When Limp Bizkit took the stage on a warm Friday evening in Denver, you could feel the excitement beaming from the thousands of fans eager to relive a little bit of their youth. Fred Durst came out in his signature backwards fitted hat, and Wes Borland is in full costume as a skeleton version of a young James Hetfield.
Everyone in the nearly full Empower Field was on their feet, clapping, swaying, and rapping along with Limp’s classics. Even the security staff were getting in on the action!
But what I couldn’t predict is how a small, dormant part of my brain seemingly bursted open as soon as the opening beats to “Nookie” started playing. I was immediately transported to the early 2000s, when my favorite bands like Korn, Deftones, Papa Roach, and Godsmack dominated TRL (youngins, feel free to Google “TRL”).
As I was loudly and shamelessly singing and rapping along to Limp classics like “Rollin,” Faith,” and “Take a Look Around,” I felt something different, but I couldn’t put my finger one it. Then, during “My Way” it hit me: these songs have a completely new meaning to me now as an adult.
“This time I’ma let it all come out
“My Way” by Limp Bizkit
This time I’ma stand up and shout
I’ma do things my way, it’s my way
My way or the highway”
When “My Way” was released in 2000, I was a punk teenager who thought the world was against me. Angst, anger, and jealousy ran through my veins as I tried to find my place in the world. I remember hearing Fred’s powerful words in the chorus and thinking “damn right, I’m gonna do things my way, screw what everyone says!”
Fast forward 25 years. As Fred yelled out “I’m gonna do things my way!” in his classic voice in the middle of Empower Field, the whole song gave me a completely different feeling. The lyrics hit me in a new way that I couldn’t immediately describe. Instead of headbanging and signing along, I stood in a motionless daze reliving some of the important events in my life that brought me to this point.
After processing this experience, I discovered that although the song itself hadn’t changed, I had changed. I’m now a husband and father. I had a professional career that saw promotions and success AND firings and failures. My beard is now full of white and gray hair and my hands are now calloused and wrinkled.
As Fred sang though the verses, I recalled the many times people in leadership positions didn’t support me, left me out to fail on my own, and even threw me under the bus. The disappointment, the resentment, the anger… all of those feelings came back up. But when the chorus hit, I was screaming “Ima do things my way” now as a mission statement more than an act of rebellion.
The Power of Music
That’s the curious power of music, isn’t it? We can use older tracks from our youth to recapture some of the magic, mystique, and memories from good times in past years. But we also use it to gain new perspective on life, especially after experiencing some rough times. That’s what makes music truly special and I am forever grateful to have it in my life.
I encourage you to revisit the bands and songs that shaped your youth and explore your own journey in life. How far you’ve come, the challenges you overcame, the accomplishments you achieved, and yes even some of the disappointments. Like me, you’d be surprised how different those songs are when you realized how much you have grown as a person.
Let us know in the comments which song you revisited recently from your youth that hit you differently today.
