82. When A Song Hits Like A Time Machine

Music turns into a time machine when I start curating 80s playlists and realize they’re pulling up memories I didn’t expect. I talk through how I handle the emotional whiplash, why re-listening as an adult changes everything, and how art can lock in the feelings we never forget. 
• curating playlists and noticing surprise emotions 
• using 80s R&B, funk, and classic pop to reconnect with old seasons of life 
• remembering what MTV’s video rotation felt like and how it shaped discovery 
• hearing new layers in familiar songs with adult ears and better headphones 
• realizing how often kids absorb adult themes through lyrics without context 
• sharing a kindergarten dance story and the women performers who inspired me 
• revisiting a middle school heartbreak tied to a Skid Row song and naming the pain 
• reflecting on the power of art to preserve feelings and build self-awareness 

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Here's the links to the playlists in Spotify:

Grown Up Music

Raised in the 80s

Groovy Moves

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Disclaimer: This show is for education and entertainment purposes only.  This is not intended as a replacement for therapy. Please seek out the help of a professional to assist you with your specific situation.

Transcript

Welcome And Why We’re Here

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Unbreakable Mind and Body Podcast. I am your host, Tiana Gonzalez, a multi-passionate creative, storyteller, and entrepreneur with a fierce love for movement. This is our space for powerful stories and actionable strategies to help you build mental resilience and elevate your self-care practice. Together, we will unlock the tools that you need to create an unbreakable mind and body. Welcome to the show. I am your host, Tiana. On

Why Songs Trigger Sudden Memories

SPEAKER_00 0:41

this episode, I'm going to take you on a little trip down memory lane. For a few weeks now, I have been curating playlists on Spotify and Apple Music. I actually use both apps. And I have been loving the creative process of coming up with a playlist idea, the vibe I'm going for, the time period that I'm going for, and then pulling together all of these songs to curate a listening experience that is unique. And this has brought to the surface a lot of mixed emotions and maybe even some unresolved feelings that I've been carrying around. So, what we're going to do in this episode is just talk about how do we navigate when things surprise us, when we're out in public and you hear a song come on at the grocery store and you're struck with an emotion, or if you're at the mall with your kids, or you're at an amusement park, or you are somewhere and you hear a song play, and it literally pulls you back like a time machine to a specific moment, to a memory, to a person, to a place, to a smell, to a feeling, and what to do with it.

Building A Four Hour 80s Playlist

SPEAKER_00 2:06

So for the last few weeks, as I said, I've been coming up with these ideas to make some playlists. And the first playlist that I made, I'm so proud of it. It's about four hours long, and it's generally music from the 80s. It's primarily RB. Uh, it has a little bit of jazz and like funk music, things such as Earth, Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins, Holland Oates. There's several amazing groups on this playlist. And this particular playlist, I put together because I have found myself listening to the same music over and over and over again. And I gotta tell you, there is nothing like a good classic. And so, in the interest of reminding myself of amazing songs and music from my childhood, from my teenage years, high school years, and so on and so forth, I started doing this.

