Tonight I’m listening to Shabooh Shoobah and I’m transported back to 1983. Songs like Don’t Change and The One Thing invoke such a strong memory of growing up in the 1980s, watching Donny Sutherland’s “Sounds” and listening to the radio – no iPods or even CDs then.

Music is such a powerful memory cue, just listening to certain tracks can evoke a strong emotional response. I can remember the first time I saw the video clip for Original Sin, or Hungry Like the Wolf with a Raiders of the Lost Ark rip-off video that I thought was so cool.

I do find however that sometimes my memories play tricks on me, for the longest time I thought the Don’t Change was the intro music to Sounds, looking just now it was Men at Work. Also if I listen to a particular song repeatedly the memories are harder to recall, that recent familiarity seems to overload the memory which I’m trying to grasp like a thread. Sometimes the emotions are strong, like for some reason Hold Me Now by the Thompson Twins – memories of being 13 come rushing back. All of the dreams and desires. Powerful stuff.