quoted 4 lines So what's your supposed skeleton in the musical closet? What DID we>> So what's your supposed skeleton in the musical closet? What DID we
>> listen to way the hell back when that led us to this blessed state we
>> find ourselves in (hopefully)? Enquiring (or perhaps madly curious)
>> minds want to know!
Alright, alright, I know this was discussed over a week ago but I've
been busy and I thought I'd save the most embarassing for last 3:)
Here goes:
First favorite song: Song, Song Blue : Neil Diamond (Age 5)
(needs no explanation. By the way, this is completely off topic
but has anyone heard rumors that Neil is a total pothead? I've
heard this from someone who is good friends with his guitar
tech. who has (supposedly) witnessed Neil's ritual of getting
baked before going on stage. Hearing this made my day :)
First (good) record purchased: Whip it 7" - Devo (Age 10)
Followed by : Fredom of Choice - Devo
Pleasure Principle - Gary Numan
B52's - First Album
By 6th grade (age 12) I was heavily into AC/DC ("Back in Black"),
Queen - ("Jazz (came with cool poster of naked girls on bikes, major
prize for a little kid", "The Game"), and above all The Rolling Stones
("Emotional Rescue", "Some Girls", "Tatoo You") I idolized the stones,
even though they were as old as my parents. I even went as far as
naming my cat "Mick Jagger". Mick still rules. I'm really not sure what
caused the transition to more guitar-based music, but it happened.
Once I got to junior high (age 13-14) I got really into Heavy Metal/lame
classic rock, thanks to my cousin who I idolized.
First Concert: (This is really embarassing) Yngwie Malmsteen at the
Pamona Valley Auditorium. Follwed by Ratt/Bon Jovi, Van Halen, etc..
which led to a lame speed metal period (Metallica, Slayer, etc..).
By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I hooked up with some
new friends, turned punker =:) , went to punk shows, tried psychedelic
drugs for the first time, and joined a band. Major transition.
By the time I graduated high school (barely) and started junior college
(default), my musical tastes expanded to everything from Sonic Youth to
the pixies to Public Enemy to Nirvana, etc..
After a couple years of college I started getting into industrial dance
type stuff (Thrill Kill Kult, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, KMFDM, etc..), which
evolved to real industrial (TG, Coil, Non, etc..). During this time I was
still into guitar based pre-grunge/punk but I dug industrial too. Ever
since I went heavy metal, I always thought that synths and like sounds were
"wimpy"and "not real instruments". This was embedded in my skull until I
came across Industrial Dance with synths-yet-still-harsh-sounding and
later with acid-housey psychick TV.
Then "it" happened:
In '90 some friends started to go to "raves" and I didn't get it until I
actually went to one and discovered what a perfect drug-environment the
music created. The first ravey song that really had an impact was "cubik"
by 808. Later on came "James Brown is Dead" and the rest of the
first really big techno stuff. Along with this came Mars FM, a decent sized
commercial station that played all the techno hits. My first techno 12" was
"Spice" by Eon. I loooved that song. After a little more than a year of
listening to a lot of (what seemed to be at the time) really cool stuff on
Mars, the station went off the air (new management), a very sad day. I
had been into Mars from day 1, and now my main source for new music was
dead. With no mars, the only place you could hear good music was at
clubs/raves and it's pretty much been that way ever since (except for
college radio of course).
These days (Age 23, senior in college) I'm very much into ambient stuff,
happy housey stuff, cool acid/trance shit, acid-jazz, hip-hop, Japanese
Noise or anything that's good really (There was a brief breakbeat/hardcore
period about 1.5-2 years ago but that's over). Everything from Cajmere to
Aphex Twin to the Orb. Still like some of the noisier rock/industrial stuff
but don't buy much these days. Industrial Dance and Geek Rock really
bothers me.
Favorite "bands" : The Orb, Orbital, LFO, KLF/JAMS, Deee-Lite,
FSOL/Amorphous Androgenous, Irresistable Force, The Grid, Aphex Twin,
Sven Vath, Black Dog Productions, CJ Bolland, Speedy J, UltraMarine,
the list goes on...
One thing I've noticed about these confessions is that most people came
from a more synth background, which would seem to be a natural progression
I see my musical history as a definite progression (albeit a very strange
one) and I am almost positive the music I will be listening to in the future
will be technology based rather than rock n' roll based. If someone
would've told me ten years ago that I'd wind up listening to music made
for the most part by "synthesizers (yuck!)" I would've laughed in their
face. ("Fuck you man, guitar solos..."). If someone would've told me four
years ago that I would be spending most of my money on vinyl instead of
cd's I would've laughed harder.
Whelp, there you have it, the (sometimes pathetic) skeletons of my musical
closet. I hope you had a good chuckle.
Andy (Former owner of a Ratt concert t-shirt)