Sophie's Choice: Then and Now

When I watched this performance last week...

...my first thought was that Eddie Vedder is still beautiful (maybe even more so now). My second thought was how depressing it is that my teen crushes are now as old as my parents were when I first began crushing on them (no disrespect, Mom and Daddy).

The next day, I busted out all of my Pearl Jam CDs, remembering the music videos in my head, laughing when I heard "Daughter," which reminded for the first time in years of an inside joke from my freshman year in high school. As I downloaded Pearl Jam's newest CD, I remembered the difficult decision I had to make as a tween.

I finally had enough money to buy a stereo with a CD player, thanks to my grams. Once said stereo was secured, my parents agreed to buy me a CD since we only had records, tapes, and yes, 8-tracks at home. They took me to this new, amazing store called Target. It was so pretty. I walked to the electronics section with a spring in my step, excited to get Metallica's Black Album. It was a total no-brainer. Until I saw Pearl Jam's Ten sitting next to it.

Ten in one hand, the Black Album in the other, I looked imploringly at my parents, an implied question in the eyelashes I batted at Daddy. $17.99 and $15.99 stick out in my mind for some reason, but details aside, suffice it to say that CDs were expensive enough back then that my parents assured me only one would be going home with me. Metallica or Pearl Jam? It was my very own Sophie's Choice.

Ultimately, Eddie Vedder et al. remained clutched in my hand, while I said my silent apologies to James Hetfield, hoping he'd forgive my disloyalty.

At home, I watched Ten tirelessly spin in my new CD player as I listened to the songs over and over again. There was no regret about my decision, especially since it wasn't too long before Metallica joined my small music collection as my second CD.

Last week, as I was preparing my iPhone for my business travels, I was faced with a modern Sophie's Choice: an iTunes error message informed me that there wasn't enough room on my iPhone to sync my music selections.

Ruh-roh!

How in the world do I decide which albums to remove from my library? The thought process went something like this:

Okay, I know which ones I can't remove. My Evanescence playlist would be deleted over my dead body. I have to have them with me at all times. They're on my phone, my iPod, my desktop, my laptop, and even on Hubby's phone. I will not be without them.  

If I'm traveling, I have to have Dave Matthews Band with me. Their sound is the only one that will calm me in times of extreme stress. If my plane is going down, it's a safe bet that "Satellite" will be the last sound I hear. But do I need 10 hours of their music with me? Probably not. Okay, live DMB albums deleted. Now there's room for some Ani DiFranco, a necessary companion when I'm peeved, and I am going on a work trip after all. 

Broadway is a must. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Wicked and Next to Normal, so those are the two shows loaded on my phone. One is going to have to be sacrificed, though, if I'm going to fit Glee on my phone, and how can I be without such an instantaneous pick-me-up? Hm, if I were found dead, and the police went through my music, the combination of Evanescence, Ani DiFranco and Next to Normal might give them the wrong idea, so Next to Normal will have to go. 

Finally, I need some tunes that will get me pumped if I'm feeling sluggish. This includes a custom mix from a friend and a few random albums, including the new Pearl Jam one, which is what started this whole darn thing in the first place. The only thing left for me to dump to make room for said happy music is my Rick Springfield playlist. I admit, I feel a little bad about this one - I mean, he is on my list and all. Then again, if I am found dead on my trip, I don't want the obit to include, "She was listening to "Jessie's Girl" when she died."

And so my library of travel tunes was complete. Too bad I didn't listen to a single song while I was away.