The Sounds Of Taco Bell

Nobody eats at Taco Bell more than I do. At least I hope not.

On average, I give business to the Taco Bell in Twin Falls, ID once every 10 days. This is not very healthy, but it is very cheap. I can suffice my hunger for under $4! But you must understand that although eating at Taco Bell may not be a financial sacrifice, you sacrifice many other things:
Your dignity.
Your functioning arteries.
Your taste in music.

That's right. Not only do I always order the same things at Taco Bell, but I hear the same songs. I don't get out much, but between the Twin Falls and Jerome Taco Bells, I'm convinced that the Taco Bell experience is soundtrack'd by the same XM Radio station. I cannot imagine sinking my teeth into a Cheesy Bean & Rice Burrito without modern Adult Contemporary chart-topping music being played in the background.

These are the songs I've heard the most while eating at Taco Bell. These songs define the Taco Bell experience. The music acts as a quality-defining metaphor. Much like the fast food restaurant itself, this is something we always come back to, but never know why. It's always there; always there for you to consume. So here we go...

~ The Sounds Of Taco Bell ~

#10 (tie) Daya Hide Away + Shawn Mendes Treat You Better
You can walk into any single college kid's house in Utah and one of these songs will be bumpin' in the background. Both singers longing for morality at an obnoxiously desperate expense, it's hard to choose which track to stick with... much like the $1 Cravings Menu.
#9 Charlie Puth One Call Away
Charlie Puth is such a nice guy, right? He's just such a loving man. He's easily the voice you want to hear serenading you and your sweetheart over a couple Chalupa Supremes.
#8 Rachel Platten Fight Song
"Fight Song" basically became the campaign song for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (in case you didn't know who she was). Does this mean her campaign was also sponsored by Taco Bell? Obviously not. That would have tripled her votes.
#7 Andy Grammer Good To Be Alive (Hallelujah)
As I hear his charming voice sing "Good to be alive right about now!" I look into my Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco like "You took the words right out of my mouth, Andy..."
#6 Calum Scott Dancing On My Own [Robyn cover]
I'll never forget my first time hearing this song. Sitting alone in the Jerome Taco Bell late at night, I hear a barren piano topped by this melodramatically depressive British white guy's voice, then I hear the words... Oh gosh. This really is... it's a cover of Robyn's 2010 Euro-hit "Dancing On My Own!" I bet the people who have only heard the lame cover version of this song have probably only eaten at Taco Bell and never eaten real Mexican food too!
#5 Lukas Graham 7 Years
Ugh, this song drives me nuts. It's like the minor key stepchild of "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. Oddly enough, I always pay close attention to its lyrics just in case I get in a conversational jam during a bad date night. (Ex: "Scott, why are we in a Taco Bell?" >> "Let's change the topic. You know that '7 Years' song by Lukas Graham? That guy smoked pot at age 11. Isn't that sad?")
#4 Maroon 5 Don't Wanna Know [ft. Kendrick Lamar]
Apparently Kendrick Lamar is in this song, but I've never noticed. It's like how it wasn't until my 10th purchase of a Loaded Potato Griller that I noticed there was bacon in there!
#3 Train Play That Song
The fall of Train has been hard for me to listen to. The singles get worse every year. I won't go into too much detail here, but I can only imagine this track sounding uncomfortably fitting as the alarm clock ringtone for folks who eat breakfast at Taco Bell every morning. The song plays as the smile on your beaming face orders a Sausage Flatbread Quesadilla... America wakes up for this.
#2 Ben Rector Brand New 
This song is the Taco Bell special. This is the real #1 on the list, because I hear it every time I walk into Taco Bell, guaranteed. I've heard it there so much, I assumed that this was some popular radio song. But no. It apparently has only reached #82 on the US Billboard chart. Ben Rector and The Bell, man. They got a thing going on.
#1 Ed Sheeran Castle On The Hill 
I could have easily given this top spot to Ed's super-hits "Thinking Out Loud" and "Shape Of You." But I just want to address to the world that there is a literally a part of this song where he says "Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long." And THAT, my friends, is the unnecessary additional imagery you already have in mind when you stare down your $5 Triple-Double Crunch Wrap Box. Oh goodness, what have I done? It's too late to turn back! You're in Taco Bell. You're in Ed Sheeran's world now.