MTV In The 80s And Its Rules

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Now, I also created another playlist that is reminiscent of what it was like to watch MTV in the 80s. Now, if you don't know what MTV was like back in the day, it first started streaming or showing music videos. I believe it was in 1981. I was already alive, but I was very little. But I do know that the very first music video that ever aired on that station, and it was on cable television, was a song called Video Killed the Radio Star. I don't remember the name of the band, but that was the name of the song. And for the first several years of this network showing music, they had a specific format that they had to follow. So this made the viewing experience really interesting because they had a very specific format. And if you liked rock music, or if you liked dance music, or if you liked a certain artist, the likelihood of you catching a video of what you were interested in was perhaps maybe once an hour. So they had this very strict format. And even if, let's say, you liked rap music or you liked dance music, you were gonna have to wait and watch all of these other music videos play before a video that interests you would come on TV. So, what did this do exactly? This exposed people to music that they probably didn't really listen to on the radio or probably weren't very interested in. And it forced you to get to know different artists, different kinds of music. I mean, they would kill these videos. They would play them over and over and over again. And the funniest example I could think of is Phil Collins because Phil Collins, back in the day when he was in his music videos and when he would perform in concert, this was after he left the band Genesis, by the way, he was the drummer in the band Genesis. He would perform with like a collared shirt or a golf, you know, like a polo, short sleeve polo, and dress pants, and you know, like loafers. So the guy looked sometimes like he was going on a job interview. Meanwhile, he was playing really stellar music and music that would sometimes make you dance and make you want to get out of your seat, and music that was very moving. And even if you didn't like it, like I said, you had no way of controlling the flow of the videos, so you sat and watched it. Another example I could think of is my brother, who is a little less than two years younger than me, singing a song by the Eurythmics. And I will tell you that he used to call Annie Lennox Carrot Head because she had a very short pixie cut and it was a bright orange color. And that was just the name he gave her, and I will never forget it. It was so funny to think of that. But he would mimic like one of the songs that she was singing, and and I I asked him, like, how do you know that song? He's like, They play the video all the time, and I was like, Oh, that's true. So I'm going on a tangent here, and maybe some of these artists you're not familiar with, but I highly encourage you to go and explore because this kind of music, even some of the music that was a little more on the cheesy side, like some of the hair bands of the 80s, it's still solid music. It was still something that would make you get up out of your seat. And a lot of it was very original, which is very different from what we're used to now, where a lot of the popular songs are just recycled and not even first or second iterations. We're talking like fourth, fifth, sixth iterations of the same beat, of the same sample, of the same clip of an original work from many, many moons ago. And I'm not knocking it because creativity, you know, it comes in all forms. And if you can hear something and then distort it or change it in some sort of way and make something new, that's cool. So long as you give the original artist credit. But now, this playlist that I made, what's interesting about it to me is that it's not necessarily my favorite listening experience, but it is very true to what it felt like to be a kid, you know, home from school, maybe on the weekends or in the summertime, and we would have MTV playing because we were just hoping to hear like some good music, or hoping they would drop some new music, and it was the same songs over and over and over and over again. So this playlist is called Raised in the 80s, and it has music on it from Bon Jovi, Tina Marie, Bruce Springsteen, Skidrow, Stevie Nick, Don Henley, Pat Benatar, Prince, Mr. Mr. Roxett, Ozzie Osborne, Banana Rama, Duran Duran, The Bangles, Wham, Rolling Stones, Flock of Seagulls, Lionel Ritchie, Michael Jackson, and the list goes on. By the way, you know that I am going to share these playlists with you, uh, because it wouldn't be kind of me to be talking about them at such great length and not be willing to share these playlists with you. So of course I'm going to share them. But

Groovy Moves And Hearing New Layers

SPEAKER_00 8:53

the most recent playlist has really thrown me for a loop. And this one I call Groovy Moves. And this one I just made yesterday. Well, by the time you hear it, it's going to be about two weeks old because I'm recording in advance. But beginning of June, I made this playlist, and this playlist is a little more funky. It's more of a dancy kind of playlist, and it's really interesting to me because almost all of the songs are from the early 80s. There are a few songs on this playlist that are from 1979, but I tried to keep it really tight with the 80s theme. And this particular playlist had a few surprises. Now, of course, I knew every song on it because I created this playlist. However, to listen to some of these songs now, as an adult, through a different lens with really good headphones, I'm blown away by some of this music. And one of the songs in particular is a song by Rick James. It's called Give It to Me. And of course, I knew this song when I was a little kid and growing up and dancing around my couch my my couch, dancing around my kitchen, dancing around my house to it. But to listen to the way this song was structured and to hear all the complex layers, I am kind of obsessed all over again. And this is literally why I'm making this episode, because it pays to go back and pull stuff from your, you know, mental archives to pull stuff out from your past and give it another listen. Because you're gonna find new little treats, delights, and surprises in this listening experience because you're different now. And so I have come like full circle with some of these songs. Another one is uh by Tina Marie and it's called Lover Girl. Similar time period. And if you know anything about Motown and Rick James and Tina Marie, they actually were a dynamic duo, and then they kind of split apart, and Tina Marie had to go through a lawsuit with Motown to leave them because they had her on contract, but they were severely underpaying her. Um, and the Supreme Court ruled in her favor because they wanted to keep her on a contract, but they were only going to give her about $6,000 a year, and even in 1985, that's not a livable wage. But I digress. And listening to this song called Lover Girl by Tina Marie, also another one called Square Biz, they're just so funky and they're full of you know real instrumentation and the way these pieces are orchestrated. And as you can tell,

Adult Ears And Kid Innocence

SPEAKER_00 11:44

maybe this is a surprise to you because I always talk about fitness and mental health, but music is really my number one passion. I'm listening to these songs, I'm hearing all of this complex work that went into the production, and also listening to the lyrics and realizing that goodness me or my, I was definitely robbed of some innocence as a kid. And I don't think it was done, you know, with malicious intent, but I was certainly exposed to adult topics, adult themes, and things that in today's day and age would be deemed inappropriate for a child to be, you know, listening to, dancing to, singing to, and fun, fun little story. When I

