What do Smashing Pumpkins, Jurassic Park, Secret of Mana & Pizza Huts’s Bigfoot Pizza have in common?

DT Carel, host of the YouTube series Dopamine Sunrise and the person responsible for the fantastic The Room We Wanted logo, takes us back to 1993, the year he considers his favorite year of being a kid.

Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream opened the door to alternative music. Jurassic Park sparked a fascination with filmmaking. Secret of Mana introduced him to a whole new kind of storytelling in video games. And Pizza Hut’s Bigfoot Pizza? That one brings back memories of Friday nights, family, friends, Super Nintendo and a pizza that was apparently large enough to require its own transportation system.

Along the way, we talk 90s fashion, movie magic, the alternative rock Mount Rushmore, the games that shaped his creative interests, the McDonalds’ menu song, and the strange way a pizza can become a memory of the people you shared it with.

More than anything, these four choices tell the story of a nine-year-old discovering the things that would eventually become a part of who he is as an adult.

Four choices. Four pieces of childhood. One room that tells DT’s story.

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Produced by: Brian Colburn & Jay Sweet

Theme Music: “Rewind” by Brian Colburn

TRWW Logo Design: DT Carel

What do The Temptations, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, guitar pedals and Diet Coke have in common?

For Emily Wolfe, they're four pieces of the childhood that helped shape the artist she would become. The Temptations gave her an early lesson in songwriting, passion and the power of a great hook. Are You Afraid of the Dark? opened the door to horror and the adrenaline she still chases onstage. Guitar pedals became an obsession, a creative playground and a way to keep chasing the sound in her head. And Diet Coke? That one became something much bigger than a favorite drink.

Along the way, Emily talks about the unlikely combination of Motown, classic rock and emo that helped shape her sound, the first guitar pedal that changed the way she heard her instrument, the thrill of finally finding the right tone, and what it's like to create music with someone you once looked up to.

Four choices. Four pieces of childhood. One room that tells Emily's story.

🚪 ENTER THE ROOM 🚪

🎵 Browse the Catalog: https://theroomwewanted.com

💬 Join The Roommate Community: https://www.patreon.com/theroomwewanted

🌐 Connect on Social:https://theroomwewanted.com/social

📧 Contact Brian & Jay: https://theroomwewanted.com/contact

Produced by: Brian Colburn & Jay Sweet

Theme Music: “Rewind” by Brian Colburn

TRWW Logo Design: DT Carel

What do Nine Inch Nails, Goldeneye 007, X-Men Figures & Cinnamon Toast Crunch have in common?

For brothers Alex and Austin Ward of Hembree, they’re four pieces of a childhood spent growing up together in Fort Scott, Kansas, surrounded by music, video games, action figures and the occasional bowl of “vacation cereal.”

Nine Inch Nails takes them back to discovering the band at an impossibly young age, falling down a rabbit hole trying to find “Closer,” and eventually blasting Broken and The Fragile while playing GoldenEye for hours. They also talk about how Trent Reznor’s approach to sound, negative space and live production continues to influence the way Hembree makes music today.

Then there’s GoldenEye 007, the game that turned a tiny bedroom into a summer hangout for a rotating crew of friends. Four-player split-screen, proximity mines, unwritten rules and eight kids waiting their turn all became part of the experience.

For the X-Men figures, Alex and Austin revisit their childhood collection, the battle over who got which character, and why Austin willingly stepped away from Wolverine so he could be Beast instead. That childhood idea of everyone bringing a different “superpower” to the group eventually becomes an unexpected connection to the way Hembree works together as a band.

And finally, there’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It wasn’t an everyday cereal in the Ward household. As they agreed, it was more of a vacation cereal, something special enough to make the case for. Their mom would even buy the knockoff version, which, according to the brothers, sometimes managed to eclipse the original.

Maybe that's what makes these four choices stick. Some were shared, some were discovered on their own, and some were simply things that made being a kid a little more fun. Together, they paint a pretty good picture of where Alex and Austin came from.

Four choices. Four pieces of childhood. One room that tells Alex & Austin’s story.

🚪 ENTER THE ROOM 🚪

🎵 Browse the Catalog: https://theroomwewanted.com

💬 Join The Roommate Community: https://www.patreon.com/theroomwewanted

🌐 Connect on Social:https://theroomwewanted.com/social

📧 Contact Brian & Jay: https://theroomwewanted.com/contact

Produced by: Brian Colburn & Jay Sweet

Theme Music: “Rewind” by Brian Colburn

TRWW Logo Design: DT Carel