Yeah, I'll do it. (Music History 101J)

Good meme, Adam.

I'm just going to have to hit the biggest influences, because there are so many and I only have patience with talking about myself for so long.

First thing I remember I was lying in my bed, couldn't have been no more than one or two...

Paul Simon is probably my earliest musical memory.

My dad was a big fan of his solo years, so I remember hearing a lot of his stuff, from One-Trick Pony to There Goes Rhymin' Simon to Graceland.




...I need somebody... Not just anybody...

Next (chronologically), I'd have to say it's a tie between The Beach Boys and The Beatles. I listened to a LOT of both while I was around 10-13. Mostly The Beatles' The White Album and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Best of the Beach Boys.

A Freak Without Warning

What's next? Oh yeah, puberty. Listening to 2 Live Crew at a friend's house (his mom was cool and I never saw his dad...), shouting out "Nobody move, nobody get hurt" (Eazy-E) on the bus to seventh grade. I remember getting a few albums taken away during those years.

I also remember sneaking around to watch channel 43(?), The Box, and free user-requested music videos. Nothin' But a 'G' Thang freaked me out. It was scary and racy and different, which adds up to fun.

...Likes to shoot his gun/But he don't know what it means...
What better time could there have been for Grunge to come along? I was entranced by the world I saw on the movie Singles, and -BAM- Grunge and I were instant friends. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, STP, Alice in Chains... If it involved flannel shorts, I was into it..

I'm a picker, I'm a grinner, I'm a lover, and I'm a sinner

Around this point (Sophomore in HS), I moved to Colorado, which Becky will tell you is a little behind the times. It was mostly Classic Rock or Country, so I listened to a fair amount of the Steve Miller Band and Led Zeppelin. I learned to play guitar at this time, mostly by playing the aforementioned bands: Paul Simon, The Beatles, and other oldies.

That's great, it starts with an earthquake
But there was also a little Alternative Rock, and I dug it. As I learned to play guitar, I learned to play and really appreciate some of this non-rock rock. Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Alice in Chains (yeah, I know I listed them under Grunge-- you tell me where they belong). There was also some U2 (from before this period -- exclusively Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum), a lot of R.E.M., Hootie and the Blowfish, and the like.

[new since yesterday]

During high school I also got into some early jazz, mostly Bop (credit my infatuation with Beat culture), but nothing to really write about.

Buffet Pants

With my entry to college came an introduction to lots of new music. My roomie freshman year was a big SoCal punk fan, so I got a brief intro to Social D, NOFX, and Pennywise, but I didn't know what to do with it.

Other college friends introduced me to Britpop (Teenage Fanclub, Air, Travis) and I didn't really care for it but pretended to like it.

There was a lot of pained soul-searching (duh, it's college), so I listened to a lot of Counting Crows. A lot of Counting Crows.

The internet allowed me to explore lots of genres I'd been curious about, so I logged some huge time listening to techno, house, and hardcore electronica. I'd recommend it for writing college papers.

After college, it was mostly hip-hop. Woody and Ed provided a lot of my exposure to various artists and I found some that I liked and some that I didn't.

Where have all the Rude Boys Gone?

Moving back to Colorado meant less exposure, but also less exposure to the mainstream. That's a good thing in a way. Over the past few years, I have been listening to a lot of surf music (Los Straitjackets and Pollo del Mar being the most prominent), indie stuff [Bright Eyes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Grandaddy (before they went defunct), Ted Leo + Pharmacists], and punk (Dropkick Murphys)that I might never have discovered if I hadn't had to seek out new music.

My current number one band has to be Calexico. I highly recommend that everyone check them out.

There's still a lot of hip-hop in the mix, and I'm glad for that.

Jeez, I missed a lot. Oh well. You can never tell the whole story, eh?