30-Day Song Challenge, Day 4: A Song That Reminds You of Someone You’d Rather Forget

This is a difficult category for me because… there really isn’t anyone that I’d rather forget. Seriously, no one. Not an old girlfriend, not a bully, not an authority figure I clashed with or anyone who done me wrong or hurt my feelings. Not that those  things never happened to me. But, as Captain Kirk declares in Star Trek V, I need my painful memories as much as my happy ones. (Well, that was the gist of what he said, if not a direct quote… Star Trek V is one of my painful memories, you see, and I haven’t seen it in a very long time… ) The point is, we are the sum total of our experiences, good and bad. I could forget some people, but then I’d very likely be losing some component of myself too. And I don’t know if it’s worth the tradeoff. Not for me anyhow.

So… the best I can offer for this category is a song that reminds me of someone who hurt me once, and this song was… a memorable feature of the weeks that followed. But I haven’t forgotten that person, nor do I want to.

“I Don’t Care Anymore” comes from Phil Collins’ second solo album, Hello, I Must Be Going, and it can be seen as something of a companion piece to his first big hit, “In the Air Tonight.” It has a similar sound to “Air,” and like that one, it was prominently featured in a first-season episode of Miami Vice, helping to set the overall tone and style of that breakthrough television series. That episode of Vice wouldn’t air until a year after the song’s release, though, too late to provide much of a sales boost. “Don’t Care” barely cracked the top 40, peaking out at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the last week of March 1983. It’s a great song, though, especially if you’re pissed at someone and want to wallow in that feeling for a time. Just sayin’.