After that, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice dropped their respective records. I'm not saying anymore about that because I just can't. It's a dark period in my life. I was like eight and even then I knew I'd regret it one day.
During my entire childhood, my parents listened to the oldies station. I don't know if I'm rewriting my personal history, but I could swear that I only liked the good stuff, the "real" rock n roll; The Stones, Beatles, Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, etc. Things like Jerry and the Pacemakers were not my cup of tea, even as a child. They just didn't seem real. Maybe I wasn't as cynical as a child, but I knew what was good and pleasant to the ear and what was commerical crap.
Middle School (grades 6-8) - This was my classic rock stage with a heavy helping of Guns n' Roses. I liked Led Zeppelin but I have to throw some Bryan Adams in for good measure because he was my first concert.
Early High School (grades 9-10) - The discovery of So Cal Punk Rock and Canadian Indie Rock. Selection of favourite bands: Tristian Psionic, Weezer, Rancid, Operation Ivy, NOFX, Hayden, hHead, Gorp, Spooky Ruben, Suckerpunch, Propagandhi, treble charger, The Smugglers, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and random local Toronto punk rock. Like every young kid first discovering their own music, I had bad taste but unlike most people I got over that quickly... hopefully.
Grade 11 is defined by the discovery of two things: Second-wave ska bands (The Specials, Maddness, The Beat, Bad Manners, etc) and Screeching Weasel. Both are high energy music with random political statements thrown in.
Grade 12 was the year I was obsessed with Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. This hasn't really gone away, but this was the peak. I was also listening to a lot of old school jazz.
Now, for everyone not lucky enough to grow up in Ontario before the year 1999, you know nothing of Grade 13, a.k.a. OAC. This meant that high school was five years instead of four like the rest of North America. It was during this year that I grew to love Wilco/Uncle Tupelo. ZFT gave me a tape of Anodyne. It changed my world. This lead to my interest in alt-country and country in general for most of my university career. I also bought a lot of records during the four years of my undergraduate degree. Typical records: Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker, The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving, The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I, and Guided By Voices - Bee Thousands. Oh, and the lovely Neko Case was also a very large figure during this time.
After I was done school, I move to Winnipeg. I worked in a record store. I listened to everything. Bought more records. My favourite record to push on people at the store was A Grand Don't Come For Free by The Streets.
In the last year I've been listening to records less and to individual tracks from MP3 blogs more. I think because of this trend, I've been drawn more towards to pop music again. It's hard for me talk about what's happening right now, but I know there's a shift towards the pop music in my playlists of late.
Now it's your turn. You should use a random thing (like books, clothes, television, etc) and tell your lifestory with it.
2 comments:
wow, you've even helped me to remember some stuff i left out before. i'm going to need some time on this one. i've got some serious bbqing to do today...
bbq today, blog tomorrow!
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