Soundtrack of our lives

In case you were hiding under a rock lately, there is new play about to premiere in the Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick. Wreckquiem —written by Mike Finn— is set in a record shop under threat by a promoter who wants to turn this small shop, last remnant of a shopping street in a local community, into a brand new mall or a big hotel. The play is about communities facing a certain idea of progress. It also about music, and how it is the soundtrack of any moment in anyone’s life.

Lately, I had the chance to meet the man behind the play —playwright Mike Finn—, and all the cast, including the star of the show: Pat Shortt. I asked them all three questions to get a glimpse of the soundtrack of their life. I got some surprising answer, but alway bringing up bright smiles. So I figured, why not ask the same question to all the Hidden Track team, and make it a playlist: The Soundtrack of our Lives.

What was the first song you remember on the radio?

Peter

Like all of us, my initial forays into music were eclectic and varied. The first song I remember hearing on the radio was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. Released the same year I was born, it was played relentlessly by a DJ on our local station throughout the early eighties. The initial synth hook and the imagery of stars being erased by technology just lodged themselves in my young mind. Even today, I can’t resist the pull of the dance floor when I hear it.

Richard

In my teenage years, when internet was just in its early days, far from reaching every houselholds and even farther from offering music a la carte on streaming services, we had the radio. And to add the songs we liked there to ‘our playlist’ we had tapes and a portable stereo —or more commonly : a Boombox. We would have a blank tape in the deck in permanence. As soon as song we liked started to play on the radio, fast like Barry Allen, we would press the two button ‘play’ and ‘record’. These were mixtapes. we had loads.

I don’t even need to browse through my old mixtapes to remember these songs now, as I used to listen to them until they wore out or got chewed up in the player. “Black Ol’ Sun” by Soundgarden, “Lemon Tree” by Fools Garden, “Wonderwall” by Oasis, “Self Esteem” by Offspring, or Nirvana’s cover of Bowie’s famous “The Man Who Sold The World”. But my oldest memories goes without contest to “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. I even remember catching a glimpse of the video clip on telly — mouth wide opened in bewilderment— for the first time at my grand parents, before my grand-mother, horrified, switched channels. I was literally witnessing one the most defining band of my generation. A moment of History.

Adam

The first song I truly remember listening to on the radio for the first time was “Teenagers” by My Chemical Romance. I was no older than 8 when I first heard it. My mother turned on the radio in the car. I would usually ignore the music and play my gameboy. That day however, I did not turn on my gameboy, and I did not ignore the radio. In fact, I actively listened to it. I had no idea what I was listening to. Of course now I know it’s pop punk, but I was someone who was surrounded by U2 and Red Hot Chili Peppers growing up.

“Teenagers” sounded like something for me. For the kids. For the person who is absolutely petrified of the big kids. I remember the radio host saying “that was My Chemical Romance!” and never forgetting the name. To this day, they are still one of my favourite bands, with one of my favourite albums ever. Younger me had some good taste.

David

The first full album I ever heard on the radio was “Aux Armes et cætera” by Serge Gainsbourg. I didn’t recognise it at the time—I was at a family gathering and just remember being struck by the music and the charisma in that deep, unmistakable voice. I didn’t ask who it was, but the sound stayed with me. Years later, I rediscovered it and realized it was Gainsbourg all along.

Ronan

The first song I remember from the radio was “Moonlight Lady” by Julio Iglesias. In fact, I don’t think if it was the radio as such, or if it was from a CD my dad had in the car. The glovebox of his Peugeot 307 was filled with awful albums. I can clearly remember he had Neil Diamond and Andrea Boccelli in there. But one of the first albums I vividly remember is 1100 Bel Air Place by Julio Iglesias. It’s a smooth, groovy song and his voice is like butter. The synths are so 80s and there’s a nice interpolation of Albert Hammond’s “It Never Rains in Southern California” in the outro. My dad did a lot for me in my life, but one thing he (thankfully) never passed on was his taste in music.

Matt

I ashamed to say that radio didn’t play a major role in my life growing up. I can’t seem to recall ever listening to any songs on the radio at all. That being said, any road-trips with my dad would have been filled with the sounds of The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Grateful Dead.

