Wes Mantooth

I can't say that an ex ever ruined a band or music for me either. I have all sorts of music that reminds me of ex's but I can't think of anything that I just cant listen to anymore because of them. I guess when I was younger there was music that reminded me so much of a certain girl...or place that it was almost painful to listen to but in a way I kind of liked it that way. It gave certain sounds and albums whole new emotional range they wouldn't have otherwise.

For example I used to love REM just because I enjoyed their music. After a pretty intense relationship with a girl that seemed to play them constantly I can't listen to REM without being hurled through a gauntlet of emotions. And its not just emotions either the music is so tied to that point in my life that just a few bars and I'm drawn back to places we visited together, I can smell her perfume...the inside of her apartment, I can picture the exact color the foliage was when we first kissed. The relationship ended pretty badly with all the bitterness and hatred you could shake a stick at but somehow rellving those moments, good, bad and ugly...I don't know, there is a bitter sweetness to it and it transports me to another time in my life that has long since disappeared. The could be said for a dozens of different bands and albums, just different scenarios and journys attatched to each. Thats something I really like about music, the imprint it seems to leave on almost everything it touches.

I guess one could say that the experiences changed how and when I listen to certain things, but I no music was killed or ruined in the process. Enhanced maybe?

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