Picture the a teenager sitting in their first car, listening to the radio at top volume. Time flies past the outside of the car, and the sound and type of music coming from the radio changes rapidly, but the picture stays the same. The character in the car is always there, the love of music never disappears. Across the generations, music has continued to be an influential part of people’s lives, especially that of teenagers.

Ron Irwin, a 64 year old retired military officer in New York, says music was the most important thing to him during his adolescence.

“Music is what helped me get through the toughest times, and what made the good times just that much more enjoyable,” said Irwin. When hanging out with friends, music made sure there were never any awkward silences, and it made it easier to have common interests.”

Irwin’s favorite song during his mid-teen years was Stand By Me, by Ben E. King. It was the number one song in 1961.

“The first time I remember hearing that song, my friends and I were by the train tracks, listening to the car radio. Whenever I hear that song, it reminds me of simpler times,” Irwin said wistfully.

Erika Kenney agrees that music played a very pig part in her life. The musical experience that affected her the most was the Woodstock of ‘94; she was 18 during the festival.

“I loved it! It was rainy, and it took months to convince my dad to let me go, but the music and the ambiance really made it a meaningful experience for me,” said Kenney. Her favorite performance of the three-day festival was by the punk rock band Green Day.

“I like all sorts of music, but I really like Rock and Alternative,” says Jacob Foxworthy, an 8th grade student at North middle school. Bands such as Three Days Grace, Green Day, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Anberlin really influence Foxworthy. He listens to his music through his iPod, the most popular music device in use today.

Foxworthy’s favorite song is Retrace by Anberlin, because it’s a unique look on the basic love song, and he can really identify with it in his own life. When asked what music means to him, Foxworthy responded, “Music isn’t just sound to me, it’s like life. I really feel music is something I can connect with, because it adds emotion to situations that can happen to anybody.”

That is what music is; an emotional and mellifluous take on life. Across the generations, the love and need for music by youth as a means of escape, joy, or simply to pass the time has never faded. Music styles change along with the devices used to listen to it, but the philosophy stays the same. An important, if not essential part of teenage life, music: it teaches you who you are.