What was your first album?

Ronan

I was about 10 years old when I got my first Hi-Fi system. It was a birthday present from my older brother and it gave me a lot of joy listening to music. Although I did enjoy = the radio at the time, I much preferred CDs. The first album I distinctly remember buying was Folie à Deux by Fall Out Boy.

They were the first band I really liked, and it was their cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” which really won me over. Although my taste in music has evolved away from that style of music, I did enjoy seeing them live in 2022. This album was the last to be released before their hiatus, and probably the last of theirs I have listened to. “America’s Suitehearts” is a big highlight on the album for me. I definitely think it has survived the test of time and encapsulates their style really well. 

David

The series Goldorak (Ed.: known as Grendizer in Ireland) aired on Antenne 2 —in France—, during the children’s show Récré A2. The opening theme of the show was one of the very first records I ever bought—well, more precisely, a single. I was absolutely obsessed with that cartoon. I remember going shopping with my mum at the Monoprix next to our apartment, and I managed to convince her to get it for me. That moment felt like a huge victory. I must’ve played that record a hundred times!

Adam

I was only around 6 or 7. My parents had an eclectic collection of CD’s —particularly my Dad. Deep purple, Thin Lizzy, Tom Petty, Neil young etc. The hits. The classics. My Mam’s was into Céline Dion, the Sugababes and Take That. I didn’t have any until Christmas 2006 when I got gifted Final Straw by Snow Patrol as I was a big fan at the time. The “Chasing Cars” music and “Open Your Eyes”, are classics to me. That morning, I grabbed my Dad’s CD player and spent the afternoon listening to that album on repeat. I was listening to my CD now. This was my album, my music, and I love it still to this day.

Matt

The first album I bought was Sunny Side Up by Paolo Nutini. When I was 10 or 11, I had virtually no discernable taste in music. I couldn’t name an artist, album or song to save my life. This all changed when a primary school teacher played a song by Paolo Nutini, “Pencil Full Of Lead”. I loved it so much, I saved up to get the whole album. The CD got a hell of a lot of use, to the point where everyone else in my family was sick of it. When I eventually got my very own iPod, I only had one album to put on it, and saw even more use through the digital medium.

Even now, I love the album. Most summers, many of the tracks on this album find their way onto my playlists. Even though my taste in music has expanded massively since this album, I think it was a great intro to music in general.

Richard

When I was a teenager, I was lucky enough to enjoy exchange trips from my native France to Ireland —I guess it stuck with me as I came back to live here. During some of these trips I discovered U2, and I loved it. I bought my first album there: a tape of War that I played, and rewound so many time to play “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in ‘loop’.

But this was not my very first album. It came with my very first portable stereo. It was a tape of A La Belle de Mai by Renaud. I already owned many of his album, but they were only tape copies. This was my first official album, and remains one of my all time favourite. My favourite song on this album was “C’est Quand Qu’On Va Oú?” in which the narrator is a kid questioning everything from school… It resonated very much in my tween brain, full of ideas, and revolts…

This singer is known to be very political in some of his songs. According to some, he was doing the job of poet Verlaine, with pub talk. Of course, my mom was not too fond of hearing me sing his songs —that she considered vulgar— out loud in the house. The ultimate threat for me to behave was to remove my whole stack of tapes by Renaud! It happened a few times… Never liked it.

Peter

The first album I remember buying was “Bad” by Michael Jackson. The title track was played non-stop in a Spanish resort where we stayed on our first foreign holiday. My parents were never the greatest of wanderers, but the looming threat of our American cousins descending for the summer forced their hand—they made sure we’d be out of the country when they arrived.

The genius of “Bad” has been widely celebrated, but for me, it will forever be linked to Lemon Fanta and foot-long bags of just-salted crisps—delicacies yet to reach Irish shores at the time. I made a beeline for Roxy Records in Tralee as soon as we got home. Jackson might have embodied American pop culture, but for me, that album is pure Mediterranean soul.

What was your first concert?

