Patrick Kirlin

It was the summer of 2013, I was a rising freshman in highschool and my musical knowledge went as far as 90's hip hop to current pop. I didn't have much of an exotic taste in music for my age until my uncle's wedding. He hired a cover band to play various 70's and 80's rock songs. It wasn't really my style but I gave it a shot. I ended up enjoying it way more then I thought I would, but I never thought it would spark my interest until the last song of the night when my uncle, in drunk irishman fashion, grabbed the mic and the band immediately started playing the song "you shook me all night long" by ACDC.  The performance was incredible. Everyone was singing and dancing along and my musical preference would be changed forever.

The song was more than just a good sound, it was an experience. Everyone in my big irish family for one night would be loud, drunk, but most importantly fully united to celebrate the bond of my uncle and his wife. Young as I was I felt that I was looking at this event from a bird’s eye view; I was just taking in the experience because I wanted to remember it forever.

Still today, everytime I hear that song my memory takes me back to that warm summer night. It is almost impossible to not fall into that day dream. This is my favorite part about classic rock as a whole; every one of my favourite songs had a distinct memory that goes with it. “Freebird” by lynard skynard brings my to the 3rd of July in Annapolis a crazy night with three of my life long friends. “American pie” was the song that was playing when I found out my grandfather died and to this day I think about him when I hear that song. To me music is more about the memories that I attach to different songs than the actual sounds produced by the instruments.

The art reaches simply by chance, but when it does it becomes a memory locked in my head forever. My uncle is a huge fan of classic rock so that is how I initially fell in love with the genre.