stupid music meme

frankly, i'm not a fan of memes. usually, when i see several blogs taking them on, i tend to read but ignore. so, when adam put up his little musical history, i didn't really even give it a thought for my blog. then heather did it. then jay. then lefty. and not only did he do it, but he also called me out by name.

now, i'm no michael j fox in back the future, going stupid everytime someone calls me chicken. but, i like music. so, screw it, here we go:
if i were to describe my musical tastes throughout the years with one word it would be schizophrenic.
when i was a child, i listened to music like a child. i think i listened to oldies. but, i do remember that my step dad had styx on vinyl, and so we would always rock out to mr. roboto and look @ the bizarre photos on the album sleeve.
really, i don't remember too much music, until about fifth or sixth grade. what happened then? well, frankly, my brother had impeccable music taste. and, i, of course, got to listen to what he was listening to. so, he listened to the local college radio station and i listened to the local college radio station. so, i remember walking to school, listening to mix tapes on my walkman. songs like blister in the sun (which i loved to recount with glee when my friends in high school finally caught on to that song), bands like suicidal tendencies, and a fair bit of reggae. there was other stuff as well.

it's also @ this time that i was exposed to a few things. the first was the beastie boys. license to ill began their illustrious career that i've loved.
the next thing that came into my life around this time was metal. now, guns n roses was the introduction, and they aren't the hardest of metal, but they opened the door. within a year (junior high), metallica would kick that door wiiiide open for me.

but, at the same time i was also listening in to eazy e's first album. and the cure. and run dmc. but, metallica stuck with me through it all. i listened to other metal, and kept up with other musical genres as well, but metal was my "go to" guy. soon, i fell in love with a band out of nyc. i challenge anyone to not get amped up by the opening drums on anthrax's song "indians." anthrax, be musical innovators, created rap rock. if anyone tells you different, slap them. you could try and make a case for run dmc's walk this way, but really, that song is more a demonstration on how hip hop was sampling everything at the time, particularly rock. yes, they played it together, but it just wasn't the same. anthrax hooked up with public enemy, another favorite of mine (love politically charged music). they not only did a song together, but they went on tour together (it came to fresno but i couldn't go).

so, through high school i listened to mostly rap and metal, and some other random stuff that doesn't stick out. i wasn't really a fan of some of the big bands @ the time (nirvana, soundgarden). i did like stp though. it's also @ this time that i transitioned a bit from metal towards hardcore music. lots of the same energy, a little less noodlin about on the guitar, imho.

and then college. college is what you make of it. or something like that. anyway, in college, i started to listen to a whole bunch of other stuff. i still loved the beasties and they still weren't disappointing. but, i also started to listen to bands like the allman brothers and the greatful dead (thanks steve). i went to a few allman shows, but jerry garcia passed on before i could hit a dead show.

i also really fell in love with a little band called rage against the machine. now, when their first album came out, i didn't hate it, but just wasn't into it. whatever i was into at the time seemed more important. but by their second album i was sold. (i was very excited when rage & beasties were going to tour. then stupid mike d had to go and break his shoulder just before the tour. postponed. then rage broke up. dag nabbit.)

now, i'm not saying that my musical expansion stopped with rage. but, frankly, i've lost steam for this list. so, here's where i throw out some names of bands/acts that i enjoy:
hip hop: outkast, common, talib kweli, ice cube, jurassic five, dj qbert, dj shadow, krs one, tribe called quest, the coup, dead prez, the roots
rock: sublime, nofx, unwritten law, p.o.d., radiohead, sometime sunday, the smiths
etc: johnny cash, david allen coe, elvis, ozomotli, christina aguilara

when i look at most of those names, i see how a lot of them are big moments in my musical life. but, as i said, i've lost steam. i want to talk abou thow i got into them all, or what was going on or what each piece led to, but meh.

and, my musical library keeps growing. lately, i've been digging on astronautalis, sufjan stevens, derek webb, barzin, and rademacher. it's definately more on the indie tip.