Matt

My first concert was shamefully late. While there might have been one or two local shows when I was younger, my first proper gig was when I was 18. The Steve Miller Band and John Fogerty were playing in Dublin as part of the BluesFest in 2018. Being huge fans of Both Steve Miller and Creedence Clearwater Revival, I went to the concert with my dad. The entire show was incredible. Fogerty did perfect renditions of all the classic CCR songs. Steve Miller was amazing on guitar and both were still able to sing all their hits flawlessly. 

My gig going picked up hugely after this. Within a year, I saw Kaleo, The Rolling Stones and many smaller gigs in Limerick and Cork. I’ve been enjoying concerts every year since, and my love of live shows grows stronger by the year.

Adam

Remember Rise Against? Yeah the band who did “Savior”? They were my first concert. The even odder part? Sleeping with Sirens were the opening act. It was 2018, I was in my second year of college and my friends from home asked if I wanted to go as the tickets were decently priced. At the time, I actually was getting into some of Rise Against’s songs outside of “Savior”. So the idea of going to their concert didn’t sound awful.

I actually really liked the concert. It had all the clichés. Dudes who were drunk as hell singing every lyric like it was the last thing they’ll ever say. The lead singer brought out his acoustic guitar and said “F*** racism! F*** homophobia! Bring peace to the world!” which is a pretty easy thing to get behind. Yeah! F*** all of that! Except peace. Sleeping with Sirens were weird, they all were show boating against each other to a point of awkwardness. I think they played 3 songs and then dipped. Everyone was there for Rise Against that night, and so was I.

Peter

The first concert I ever chose to attend was Radiohead in Galway for ‘The Big Day Out’. I think it was July ’96—just after The Bends but before they’d gone stratospheric. It was classic teenage debauchery: covert drinking on the bus up, sweaty, steaming piles of adolescence pressed together, and not a whiff of health and safety in sight. I spent most of the concert with a girl I’d never seen before—or since—perched on my shoulders, crowd-surfing through the Irish dusk.

It was a proper coming-of-age moment: a field in Castlegar full of teenage culchies grappling with the first hints of 90s prosperity and the faint beginnings of multiculturalism. “Planet Telex” echoing into the open air. Delicious.

Ronan

Unfortunately I was never brought up around a lot of music. It was something I had to cultivate for myself. The first gig I really went to was Paramore in 2013 with my cousin. We were both in “that phase” but in fairness it was a really good gig. The tour was promoting their fourth album, which was self-titled oddly enough.

The opening act was Walking on Cars, who were relatively unknown at the time and incredibly underwhelming. They played covers if I remember correctly. A lineup of Hayley Williams, Jeremy Davis and Taylor York then came on stage to a packed O2 Arena in Dublin, and their energy was impeccable.The popularity of “Still Into You” was the attraction of much of the crowd, but the song that stuck with me the most was “Ain’t It Fun”. While the band is one I’ve left in the past to a certain extent, their 2017 album After Laughter is happily in rotation for me. 

Richard

In my teenage years, I was exposed to rock music, and all the kind of music I love and listen to now. It was mostly on the radio. I loved it, like I said, I filled up many mixtapes. But that wasn’t the core of my musical identity just yet. At the time, I was singing in a choir where we sang french variety songs. Even though I don’t listen to this kind of music much anymore, I spent my best teenage moments in this choir. I still cherish these moments, the people I spent them with, and of course the music we shared.

Most of the songs we loved to sing were by Jean-Jacques Goldman, who is still one of the most favorite personalities for french people today — even though he is officially retired. So in 1998, when he issued his album En Passant, I joined my sister and her boyfriend —now in-law— to go and see him live. It was my first live experience, I was 16 or 17. I was one voice in a sea of fans singing along in communion with the singer. Many of the song we sang in the choir were shared that night: “La Vie Par Procuration”, “A Nos Actes Manqués”, “Au bout de mes Reves” or “Je Te Donne” which one of my favorites —one of the first I learnt with the choir. I knew all the words, all the melodies. When I came back from that concert that night, I was walking on cloud nine.

David

My very first concert was Chantal Goya at the Paris City Hall. To get in, kids had to participate in a drawing contest. I don’t remember the prize I received—there was a toy, I think—but what I do remember is what I drew: Goldorak, of course, in full attack mode! That drawing came straight from my heart, and it got me into the concert. It was an unforgettable experience.