AND WE BACK

...And we back, and we back, and we back!
Hey kids! I decided to bring back the old blog. I guess it was only dead for 3 months, but 3 months is a long time in Internet-Land. Back in June, I tried making my own blog on WordPress. I wrote 1 self-serious post then already got bored with it. As good of a writer I may be, my zaniness cannot be locked up for too long. The king has returned!

Anyways, this post won't be incredibly zany. To keep public interest for at least another paragraph, here's a brief, stupid song list I cooked up today:
TOP 5 SONGS I'D LIKE FOR 'OUR FIRST DANCE' AT MY WEDDING
5 Sugarcube  Yo La Tengo
4 A Punch Up At A Wedding  Radiohead
3 (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher  Jackie Wilson
2 Real Love  Beach House
1 I Got You (At The End Of The Century)  Wilco

There. Are you happy? You better be. My wedding will be legit. Assuming it ever happens.
Meanwhile, let's analyze this photo below...

This photo was taken December 17, 2016. My last day in Logan, UT. I'm wearing a cap + gown ensemble that doesn't match. Holding my acoustic guitar, looking away from the camera as though I'm walking in a different direction. Shards of snow lightly frost Old Main Hill. This is an awkward photo symbolizing my awkward exit from Utah State University. I may have departed from Logan, but I have remained glued to this awkward feeling.
Since "awkward" is an over-generalized term, I'll be more direct about it: I graduated, but I never felt like I graduated.
I didn't want to pay the $40 to take part in the walking ceremony, so I stole a random cap + random gown I found in my parents' basement months before this photo was taken in preparation for my own graduation photo shoot. The semester ended, I took my last final and drove out of town like a thief in the freaking night.
In a way, I walked away from Logan empty-handed. I've never considered this until recently. In March, I stopped by my old apartment where my B.A. diploma had been mailed. It's currently still in its envelop and stashed amid my box of neckties.
I spent a lot of my last 7 months substitute teaching. Lately I've done a whole lot of nothin'. I'm in purgatory. I fantasize about living anywhere else. I was on a spree of listing cities I want to live in; Portland, Washington DC, Vancouver, SLC, whatever. Yet it wasn't until a couple days ago that I considered... perhaps I left Logan too soon.
I've had 0 desire to move back to Logan in the last 7 months. Until the other day. It's suddenly the only thing I want to do. Perhaps it's just my nature. Autumn is coming. I haven't spent an autumn anywhere other than Logan since 2011! I guess I could stay in Jerome. Or move to Seattle. But dang that small college town is calling my name. I am 100% it will be a different experience than it's ever been before. But that's actually kinda why I wanna do it.
There was a bunch of stuff I wanted to do, but never accomplished. There was also a bunch of stuff I didn't want to do, but actually accomplished that stuff for some reason. The good ol' days weren't always good. But I do love that damn town. I wouldn't mind doing new + different things while keeping the same ol' location.
You can say moving back is a step backwards for me, or I'll only be working somewhere that has nothing to do with my degree. That latter part is particularly true, but I'm okay with this. I kinda like the idea of saying "I'm from Logan, Utah." Not like I'm gonna live there the rest of my life, but I'm sure that sentence will come in handy some day.
What I'm leaving out of this story is my boring existential crisis that's been burning inside me on + off for the last 7 months. It's as though whether I saw myself continuing life as a professional stage manager or a local garbage man, I could neither get myself excited nor frightened about it. I've never watched Rick & Morty, but the 8-second video below is kinda the story of my life.

I owe a lot to Logan in strange ways. I put less than half my effort into music, writing, relationships... I got this piece of paper that declares me a societal success in the most arbitrary manner, but I didn't even finish my work. The universe has not even seen the left side of my brain.
Maybe I'll go back to school. Maybe I'll live in Logan for like 2 months and beg for any opportunity to get the heck outta there. For now, I feel overdue for a walk down Canyon Rd and Center St. That still hasn't gotten old.