A School Dance And Women Icons

SPEAKER_00 12:33

was in kindergarten, I remember we were gonna do some sort of recital or performance, and I asked my teacher if I could do a dance performance to my favorite song, and it brought in a tape, and I had her play it on the boombox. And when she pressed play on the cassette, she started to chuckle and laugh. And I remember I'm dancing in front of her and I'm trying to be like this little badass and show her my really good dance moves. Again, I'm five years old, right? I'm in kindergarten. And it was either kindergarten or first grade. Maybe it was first grade, but I just remember the teacher chuckling, being like, This is your favorite song. And I was like, Yeah. The song is Object of My Desire by a group called Star Point. Hold on, let me check and make sure that I am saying the right name. But yes, the name of the song, Object of My Desire. The group name is Star Point. And if I remember correctly, the lead singer is a beautiful Asian woman. And I just remember watching her on Soul Train, and she was like dancing around on the stage, and I thought she was just so insanely badass, and I wanted to be like that. The same thing with Tina Marie, with also uh Sheila E. Tina Marie played the guitar and danced while she was singing and performing live. And Sheila E is an incredible drum uh percussionist. She plays the teamballes. Uh, some of you may or may not remember her being one of Prince's proteges. And so just seeing these women take the stage, take the lead, be in control, be the front woman for these bands, just like Stevie Nicks, just like Hart. I soaked it up like a sponge. Can't forget also Madonna and Cindy Lopper, although I didn't really love Cindy Lopper's music as much, but I had so many examples of these powerful women who were pioneers ahead of their time, creators, putting their heart and soul into everything they do and putting it out for the world to see and you know be vulnerable to. And I respect that. I respect it a lot. So, as you can tell, I am on this little sort of wave of making playlists. I'm enjoying it, it's a lot of fun, it's bringing back a ton of memories and flooding my heart with emotions. I

A Skid Row Song And Old Pain

SPEAKER_00 15:02

actually went through a little experience the other day where I was getting ready for work and putting on my makeup, and a song by a band called Skidrow came on, which was very popular when I was in the sixth and seventh grade. For reference, I graduated from sixth grade and then went to middle school, and that was in 1990. So I was in the sixth grade in 1990. Yeah. And this song comes on, and I remember I was dating a boy, and and this was the following year in seventh grade, and I've remember dating a boy, and we really liked each other. Obviously, you're in middle school, it's not like your boyfriend and girlfriend, it's really hot and heavy and serious, but we liked each other. And I've remember one day he told me that he couldn't see me anymore or be friends with me anymore, or like take me out to lunch anymore, talk to me on the phone, or write me letters, because that's what we used to do. Total fun. We would like write each other these long handwritten letters and then fold them up and hand them to each other in the hallway. Anyway, he told me he couldn't do any of that with me any longer because his mom wouldn't let him be friends with me because of her reading about my father in the newspaper. My father got arrested when I was in sixth grade, and then he went away to prison when I was in the seventh grade. And so that was such a painful experience for me because I was only about 12 years old, and I really liked this boy. It was my first person that I ever kissed, and I remember and I felt that pain all over again just the other day. It was like, oh my god, that hurts so much, and my eyes teared up. I was probably hormonal, uh, but my eyes teared up, I got super emotional. I was listening to the song, and I'm just like, you know what? This is fucking amazing because that is what the power of art is. A piece of art, a music piece, a visual piece, a film, an experience. It brings you back to a moment in your life, a moment in time, a snapshot that you will never ever forget. And I will tell you right now, you might forget what people say, what people do, how they act, but you're never gonna forget the way people make you feel. You know that that's true. And it's the same thing with music, and it's the same thing with art.

Sharing Links And Staying Connected

SPEAKER_00 17:42

So I'm thinking about starting another Instagram account where I share music, maybe that the newer generations are not as familiar with, but talking a little bit about, you know, some of the fun facts behind the music, and then sharing my personal experiences with it. And I think I think I'm onto something here because clearly, if I can ramble about a couple of playlists for over 20 minutes, then I'm very passionate about music and it's something I probably want to get into. So if you are interested in downloading any of these playlists for yourself for your own listening enjoyment, please check the show notes and I'll share a link in the notes with you so that you can do that. And if you want to stay in touch with me, we can connect on social media. You can subscribe to my email newsletter, which is really more focused on becoming an unbreakable woman. But I encourage anyone who's interested in learning about strength training and becoming the most unbelievable badass version of themselves. If you would like to get more information about that, then stick around and stay in my world because that is my mission on this beautiful planet that we live on. If you enjoyed this show, you can give me a couple stars. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate your time and attention as always, and I will catch you on the next one.