F.N.V. – Growing Up With and Within John Mellencamp Songs

A few years ago, Rob – of My Side Of The Laundry Room – began a series called “F.N.V.,” taking its name and inspiration from NBC’s Friday Night Videos (1983-2002).  Anyway, I liked it so I totally stole it from him.  Kalie liked it and she stole it too, proving far more prolific with her sharing of music videos and stories than I ever am.  Today I’m going to do something I haven’t done before – focus exclusively on one artist.  Why John Mellencamp?  Well, ever since I was a kid, John Mellencamp’s music has led me down surprisingly contemplative roads.  So I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the musings he’s led me to over the years.

F.N.V. – Songs and Love Stories

A few years ago, Rob – of My Side Of The Laundry Room – began a series called “F.N.V.,” taking it’s name and inspiration from NBC’s Friday Night Videos (1983-2002).  Anyway, I liked it so I totally stole it from him.  Kalie liked it and she stole it too, proving far more prolific with her sharing of music videos and stories than I ever am.  But I was driving around the other day and I heard a song.  It sparked a memory of love gone by…or, more accurately, of an attempt at love gone by.  I started thinking this could be a fun premise for a new piece in this series, to walk through some pivotal romantic experiences from my past – some sincerely sweet, most catastrophically awkward – and pair them with the songs that embody those memories.

F.N.V. – Guilty Pleasures

Last week I kicked off my summer DJing Rob’s Friday Night Video series as he does his YouTube thing over at My Side Of The Laundry Room.  For my first outing, I looked at some summer/summer vacation songs.  It was my last day of school and my mind was on vacation (all I ever wanted…)!  This week I’m rocking out to some of my favorite guilty pleasure songs.  However, the name “guilty pleasure” implies I feel some guilt over liking these songs and, honestly, for the most part I don’t.  I should probably call these “Should Be Embarrassed By Them But I’m Not” songs.  But that’s a mouthful and everyone knows what a “guilty pleasure” song is so I’ll stick with it.  So let’s look at some of my awkward favorites shall we??