I was thinking of the history of my music listening habits and thought it would be a fun thing to share. Maybe it will catch on, and I will get to read about the evolution of other folks musical listening habits, so here we go.

My oldest musical memory is having an old Fisher Price record player. The albums I remember having are a 45 of the “Dukes of Hazard” theme by Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel “Glass Houses” album, and Kiss “Destroyer”. I’m guessing I was around eight years old at the time based on when the albums were released. Other than that, I have no recollection of a specific musical taste.

Moving on to a couple of years later; I received my first cassette tapes. If I recollect, it was John Cougar “American Fool” (I sang Jack and Diane all the time in the shower..lol), Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, and Styx “Killroy was Here”. I think not much longer after that I got a Huey Lewis tape. In the end, I didn’t have a specific musical taste yet, it was fairly eclectic I think.

Maybe A year later I hit the Michael Jackson phase, I was maybe eleven? I had my “Thriller” tape and added the earlier “Off the Wall”. I also started collecting the Jackson Fives albums. Not only that, but I had the red leather jacket with the studded shoulders and would sit in front of the mirror trying to replicate the Billy Jean dance routine from the 25th Motown Anniversary special. Maybe within a year after, I discovered break dancing and was listening to Herbie Hancock and the “Beat Street” and “Breakin” soundtracks. Also, oddly enough, during this time, I was really a fan of Air Supply.

Between Michael Jackson phase and maybe seventh grade things stayed the same and I mainly listened to what was modern pop music back then. In eighth grade, I started to form a little more of my own taste. I was listening to more rock, things like Cinderella, Van Halen, Def Lepard, and the like. And then I learned of the Cult, I believe it was my brother who first played “Electric” for me. I was blown away and was an immediate superfan and started my lean into what back then was alternative, new wave, or punk.

Come freshman year of high school, U2 took over my life. “The Joshua Tree” tour was my first major concert I attended. I was also listening to INXS, Midnight Oil, Depeche Mode, Skinny Puppy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the like. At this time I also discovered Metallica, a favorite till this day. By sophomore year it was leaning more punk with Minor Threat, The Misfits, The Dead Kennedys, and others. I will note here that at this point in my life that the idea of pop music, classic rock, and country made me ill, and they were obviously awful. By the beginning of Junior year, there was Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Janes Addiction, and Fugazi many other artists from Discord Records.

Then something interesting happened to me between junior and senior year. I went on a trip with a family friend and schoolmate to California. We were gone a couple months and lived in his Vanagon. He was much more hippy than punk and when we stopped in some odd mall in Iowa, he bought a Grateful Dead tape. I had never listened to them, but assumed they sucked, because they weren’t punk or metal. We listened to that tape all day every day for weeks, and I loved it, and suddenly I realized I was super closed-minded about things and started getting into classic/hippy rock. I understand classic rock today is Metallica and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, makes me so sad to think about it…lol.

At this time I also really started listening to Bob Marley and this magnified my love for Bad Brains a punk band I was listening to for a year or so already. Around this time I believe I started listening to Soul Asylum a lot and Uncle Tupelo which is still one of my favorite bands and my introduction to what I would later learn is called Alt Country or Americana.

Between this time and say, when I was twenty-one, I was listening to all kinds of stuff and at this time, around 1994 I joined the Army. I was stationed in Georgia, and it was my first real introduction to country music which I bashed on for most of my young life, and similarly to my ignorance of the Grateful Dead, I realized I like a lot of this country Music. Heck, some of the Dead’s songs were just old country songs and I didn’t know it. At the same time, I entered my Ska phase. I listened to Goldfinger, No Doubt, The Specials, The Toasters, Skankin Pickle, Sublime, and the great Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Now, I have gone through a lot of musical phases at this point. In the next decade I had spent time in Korea and Germany and have favorite songs from those cultures, and I have no idea what they say, but the music is catchy, and I feel it is transcendent. If I learned anything from my extreme punk days, you don’t necessarily need to understand what the hell they are saying. Later I married my wife who hails from Ethiopia and I have fallen in love with many of their artists, check out Teddy Afro.

As we come upon today, I’m in my early fifties. If I had to claim a favorite genre, I would probably say country or americana. As far as country music goes, I lean towards Texas country or what they call Red Dirt music. At the same time, I could listen to anything. Andrea Boccelli is always on in the house, his voice is so relaxing to just in the background throughout the day. Andy Grammer is one of my favorites, he is so refreshing, he is like the Ted Lasso of music, everything is inspirational and making me smile. You’ll also catch me listening to anything from Phill Collins to Jelly Roll, or maybe Pantera or Rage Against the Machine. Or maybe I will be with my daughters jamming to Katy Perry or Meghan Trainor in the car.

I feel I have evolved to be pretty open to listening to anything. I listen to much of what I listened to in my youth, though some I cannot handle, or just don’t enjoy anymore. And my kids are constantly introducing me to new stuff. Music is just such a wonderful thing to share with everyone and I have enjoyed my evolution. I would love to hear about yours.

Cheers!