It's a wonder, the workings of the mind. As I made my way through the work day, I was suddenly humming along a song I hadn't thought about in years. What triggers such memories...some random firing connection in the mind or a word or phrase overheard with some subconscious connection?
The memory in this instance was the song Roots Radicals from the classic Rancid album And Out Come The Wolves... I couldn't tell you the last time I listened to the album, but I remember it well. It was one of my first CDs, purchased after hearing Junkie Man and Ruby Soho (which was always my favorite) playing on the radio.
I would listen to it on my late-90's Aiwa boombox, the first stereo of my very own, complete with AM/FM radio, tape deck, and the latest in CD players. I loved that boombox, because it was my first, because it was my constant companion in the sanctuary of my bedroom, my music, comic books, and movie posters keeping a lonely kid company.
It also had some pretty cool features, my favorite being the ability to program the CD player to play tracks in a particular order or skip over the ones I didn't want to hear. Imagine that being the height of technology...programmable CD track order.
I'd keep little pieces of paper in my CD jewel cases, noting the preferred track order to punch in before I'd play each disc. At the time, before iPods or music on cell phones were remote possibilities, I thought it was about the coolest thing ever.
I returned home today and dug out the old Rancid CD in question and, sure enough, my track order piece of paper was still in there. This track, Roots Radicals, was my number two on that list. Enjoy.