I realize I missed last week’s Friday Flashback, but it was only because I was doing something very important. I’m sure of it. I couldn’t tell you what it was, but I know it was important. Seriously.

(Okay, I forgot and was busy enjoying some wine and a book.)

This song not only takes me back to my youth, it takes me back to a time when I wish I could pat myself on the head and give myself a hug and reassure myself that those boys? The ones who never liked me as much as I liked them? They weren’t worth it anyway and screw THEM because who needs that shit, you know?

(Besides, I’ve seen most of those heartbreakers on Facebook. I didn’t miss out on much, trust me. So nyah.)

Still, at the time, when I was a teenager full of angst and full of “true love forever and ever oh my god look how good my first name looks with his last name this guy is THE ONE I swear and I will prove it by doodling all over my diary and maybe even this notebook as long as I remember to never accidentally take it to school because I would DIE of embarrassment if he knew I like him before I know if he likes me too WOW” hormones, I rarely got a first glance, let alone a second glance from any of the guys I was into. If I was REALLY lucky I got to be “just friends”, and seriously, when you’re 14 years old, being stuck as “just friends” blows big time. Especially if your “just friend” is “way more than friends” with one of your good female friends. That happened to me a lot.

So I spent a lot of time in my room in the evenings hitting rewind to listen to this song over and over and OVER again. I always put it at the beginning of my mixed tapes so it was easier to rewind it to the beginning of the song. I must have listened to this song at least a thousand times. And that was just in grade nine.

Thank you, Cheap Trick, for “The Flame”, the song that pre-dates Emo but still managed to summon all the same emotions. Without you in my life, I would have been crying in my bedroom without a soundtrack.