Do You Remember House?

[DISCLAIMER]

I’m fortunate enough to have been into electronic dance music (EDM) by the time Eddie Amador released the track “House Music” in the late ‘90s. Lyrics included, “Not everyone understands house music. It’s a spiritual thing, a body thing, a soul thing.”

When in the Marine Corps, I recall having missed a flight to Okinawa, Japan and being stranded in the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport overnight in 1998. It was cold in the terminal and the experience of having no other people in my immediate vicinity was a lonely affair.

Admittedly, the circumstance was partially of my own creation. Although the flight mix-up at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport which offset my scheduled trip wasn’t my fault, I had options other than staying overnight in Seattle.

Discovering that I enjoyed EDM, a number of airline staff members invited me to go clubbing with them until the next morning when flights resumed. I declined the offer, because I didn’t want to risk being absent without leave. (I really wanted to go dancing that night.)

Still, I made telephonic contact with my sergeant in Okinawa to explain the mix-up in Dallas/Fort Worth. However, I didn’t think I’d be afforded additional grace if my trip was further delayed by a foolish decision to go out partying the night before flights resumed.

“No worries,” I thought, because I had house music CDs to provide entertainment as I bedded down in the airport and waited. (It was really cold that night!) I listened to “House Music” on a loop, perhaps to better understand the house music genre. Regarding the track, one source states:

It was that “soul thing” refrain in particular that stands out to this day. The words returned over and over throughout the tune, riding on top of a hypnotic kick, the swirling melody and hook still able to take the old-school heads back to those days of dark after-hours clubs, lost in the beat, surrounded by a heaving mass of like-minded souls.

The source adds that as “Eddie tells it, the vocals were courtesy of Robert, a ‘homeless guy” whose voice gave the track its personally memorable appeal. Fast forwarding several years, another impressive track (to me at least) burst onto the EDM scene.

In 2002, EDM group Blaze released the house music song “Do You Remember House?” featuring the vocals of Palmer Brown. Personally, the Bob Sinclar version, “Do You Remember House? (Bob Sinclar Club Mix),” is preferable to the original. Lyrics include:

I remember house when house was emotion

I remember house when it was a spiritual thing

I remember house when it was just one house

House was about love […]

Before house was techno, before house was deep

I remember house when house had loops

I remember house when house was disco

Before house was disco […]

I remember house

Reflecting upon these house music tracks, considering how they relate to my practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I contemplate the technique of unconditional life-acceptance (ULA). Are you familiar with this helpful tool?

Aside from using music as an acceptable method of coping with the natural distress of one’s existence (e.g., disappointment of missing an international flight and spending the night in a cold airport alone), ULA regards the little control and influence one actually has in life. (Very little!)

I couldn’t change how an airport in Texas was operated when in the Marine Corps and en route to Okinawa. Likewise, I had no impact on weather conditions which resulted in a chilly airport in Washington. Moreover, I can’t go back in time and alter any element about that situation.

Therefore, I unconditionally accept life for its inevitable disappointments. Using this approach, tolerance and acceptance of natural distress is preferable to unnatural self-disturbance which is created by one’s own irrational beliefs about impermanent and uncertain matters in life.

Ultimately, I was disappointed all those years ago. However, when remembering the event at present, I’m grateful to have had house music in the midst of my nonexistent control and influence over the situation. Call it a “soul thing,” if you will. (Maybe, maybe not.)

Despite a preferred musical genre that aids in the tolerability of a disappointing affair, the point of this post is to endure hardship and not make matters worse with unhelpful beliefs. Do you remember house? If not, do you recall a time when ULA made disappointment more bearable?

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist—promoting content related to EDM, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters. 

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

Photo credit, fair use

References:

Apple Music. (n.d.). Palmer Brown. Apple, Inc. Retrieved from https://music.apple.com/us/artist/palmer-brown/19939976

Blaze Official. (2024, December 16). Do You Remember House? (Bob Sinclar Club Mix) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/e7D76Lr52kA?si=SCX4f09A7W2bUfte

ElectrodEb. (2012, February 25). Eddie Amador - House Music (Original mix) HQ 320! [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/i5vnIX1niDQ?si=EEEQKrjCM3LgVTpO

Exiledlarky. (2008, September 26). Blaze - Do You Remember House (Original mix) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/7LEgS8fCwXY?si=986JKjLVS6REeySG

Freepik. (n.d.). People having fun at the club [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.freepik.com/free-ai-image/people-having-fun-club_94938553.htm#fromView=search&page=1&position=8&uuid=945a5fa3-6698-4ebb-9398-64147f20753a&query=disco+party

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Muniz, C. (2017, March 2). Eddie Amador “House Music”. Insomniac. Retrieved from https://www.insomniac.com/music/from-the-crate-eddie-amador-house-music/

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Blaze (group). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaze_(group)

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Bob Sinclar. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Sinclar

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Eddie Amador. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Amador