So I left off where I was listening simultaneously to some hip-hop and some 80s/90s metalish music. This was about 8th or 9th grade. I was still pretty geeky, but was looking to become more cool, a nearly impossible feat for a fat, smart, socially awkward sophomore. So my "style" in 10th grade was a mix of my enjoyment of hip-hop (baggy everything), metal/grunge (flannel, with holes, sometimes jeans) and the jock side of me that played baseball (Oakley Blades, sometimes jerseys). Yes, I looked like a bloody moron.
In 10th grade I figured out that cool people liked classic rock. So, as Pete predicted in his comment on the previous post, I figured out that CCR was a great band (greatest ever? I don't know). I also listened to Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Steve Miller Band, The Eagles (they were just starting comeback tour #4), and Santana. That was the bulk of my CD collection. It was also pretty convenient that my dad had many of these albums on LP.
It was also at this point that I more or less dropped the hip-hop. In the 90s I found one of my true love in music and I can't define it better than 90s rock. EMF, Jesus Jones, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Sponge, Bush (a little), even Spin Doctors for a short time. I stuck with Guns n' Roses despite the "Spaghetti Incident" but dumped the rest of the metal sound. The grunge movement was kind to the portly teenager and I ran with it. Generally, my fashion sense was about 12-18 months behind the rest of the world (I got my first Birkenstocks in 10th grade - they were cool when I was in 8th), but I could easily justify flannels since they were pretty cheap.
After 10th grade I could no longer dodge my academic future. I had straight A's that year so they convinced me to get into AP classes, where people wore polos and tucked their shirts in. When in Rome... I also started to wear glasses off-and-on, which went really well with the tucked-in polo shirts. They also listened to the music that their older siblings listened to and I already stated that I never listened to Depeche Mode, The Cure, etc. So my musical tastes were all my own that point forward. I stuck with the classic rock phase for a while and even went to an Eagles concert during the summer after my junior year in high school. However, this was also the time that I first started getting into punk and ska. It actually started one summer at summer camp when I first heard Rage Against the Machine. Listening to that music was the first time I connected to the lyrics. I mean, let's face it - how much can you connect with CCR? Not me at least. From there I heard some of the newer pop-punk bands like Blink (later Blink-182), Green Day, Rancid, etc. - the more mainstream stuff. I'm not sure how fast it happened, but I dumped the classic rock right then and there - rarely to go back. (sorry Pete)
My senior year brought me more money and freedom (two jobs). I would guess that 75% of that went into going to punk and ska shows, buying punk and ska CDs, and buying t-shirs of paunk and ska bands. All levels of ska were great for me - skacore, 3rd wave, two-tone, Jamaican, whatever. Same for punk - hardcore, pop-punk, etc. Voodoo Glowskulls at the Barn. Aquabats at the San Bernardino Arena. Bouncing Souls at Showcase in Corona. DFL at the Underground in Redlands. It was all I did. That seriously lasted through college and into my first year or so afterward.
For some reason, once I hit 23 I stopped going to shows. I can't even say what my last show was. I stopped listening to punk and ska for the longest time. My preferences turned back to pure rock, fueled mostly by bands like Foo Fighters, Hot Hot Heat, and eventually White Stripes. Through it all I stuck with Rage Against the Machine until they broke up (sort of?). I also got more into jazz. In fact, my first real date with Amanda was something called the "Holiday Jazz Caravan" sponsored by K-Jazz where we could ride a shuttle from club-to-club to see different jazz bands/artists. (By the way, there was a previous "not real date" with Amanda which was just a night where we caught up after not seeing each other for a while after college. It was not a real date since we were hanging out with several friends. That may have been the last time I had a chili dog at Pink's).
The point of all this is that I looked through my musical history to see what part of my musical anthology has stood the test of time as far as my tastes.
Question: Do they still hold a solid place in my personal jukebox?
Parent's music: not even close
NWA - still a few on my iPod, but I still think Dr.Dre's "The Chronic" was one of the best albums of all time across all genres. So that's a yes.
KIIS-FM-fueled pop: dead as a blind dog on the freeway
classic rock: sorry, Pete. Hardly any (only Dylan) on my iPod and all of those CDs are gone
metalish rock: I can still listen to any Guns and Roses except anything after the Use Your Illusion series, but the rest is only there as a kind of joke - so I guess not really
90s rock: I practically get a boner during "Rock of the 90s" weekend on KROQ - strong yes
Punk: yes yes and yes
Ska: there are some of my ska CDs that I loaded on my iPod due to the in ability to ever replace them if the CD was lost, but a lot of that more poppy-3rd wave stuff is just not my cup of tea. There's this band called "Jeffries Fan Club that I thought was pretty dope back in my first year of college - now I can't stand them.
Hmm... that was kind of a weak finish to a long two-part post, but I hope you enjoyed it.
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