All good things must come to an end…

As another year at Warwick comes to an end, another group of graduates bursts beyond the Bubble and into the “real world”. Two outgoing writers – both ex-Boar Music editors – have a little reminisce on the way music has shaped the three years they spent here…

Michael Perry

Back, back, way back in the autumn of 2011, I rocked up to campus with Arctic Monkeys’ Suck it and See ringing in my ears, having little clue as to how extensively I’d go on to embrace the musical sphere of university life in my all-too-short experience of it. Many major epochs of my time here have a corresponding melodic memory, and I’m able to play back my soundtrack to Warwick with great fondness and nostalgia.

In the dizzy months of Fresherhood, I bagged the role of Head of Music at RaW 1251am (partly due to an off-the-cuff pun involving Laura Marling’s ‘Rambling Man’), and the subsequent year of working on the radio station’s exec team opened up a vast range of opportunities for discovering – and sharing – new sounds. The serendipity continued into second year; the day I became the editor of this very section coincided with a trip to Manchester to catch Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ explosive show at the O2 Apollo.

These three years have left me in good stead for a future of further discoveries, as well as giving me a soundtrack for the memories which I’ll always hold dearly to my heart

Finals year has heralded countless other highlights, including hearing Kanye’s ‘Black Skinhead’ everywhere from Smack to afternoon picnics, and mere hours after putting my pen down on top of my final exam paper, I was swaying in Camden’s Roundhouse, completely transported by the terribly beautiful sounds of Neutral Milk Hotel. And that’s before I’ve even got to how music became an essential catalyst for sparking dozens of friendships, whether bonding over tacky ’90s anthems in the Copper Rooms, or debating favourite albums well into the night in pubs all across Leamington Spa.

Warts and all, being a student at Warwick has been a beautiful ride, and the future still looks tuneful beyond graduation. With Latitude and Green Man slated for this summer, and a music catalogue now bursting at the seams, these three years have left me in good stead for a future of further discoveries, as well as giving me a soundtrack for the memories which I’ll always hold dearly to my heart.

Sam Carter

  The first time I walked into the Copper Rooms, it was with what I can only describe in hindsight as an embarrassing amount of excitement. I was the epitome of freshness – Example was my alarm clock, Calvin Harris was my ringtone, and POP and Skool Dayz ensured that the only thing more saccharine than my listening habits was the Purple everyone was drinking. Throw in a few cheesy Bon Jovi sing-alongs and the bizarre thing that was Ms. Dynamite at the Summer Party, and First Year was a strange time for musical habits.

It would never last, of course. Evolve has since been renamed to Neon, Top Banana soon became Drop, and  it has to be said that my second year was a comparatively mellow affair. They say university’s all about broadening your horizons, so I tried to use the opportunity to go beyond the safe bubble of indie rock that I used to occupy. Childish Gambino and Chance the Rapper helped me vaguely get into rap for the first time, and albums like Random Access Memories and Channel Orange remain two of my all-time favourites today.

I was the epitome of freshness – Example was my alarm clock, Calvin Harris was my ringtone

Soon enough, the third-year haze of dissertation-writing and exam revision was subject to a more sombre backdrop of The National and Laura Marling, with the occasional Hans Zimmer soundtrack thrown in for particularly frenzied late-night sessions. Along with catching a few acoustic gigs at Curiositea, my listening habits started to feel strangely refined – something that’s sure to change as I join others in trying to recreate First Year during the final weeks of post-exam bliss.

For now, Harris et al. have regained their temporary place on the Spotify rota, and there are few things in life that can match the simple joy of sticking Toto and Tom Jones on the Kelsey’s jukebox. It’s safe to say that the music that has soundtracked my university life hasn’t always been the best – in fact there have been times when it’s been downright shocking. If nothing else, it’s been a great way to remember three of the most hectic, unpredictable, bonkers years you’re likely to have.