Let’s talk music. The older I get the more I realize just how “vanilla” my parents are. I’ve been exposed to so many more things since leaving for college. I’m continually exposed. Whether it’s to activities, entertainment, food, or music. My favorite area of life that’s constantly evolving and growing is music. Growing up we either listened to my dad’s classic rock, oldies or the generic “70s, 80s, and today” station (today was the 90s.) That’s where I heard the 70s music that I would later fall in love with. I didn’t realize that the music we were listening to was 30-50 years old, except for the modern pop music. When we were kids, we listened to one specific CD a lot on a very long roadtrip (CA to NY) and it's still my favorite CD. It's "Time Life Sounds of the Seventies AM Top Twenty" and the tracks are as follows (bold are my faves):
1. Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede
2. Hitchin' a Ride - Vanity Fare (LOVE the piano solo in the middle - I always pull out my air keyboard here)
3. The Night Chicago Died - Paper Lace (felt an emotional tie b/c my dad was a cop when I was kid)
4. How Do You Do? - Mouth & MacNeal (funky but I like it b/c I grew up w/it)
5. Chevy Van - Sammy Johns (quality listening for kids, but gives some great visuals for the imagination, lol)
6. Dancing in the Moonlight - King Harvest (I have a very vivid mental picture of what this song is talking about)
7. Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim
8. Jungle Fever - The Chakachas (sounds like recorded sex - we always skipped right past this)
9. I'm Doin' Fine Now - New York City
10. Moonlight Feels Right - Starbuck
11. Afternoon Delight - Starland Vocal Band (this song has become a family joke about me and what I thought it was about as a child)
12. Beach Baby - First Class
13. Sky High - Jigsaw
14. Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks (so sad. can only listen every once in awhile, but good)
15. Billy, Don't Be a Hero - Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods
16. Tighter, Tighter - Alive And Kicking
17. Beautiful Sunday - Daniel Boone
18. My Baby Loves Lovin' - White Plains
19. Run Joey Run - David Geddes (also sad. used to love to sing along dramatically. ok, still do)
20. One Tin Soldier, The Legend of Billy Jack - Coven (one of those great story-songs)
21. Rings - Cymarron
22. Shannon - Henry Gross
When we moved to Texas I went through a stage where I only listened to oldies or select musical soundtracks (Grease, Moulin Rouge, Chicago, etc.). I stole all my dad’s AM Gold hits of the 60s and 70s CDs and jammed for hours alone in my room. Our car radio station was always on oldies. Sometime toward the end of high school and the beginning of college I discovered the Beatles. They turned my world upside down. Listening to oldies stations my whole life I’d certainly heard many Beatles songs. My favorite song in the whole world was “Hey Jude.” Yet I didn’t know who the Beatles were or which songs were really theirs. Somehow I realized that all these songs I loved on the radio were all the Beatles. So began my years-long obsession with the Beatles. I read books, I looked up all their music, bought almost all their albums, etc. Everything that came out of my mouth somehow related to the Beatles. Eventually people got sick of hearing about the Beatles and hearing their songs so I stopped learning more and exploring them. They’re still my favorite band but I’m just not as enthusiastic as I once was. I’ve forgotten most of the facts I read over and over online and in a 900 page biography I read. They will always be my favorite band and all their various sounds are my favorite. (Just in case you’re curious, “Abbey Road” is probably my favorite album, though the White Album is strong competition. “St. Pepper” is my third favorite.) I still remember the thrill of purchasing another album, putting it in my CD player and just laying in my room listening to all the songs, half of which I’d never even heard before. (There is a huge percentage of Beatles songs that are rarely or never played on the radio that certainly need air time.)
Oldies have the biggest part of my heart. I actually refused to listen to modern pop music and to country. I thought country was the worst and modern pop music just did nothing for me. But when I went to college and made friends who have “normal” (or popular) tastes in music and they shared modern songs. I discovered Britney Spears for what felt like the first time ever (sure I’d grown up with her music but I never really got that into it. Though I vividly remember singing “Oops I Did it Again” at the top of my lungs with a friend of mine jumping on her trampoline in junior high). My friends made me mix CDs of current music all the time. My junior year in college I went on a summer class trip for two weeks with some friends. I “bi-Podded” with one of my best friends during the many hours sitting next to each other in the large van and I discovered a huge variety of music I’d missed during my oldies-obsessed years (90s and early 00s). This same friend would expose me to country only a couple years later. He made me 3 mixed CDs of country music (over 60 songs) and made me listen. He broke down the barrier I've had against country music since I was in elementary school (when my best friend was a country fan). It took awhile but I eventually got into them and now I’m madly in love with Josh Turner, I love Little Big Town, and I feel a sense of calm and reminiscence when I listen to any of the songs on those CDs (yes, I feel nostalgic though I’ve only been exposed to the music for a total of 3.5 months). (A couple other faves are "Meet in the Middle" by Diamond Rio, "Keep on Lovin' You" by Steel Magnolicas [love love love love love], and "Up on the Ridge" by Dierks Bentley.) My country music tastes haven’t expanded since then (no one has given me more music). I guess I’m happy being complacent and listening to the same music over and over (Look at me. I love oldies. They’re old. They never change or evolve. Yet, I will never get tired of them.). Before I was into country (that only happened this summer), I discovered folk and bluegrass via Pandora. I’d made a station where I used some songs from “O Brother Where Art Thou” (one of the soundtracks I LOVE) and slowly discovered that I loved bluegrass, old-timey country and gospel country. A couple of my favorites are Ricky Skaggs, Dan Tyminski, and of course Alison Krauss. From there I found some folk music to my liking as well (though I need to look up my Pandora account to find the specifics).
When I saw the movie “Nights in Rodanthe”, I fell in love with all the music in the movie. I bought the soundtrack and realized I loved old jazz music. Dinah Washington and Brook Benton are a couple of my faves (they have GREAT duets together). Dinah’s voice is to-die-for.
I’ve discovered my love for Led Zeppelin this year and I really like Alison Krauss’s voice ever since I saw “O Brother Where Art Thou.” When I watched the Grammy’s a couple of years ago I discovered a song that combined these two great things (before I knew I loved either of them separately)! “Please Read the Letter” is by Robert Plant (formerly of Led Zeppelin) and Alison Krauss (goddess of bluegrass.)
Earlier this year I discovered, totally randomly, a couple of mash-ups. I found a Wu Tang Clan/Beatles mash-up called "Wu Tang vs. The Beatles" that I LOVED. The first day I listened to the whole thing at work (it was a free download) I felt so B.A. all day because while I heard my wonderful Beatles influence I also had hardcore rap going on. Then I found a bluegrass/rap mash-up called "GangstaGrass"; another free download. Again, that was awesome, too. That's when I learned what a mash-up really was.
As you can see, my tastes are insanely varied and always elvolving and expanding. Usually if anyone gives me music, I'll listen to it. I usually find a few favorites in whatever I'm given, as well. I recommend you try some of this music, if you feel up to it. I'm sure there's a whole lot more I could say about specific songs and genres, things I didn't think of, etc. But this is it for now.
(I could talk about music forever.)
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