History of Music Taste (abridged)
When it comes to music, I’ve been pretty “on the spectrum”…
Before the age of 7 I compulsively listened to my parent’s Mannheim Steamroller album and the Rusted Root song “Send Me on My Way”. This obsession with specific songs peaked when I heard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” where I probably listened to it ten times a day for a couple of months. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ rendition for The Social Network soundtrack is also 👌I still enjoy instrumental music a lot these days. Patrick O’Hearn’s “Beyond this Moment” and Erik Wøllo’s “Sedona” are just my vibe.
After a pretty intense Weird Al stage, my first “real” album was Franz Ferdinand’s self-titled. I’m notoriously bad at memorizing lyrics, but I listened to this album so much that I know the words not only to their hit “Take Me Out”, but to the entire album.
Teenage Dirtbag Days and Beyond
For better or worse, my teenage years consisted of entirely indie music– whatever the hell that means. Modest Mouse was tops though. “Lounge (Closing Time)” and “Spitting Venom” are two of my faves.
My twenties consisted of a lot of hip-hop, of far more artists than I can name. What an absolutely inventive and varied genre of music. If I had to pick some of my favorites off the top of my head they would be “Exhibit A” by Jay Electronica and Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album.
At some point during this time I had a couple of transformational music experiences:
- Hearing this guy’s acoustic cover of The White Stripe’s “Ball and Biscuit” which got me into the blues.
- Going to a Steel Panther and Judas Priest concert with “Turkey” and Ashlee which opened my eyes and ears to glorious metal 🤘
As I enter my thirties those two genres are what really resonate with me. They are both very rhythm-centric and many songs are played in the best key (E). So many great riffs were written in E…