Maybe I'm amazed at how this all started

If 1996 represented the blooming of my love for music, then 1982 is when those seeds were sown.

I don't remember much from my childhood. However, the memories I do have always centered around music. Granted, it was my parents' music, but their fantastic taste in music would pave a path that would represent my life.

Like I said, I don't remember much being a little kid, but my first memory is with my Dad. We were driving in his brown Buick LeSabre around Chicago, probably to get some groceries or something for the house. The specifics escape me – I was two after all – but one song blared through the radio that would become the central song that would become the basis of my musical taste – Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed.

My father was a huge Beatles fan, however, he never owned any post-Beatles music. The older I get, the weirder I find this fact, but maybe he wasn't that big of a post-Beatles fan that I would end up becoming. Or maybe he was wrapped up with life to the point where he couldn't dive into their discography like I would 40 years later from these releases. He did, after all, work two or three jobs in the 1970s, had a new wife and was trying to keep things together. 

However, Dad absolutely loved Maybe I'm Amazed, and would always blast this song as loud as he could whenever it would come on the radio.

I don't know what it was about this song when I was two, maybe it was the sweet, warm, loving sounds of McCartney's piano playing, the George Harrison-esque guitar playing, or the incredible vocals, but this song touched me at a young age.

This song holds such a special place in my heart that I always flash back to being a kid whenever this song is being played. I can still see life through those 2-year-old eyes driving through Chicago and hearing that ending, remembering those oooos and yeah yeah yeahs at the end of the song. 

But most importantly, I remember how this song built a bridge between my father and I, one that would be connected through the world of music.

Many songs and albums would end up becoming a part of the soundtrack of my life, but only one could say they were the first. And I am extremely grateful that Maybe I'm Amazed could lay claim to honor.

And it is all because of my father.

Thank you, Dad.

‪#‎20YearsofMusic‬

20 years of music

I don't know the exact date, but it was anywhere from Feb. 9 to Feb. 16, 1996 when I put on Q101 for the first time. Three songs would change my life for the better, giving me a purpose that was missing for a very long time.

I was 15 years old, a sophomore in high school, when Cumbersome from Seven Mary Three, Big Me from Foo Fighters and Wonderwall from Oasis came blaring through my speakers. That moment literally saved my life, as I was going down a really dark and dangerous road of depression.

Those three songs brought pure magic into my heart, causing me to burst at the wonder that would become my new life. Those first three songs played on Q101 opened a new world to me, giving me the guidance and a life path that I had no idea existed.

I am grateful for those three songs playing on Q101 in succession. I am grateful for getting the itch to put Q101 on my radio that day. I am grateful for listening to my Quigley friends and finally listening to what was alternative music.

I am grateful for the past 20 years filled with incredible music. 

And mostly, I am extremely grateful for those three songs saving my life.