowd pleasing, with some of our favorites sprinkled in. We're 23 and 22, but 80% of the attendees are from her insanely large family, who are gonna want to hear their era of music. I'm battling that with a fair share of 90's tunes I love.

Sadly, I found my ideal situation AFTER we already put down a deposit on a DJ. Some members of Happy Body Slow Brain have a cover band they do for fun and extra cash, playing all kinds of 80's. I would have done that in a heartbeat had I known about it.

Originally Posted by Drow Swordsman

That book is so good. Glad to hear someone else on AP read it!

I love that book. I cried.

Quote:

If you have any blank CD-R discs lying around, why not copy it and take it with you this weekend for a ride.

I think I just might. My AUX input went out in my car :(

Hey Adam, I just want to say this column was great and it meant a lot. I lost my grandma in February and it was very difficult. I'm choking up at work writing this and reading what you wrote. I can always think back on hard times in my life and music is always there to be my best friend. I didn't really show emotion to my friends when I told them what happened. In actuality, I was pretty matter of fact about telling them my grandma passed away. That's the kind of person I am, but alone it was hard. It was also the second time in my life when I've been the one to break the news to my younger brother who I'm very close with.

I couldn't help but relate to what you said. In a lot of ways, I can't even tell you the music I was listening to driving home from work early to say goodbye or the cars rides to see family or to the funeral. It all seems like a blur. I do, however, remember the song sang at her funeral per her request: Ave Maria. I don't think a song has ever hit me harder than when a beautiful women sang that at her service. I absolutely lost and have listened to it dozens of times since.

In times of trouble and heartache, I need my music to keep me going. It's a cliche thing to say, but it's only cliche because it's a universal truth.

Thanks for the write up.

Originally Posted by Holly HoX!

Hey Adam, I just want to say this column was great and it meant a lot. I lost my grandma in February and it was very difficult. I'm choking up at work writing this and reading what you wrote. I can always think back on hard times in my life and music is always there to be my best friend. I didn't really show emotion to my friends when I told them what happened. In actuality, I was pretty matter of fact about telling them my grandma passed away. That's the kind of person I am, but alone it was hard. It was also the second time in my life when I've been the one to break the news to my younger brother who I'm very close with.

I couldn't help but relate to what you said. In a lot of ways, I can't even tell you the music I was listening to driving home from work early to say goodbye or the cars rides to see family or to the funeral. It all seems like a blur. I do, however, remember the song sang at her funeral per her request: Ave Maria. I don't think a song has ever hit me harder than when a beautiful women sang that at her service. I absolutely lost and have listened to it dozens of times since.

In times of trouble and heartache, I need my music to keep me going. It's a cliche thing to say, but it's only cliche because it's a universal truth.

Thanks for the write up.

i feel like some of what I write is a cliche. but sometimes we just need reminding, or maybe I just do, I'm not sure.

thanks for reading. this came from a very personal space outside of my usual apathy.

Originally Posted by Adam Pfleider

i feel like some of what I write is a cliche. but sometimes we just need reminding, or maybe I just do, I'm not sure.

thanks for reading. this came from a very personal space outside of my usual apathy.

No, it was good thanks