Mike Brown's listening roots...
age
3-8 heard mom&dad's records... beatles, elton john, chicago
9 discovered disco: abba (greatest hits, super trouper) and sat.nite
fever. also loved john denver's greatest hits and tomita's greatest
hits. went to sleep to pop country and the cbs mystery theatre every
night (are there any REAL radio shows like that any more?). being in
a semi-rural area, all my friends loved hard rock and made fun of me
for liking abba. then in 1981..
10 mtv came and my life was changed. every day after school martha quinn
and j.j.jackson would take me on a tour through what few videos they
had in those days (i remember seeing some country videos, even) and i
became hooked on pop. j geils, joan jett, go-go's, kim carnes...
11-15 listened to top 40 radio more and more, kept watching mtv and bought
tons of 45's.. eddy grant, dexy's, thomas dolby, cyndi lauper,
anything with a synthesizer. kinda started to like van halen.
briefly took breakdancing lessons at the Y and listened to a little
bit of electro and early rap. heard 'beat box' in 1983 on a soul
station and have since acquired and fully absorbed every art of
noise record ever released.
16 moved to the rich burbs and first heard & hated the smiths and the
cure. after not seeing mtv for a few years i caught a glimpse of
the videos for 'true faith' and 'never let me down again' and
a few impulse purchases later i was a new order and depeche mode
fan, converted to the alternative mainstream. eventually started
to like the cure. kept wishing there were more bands like AoN.
17-18 heard 'suedehead' and completed my conversion by liking the smiths.
discovered tangerine dream and asked where they had been all my
life. started taping the local top 40 station's 'hot mix' show
and edited out the dj's and commercials with the pause button.
started getting into mainstream dance music: information society,
shep pettibone remixes (STILL love 'electric youth' by debbie
gibson!!!), janet jackson, etc. also got into rem, jc mellencamp.
19-20 bought cd's, cd-singles, and 12"s by the armload. gotta have more
and more remixes. less into top 40, more into alternative pop.
liked indie dance rock, discovered 808 state and the orb ('brain')
through impulse purchases after they were recommended by friends. \
fell in love with ambient music but no one else seemed to be doing
it. got into acid house too late and wished it would come back.
21-22 acid came back with techno and raves. found out there's lots of
ambient/ambient-style music out there; it's been done for years.
still buy and listen to lots of records. like hard rock now too.
discovered philip glass (if you ever get a chance to see him
perform live -- DO IT!!!!!)
ObIDMblurb: The new Bjork single "Venus As A Boy" features a Black Dog remix.
Mike J. Brown _ ___ ______________Approach and Identify
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