I'm not sure what was wrong with me as a child. I loved listening to music my parents liked. I was born in 1971. Can you guess what I listened to?
If you guessed Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, or Pink Floyd, you would be wrong.
If you guessed Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, The Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, Barbara Streisand, and Barbara Streisand, you would be right.
While all the other kiddies were listening to Kiss, Duran Duran, and other "cool" music, I was belting out Barbara's part in the duet You Don't Bring Me Flowers, or "rocking out" to Forever in Blue Jeans.
I was quite afraid of Alice Cooper and his Hell, Kiss with their unnaturally long tongues and zebra faces, and I wanted no part of a dude who ate live bats. On the rare occasion that I was in close proximity to music like theirs playing, all I heard was noise.
While my taste in music expanded considerably in the late 70's, the 80's, and 90's thanks in small part to MTV hitting cable, and in large part to my very cool punk/new wave buddies, I never strayed far from my base. It's like Barbara, Neil, Barry, and the Bee Gees hard-wired my brain to reject rock and metal. Although, that explanation doesn't go far to explain why I was drawn to Depeche Mode (in their earlier days when Clarke had yet to leave and start Erasure), and U2's passionate Boy album.
My husband tried to introduce me to metal over the course of our 10 year relationship, but I am one stubborn cat. (I'm glad I wasn't too stubborn to allow him to properly introduce me to Pink Floyd, Todd Rundgren, and CSN, being that they weren't metal.) It took me overhearing R playing his iTunes to see, or hear, what I've been missing.
"Who is this?"
"Alice Cooper."
"Really?!"
"Uh-huh. It's his Goes to Hell album."
"Wow. It's good, and funny. I was missing this? OK, I'm ready for the others."
The upside to rejecting those scary dudes (Cooper et al.) is that I am hearing wonderful 70's metal for the first time in 2005.
Here is my page on a great site to find new-to-you music: www.last.fm
6 comments:
I find that my chidren are now opening my eyes to new music. You've got a great blog here, Janelle. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Thanks, PTCruiser.
I think its sweet that you spent your younger days getting in touch with your inner gay guy.
It has proven to be a real ice breaker at parties here in the SF bay area, too.
Please tell me you are a fan of Earth Wind and Fire.
Your musical taste is perfect. Celebrate it!
I do like EW+F. I feel way more cool now!
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