The first song is important

I did a little digging to find other YA novels that have soundtracks, or at least have characters that love a certain song or band that actually exists, as opposed to a fictional band, etc.

The big one that keeps coming up is Eleanor & Park, where "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths playing a major role in the book.  I haven't found a book where a large amount of real music moves the plot, so I'm hopeful that Gilly Frank will be an interesting new direction that will get an agent excited.

I've been struggling to find the perfect first song for Gilly to be listening to in the book, because I think it would be fun to encourage people to listen to music while they read it.  So the last thing I want is for the first song to be something that is hard to listen to, or weird, or too much of a niche.

Currently, the first song she listens to in the book is by Deodato, his version of "Also Sprach Zarathustra."  I love this song, but it takes a little time to really open up.  Knowing where the music is going, I get chills now pretty much from the first note.  If there's ever a movie about Gilly, I want this music to cover the opening credits, with a long, long single camera shot of the Earth, slowly descending through the sky to the suburbs, and into the house where the record is on the player and her parents are sitting everyone down to have meat loaf for dinner, where the music kind of fades into the background while they talk.

I've gone through the book and counted all the bands, songs, and albums mentioned, and it's hovering at around 175.  Gilly likes to make lists inspired by unique situations or random thoughts.  One of her lists from the first chapter, for example, is

8 Bands My Dad “Would Rather Stab Out His Own Ears Than Listen To:”

1. Hall & Oates
2. Air Supply
3. Foreigner
4. Chicago
5. Poco
6. Toto
7. REO Speedwagon
8. The Cranberries

I wanted to capture Gilly's parents in a way that resonates with her, so there are several points in the book where her experience with her parents, together or separately, is enhanced by music. Later on, she rides with her dad in his car and they listen to Bauhaus together, and at another point, she takes note that he is listening to an old Pixies album (Surfer Rosa) while hanging out in the basement fiddling with his vintage telephone collection.

Her mother, by contrast loved the poppy, lighter music. One of her favorite bands from the 90s was The Cranberries, for example. She doesn't get into new music much any more, but she's recently taken a liking to First Aid Kit.

I think when you look at a couple and see their relationship, your understanding of them can really be enhanced by knowing something trivial like their favorite and least favorite kinds of music. The fact that her parents dislike each other's favorite music doesn't stop them from having an all around healthy relationship with each other. I wanted Gilly to have both her parents in this book, and I wanted them to be interesting and quirky without dominating the narrative. Music, I hope, helps those characters look and feel real without taking too much time from Gilly's storytelling.