Living your Greatest Hits

Yesterday I decided to invest in some new music for the workaday soundtrack, and spent most of the visit to the big box electronics store in the CD section. I'm still fighting my Top 40 wasteland upbringing in that I often have to make a conscious effort to look beyond the Greatest Hits of "established" artists--scolding myself that paying $8 - $15 for an album that sucks will not, in fact, bring the world to its end.

But, even with the pull of habitual frugality, the onset of middle age makes me view these "filtered" compilations with more than a little cynicism. It can be somewhat depressing, too, the way an entire career can be condensed. Viz: If most folks merely recognize your name and and maybe remember the refrains from a couple chart-toppers, your life's work fits on one CD. If you're a superstar, you'll have two.

But, in a sense, each of us is our own band, driving our parents nuts from the garage. And it doesn't matter, really, whether our venues ever grow beyond the garage-gigs. In the end, it's the Greatest Hits that we leave behind us. What did the fresh-faced kids show the old hands? What was the signature sound from the top of our game? How did we branch out...or did we just lose our way? Did we sell out, or was the love of the craft enough?

What will your Greatest Hits sound like? Because we're all playing, like it or not. And the tape is rolling, which is something I could do with remembering far more often.