Mediums to Swear By.

This is a post that I've been meaning to make for a while. I'm just going to put it out there, as it is a medium in life in which I couldn't breath without.

Music.

My taste in genres, and why, and the artists I absolutely swear by.

If it's at all possible to actually eat music I probably would, most people could probably say the same. It's something that is with me every single day of my life, whether I quote a song, listen to a song and download/purchase (a hard copy, like a CD or Vinyl) a song; music is like a limb in mind. If I was to go a week without music...That is like leaving a person stranded on an island in the middle of ocean. 

"Water, water everywhere and not a single drop to drink." - Coleridge. 

Enough of the dramatics lets just get down to it. Oh! A certain fact you should know, I consider myself a music admirer. I can't actually play an instrument. If my life depended on it I probably would just quote a song or something. 

I am pretty sure the reason I love listening to music so much is because it was played a lot in my childhood, my mum bought a record player a few years ago so that she could play all her vinyl. That was glorious. The Beatles on vinyl is like no other, it's like you're transported to the era and the vibes of the song pour into your ears, and you can just feel exactly what it is that they mean. When I listen to music I listen to it for the vibe it gives me. I get into different vibes at different points of the day and week and month and year and so on. I usually listen to music in the Pop, Rock, Indie, Alternative, Electronic range, as well as listening to classic rock, I can thank my parents for that one. Listening to Meatloaf and CCR on long car rides was typical. "STOP right there! I need to know right now, do you love me?" Belting out lyrics with my mum and brother are some of the best memories I have. Even though my mum and brother have similar tastes, that are a little different then mine, I ventured out into different genres to see what I like. Musical growing up if you will. If I was to describe how I grew up to you through artist you could probably guess the type of music I listen to now. 

It started out with pop music listening to what was playing on the radio; I was really young, like no older then 5. I remember in the 90's listening to Jewel and Alanis Morisette, when female artists were getting more airplay. 

"Kiss Me, beneath the milky twilight..." is now playing around inside my head, even though that song is by a band, but still lead by a female. 

I remember singing along to these songs in the car, young enough to be completely oblivious as to what the meanings were. There was this one period where I was OBSESSED with Shaggy, whenever the song "... She caught me in the Shower. It wasn't me..." Came on I threw the volume up, if I was in the front seat, and sing along as loud as I could. This was probably a defining moment in my life where I realized I wouldn't stay a kid forever. My mum asked me "Do you know what this song is about?" I completely confused meekly replied with a "Yes...?" I think some part of me knew, but being young and naive I didn't really want to say it, or really admit to it. That was a grown up thing, but I wanted to be 'grown up', because that was cool. My mum responded with "What do you 'think' it's about then?" I couldn't actually say it, so I wrote it down on a receipt, because we were in the car. Surprise, surprise, I was in a car. 

Around the same time, give or take a few years this is a stretch, Nsync, the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Pink and many others were making their break through. This is where my obsession with pop music really began. I still have some CD's, the first albums, of those artists. Dancing around to the Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Pink in my bedroom was the best exercise. I listened to pop music for most of my childhood and it wasn't until I got into my teens I started branching out. Trying different genres, there were different phases and I am sure my family can tell you all of them. There was a very small couple months of country, which is one genre I don't really care for, there are a couple classic tunes that everyone knows "You and me go fishin' in the dark, lyin' on our backs and countin' the stars..." I'll let you finish the rest. That genre ended quickly, but it was also influenced by where I lived. We had moved to a different place in the province, mostly a farming place, so country was common, I just couldn't get into it. I did try, not very hard though, it's just not something I can connect in the same way as other genres. It was this point in my life that I started connecting different genres of music with different types of people. If you listened to country music there was usually a polar opposite on an MP3 player. That's right, we enter the digital period of life. People usually had country and rap/hip hop or country and metal. Everyone listened to pop music; it was like air for everyone. It was around this time that I started getting interested in rock music. I started off with more of a pop rock vibe, then got a little deeper and steadily deep until the lines crossed into metal, which was another genre that I couldn't really get into. Bands like Linkin Park, Green Day and My Chemical Romance were popular on my MP3 player. I thought IPods were too ‘mainstream,’ I wanted nothing to do with Apple for a long time. Now look at me: IPhone, IPod (broken and unusable, very sad) and my MacBook Pro. I digress, I am sorry. This started my hobby of finding weird bands on the Internet that very few people have heard. Mostly bands from the UK, this was around the time when I moved again to another town. English bands like One Night Only and the Arctic Monkeys (I found out later that the AM was really popular). This period of my life was split into 3 different genres, the pop music: Pink, Britney, Black Eyed Peas and anything on the radio. Heavier rock music and some classics: Metallica and Disturbed were very popular. Then a genre which I have no explanation for, it was just incredibly niche and weird and I thought it somehow made me stand out, it was Opera metal, the main focus of this was Nightwish. That period stayed with me for a couple months, probably half a year. I then just got really bored of it and had a dramatic adjustment; this was one of those defining moments again. I just really wanted to be girlier, Hello Hormones! This was where you could say the indie really seeped in, more indie rock then anything else. The Pigeon Detectives, A Fine Frenzy, Mother Mother, Animal Collective and the Eels. Music that, parents if you’re reading you probably have no idea who I am talking about. My music library started growing, there was period in recent years that all I listened to was dance music. Calvin Harris, D-Cup, Skrillex (who hasn’t?) and a bunch of random remixes that I can hardly remember. Around that same period I became infatuated with the 70’s and 80’s music, the classics and the one hit wonders. I guess this could be the reason I wanted to know more about 60’s and 70’s rock n’ roll. Bands like the Stones, Zepplin, Meatloaf, CCR, Cream, Queen, Foreigner and there are many more. I think I redeem myself a little bit, but throughout my teen years (they’re almost over, wails) I’ve stuck with listening to indie music. My music library now consists of, what could be classified as, hipster/pop music. 

For all the parents I am sorry, you may not know any of these artists; The Black Keys, Lady Gaga, Bahamas, She & Him, No Doubt, Pink, Birdy, Cave Painting, Regina Spektor, Yeasayer, Robyn, The Fratellis, Beyoncé, the Hares, Die Antwoord, Hellogoodbye, One Direction, General Fiasco, Marina and the Diamonds, Imagine Dragons, Walk the Moon, and AWOLNATION. There are LOADS more that I could list, but this post is already long enough.

I am also going to put out there that rap and hip-hop are just not interesting to me, I know of some artists but it’s the same vibe as country music, just unappealing.

There are also a lot more artists and songs that I am thinking of right now that I could mention and be nostalgic about, but I will leave you with just a surface scratch on my musical skin.