Your Life: The Soundtrack

When my generation was first discovering the wonders and boundlessness of the World Wide Web, a “survey” phenomenon seemed to light up the popular person blog websites of the time, such as Xanga and LiveJournal.  People would post these surveys on their sites as a way of expressing themselves by answering sometimes ridiculous questions, such as, “what is your favorite color of underwear and why?”  Sometimes the surveys got deeper, delving into more personal things such as your current relationship, or your past ones.  Since these surveys were essentially about expressing oneself to the people around them (or rather, reading their blog), it was inevitable that music would get tied into a survey one way or another.  Some surveys websites, such as Bzoink, featured premade surveys about your favorite music and how it applies to your every day life.  This survey, called “Your Life: The Soundtrack” is just that — a compilation of all the songs you feel best describe your personal experience.  It’s simple, really: you consider each situation listed, i.e. “breaking up,” “mental breakdown” and “death scene,” (let’s take a moment to appreciate the melodramatic quality of this mostly-teen phenomenon) and then plug in whatever song you feel best fits the situation.  I did countless surveys like these back in middle school and high school, as I was just as obsessed with internet vanity as the next teenager.  However, here is my “new and improved” life soundtrack below:

Opening Credits – The Shins, “Kissing the Lipless”
Waking Up – No Doubt, “Get on the Ball”
Average day – The Black Keys, “Strange Times”
First date – Cake, “Love You Madly”
Falling in love – Alicia Keys, “Unthinkable”
Love scene – TLC, “Red Light Special”
Fight scene – Linkin Park, “Don’t Stay”
Breaking up – No Doubt, “Ex-Girlfriend”
Secret love – TLC, “If They Knew”
Life’s okay – Bloc Party, “So Here We Are”
Mental breakdown – Sufjan Stevens, “All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands”
Driving – Danna & Devotchka, “The Winner Is”
Learning a lesson – Elliot Smith, “Miss Misery”
Partying – Lady GaGa, “Poker Face”
Happy dance – House of Pain, “Jump Around”
Closing credits – Red Hot Chili Peppers, “The Zephyr Song”

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