Oh, the Shame!

Ok, so ... given the music I grew up listening to assignment, I am posting this partial confessional.

In my earliest years, I had two tapes (Remember cassette taps, children? Time to step into the Wayback Machine.) that were my favorites. One was a Sesame Street tape full of delightful diddies like "I Love Trash" and "Rubber Duckie." The other was Mr. Rogers and fell quite a bit below the ranking of the Sesame Street tape. I'm sorry, Fred Rogers was a national treasure but cannot match the pre-adolescent awesomeness of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

When I was older (say 4th-6th grade) my tastes varied and I still listened primarily to cassettes, up until the early 90's. I loved Belinda Carlisle's first solo album and Tiffany was often played. I also liked U2, Heart, Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Wonder (the latter two because of my mom). And yet -- and here's the truly embarrassing thing -- I also listened to ... sigh ... Chicago. I DON'T KNOW WHY!!! Maybe because they had that one single that came out in '88 or '89 called "Look Away" and I didn't know how hideously unawesome they were? I just don't know. I try not to think about it. Until now.

In junior high and high school I secretly listened to old Billy Joel, The Police, Blondie and Elvis Costello and The Attractions while openly listening to current pop hits from the likes of Color Me Badd (so "bad" that one 'd' just wasn't enough) and Boys 2 Men. "End of the Road" was the theme for the senior prom but fortunately, I boycotted that travesty. I also listened to some Tupac because my younger brother LOVED him and I began to love him too, although I can't remember many lyrics from his songs except for "California Love."

College lead to listening to more maintsream and "indie" Hip-Hop and New Wave and listening to X103 on the radio until I got sick of hearing the same songs by Soundgarten, Blur, Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails. I also listened to The Pixies, The Breeders, Elastica and other bands of that ilk. I got more into jazz, but never that smooth, "all I need is a keyboard that can mimic the sounds of real instruments and a guy playing alto sax" jazz. Acid jazz, jazz fusion, old school straight ahead jazz, big band stuff, that's what I like.

From my twenties to now being in my early thirties, my tastes haven't dramatically changed from college days but have been enhanced by meeting new people with different tastes and sharing music. There isn't any genre that I won't open my mind to but I generally dislike anything that's played on pop radio, especially in Indy, which I'm certain has the worst stations in the country, nigh the free world.