Ruined Music

Breaking up is hard to do. There are tears and sleepless nights, decreased appetites, increased appetites for takeout dumplings and/or vodka, items thrown at walls, packs of cigarettes smoked, embarrassing songs and/or poems and/or “meditative essays” composed (at 3:50 a.m. while smoking said cigarettes), epic bouts of whining to be endured only by your closest confidantes and understanding pets. Then, of course, there are the horrible logistics of the breakup, which involve notifying friends, said friends taking sides, and finally, canvassing your apartment for items left behind or given as gifts by your ex. You must determine which items you should try to return and which you must throw away or burn in the bathtub. And then you collapse against the side of the bathtub and cry, because a) you can’t believe you wasted so many weeks/months/years of your life with that evil bitch/bastard, or b) you can’t believe your precious angel left you and now you are doomed to die alone. Or both.
But perhaps the worst thing about the breakup is the fact that music gets caught in the fallout. Everyone has a song, album, artist, or band that’s been ruined by an ex (or, more accurately, by memories of an ex). Ruined Music is the place to talk about the music you’ve lost: the songs you can’t stand to hear ever again, that record she always played when she was over at your house, the band you went to see together a week before he called it quits, That Song that was on That Mix, the record that was playing the night you (fill in the blank), the album you got for a Valentine’s Day gift.
But wait! You’ve got a story about a song that was ruined not by an ex but by a roommate, a bandmate, a former best friend, a neighbor, a teacher, or an ocelot? You’re in luck! We want those stories, too! While Ruined Music was originally intended to focus on post-breakup song ruination, you, our readers, have convinced us to expand the scope of our project. So feel free to interpret “Ruined Music” as you will, as long as some kind of interpersonal (or inter-species) relationship is involved, and a song gets ruined as a result. Query us if you’re unsure, but chances are good that if your story is under 1,000 words and witty and true, we’ll love it as our own.
Tell us your story. Feel better. Reclaim your record collection.

Sign up to be notified when we update Ruined Music.
email: Powered by NotifyList.com

Ruined Music is a project of the Mayan Empire Media Empire. Bryan is the art-and-technology wrangler, or webmaster and designer. Mary is the word-and-grammar wrangler, or editor. They both live in Brooklyn and have had several records ruined over the courses of their young lives, but they are very happy now and enjoy making mixes for each other.
For submission guidelines, click here. To contact us about the site, or for general questions and feedback, email info@ruinedmusic.com.

ruined music (tm) the mayan empire 2006

Breaking up is hard to do. There are tears and sleepless nights, decreased appetites, increased appetites for takeout dumplings and/or vodka, items thrown at walls, packs of cigarettes smoked, embarrassing songs and/or poems and/or “meditative essays” composed (at 3:50 a.m. while smoking said cigarettes), epic bouts of whining to be endured only by your closest confidantes and understanding pets. Then, of course, there are the horrible logistics of the breakup, which involve notifying friends, said friends taking sides, and finally, canvassing your apartment for items left behind or given as gifts by your ex. You must determine which items you should try to return and which you must throw away or burn in the bathtub. And then you collapse against the side of the bathtub and cry, because a) you can’t believe you wasted so many weeks/months/years of your life with that evil bitch/bastard, or b) you can’t believe your precious angel left you and now you are doomed to die alone. Or both.

But perhaps the worst thing about the breakup is the fact that music gets caught in the fallout. Everyone has a song, album, artist, or band that’s been ruined by an ex (or, more accurately, by memories of an ex). Ruined Music is the place to talk about the music you’ve lost: the songs you can’t stand to hear ever again, that record she always played when she was over at your house, the band you went to see together a week before he called it quits, That Song that was on That Mix, the record that was playing the night you (fill in the blank), the album you got for a Valentine’s Day gift.

But wait! You’ve got a story about a song that was ruined not by an ex but by a roommate, a bandmate, a former best friend, a neighbor, a teacher, or an ocelot? You’re in luck! We want those stories, too! While Ruined Music was originally intended to focus on post-breakup song ruination, you, our readers, have convinced us to expand the scope of our project. So feel free to interpret “Ruined Music” as you will, as long as some kind of interpersonal (or inter-species) relationship is involved, and a song gets ruined as a result. Query us if you’re unsure, but chances are good that if your story is under 1,000 words and witty and true, we’ll love it as our own.

Tell us your story. Feel better. Reclaim your record collection.

Ruined Music is a project of the Mayan Empire Media Empire. Bryan is the art-and-technology wrangler, or webmaster and designer. Mary is the word-and-grammar wrangler, or editor. They both live in Brooklyn and have had several records ruined over the courses of their young lives, but they are very happy now and enjoy making mixes for each other.

For submission guidelines, click here. To contact us about the site, or for general questions and feedback, email info@ruinedmusic.com.