Like a record baby, right round right round

Music has been a major part of my life for the majority of it. I distinctly remember a particular birthday when I was about 12 or 13, when one of my friends gave me a cassette single (yes, I’m old. I know this. Be quiet.) of Salt’n’Peppa’s and I rather anxiously put it on in the car on the way to school one day. I was old enough to get that they were maybe talking about more ‘adult’ subjects, but still too young to quite know what they were actually talking about. My mother listened for the first minute or so, her knuckles getting whiter and whiter on the steering wheel before jabbing her finger several times at the eject button before the song finally stopped. The cassette disappeared, never again appearing.

High school brought new music into my life in the form of grunge – after all, this was the 90s, and I was in Seattle. I fell in love with Pearl Jam and Blind Melon. Long December, by the Counting Crows, arrived on a radio station compliation cd a close friend of mine had, and became a theme for my Decembers. When I was angry at my parents, I played two songs from the Batman Forever soundtrack on my crap little cd player – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me by U2 and Smash It Up by the Offspring because my mother hated both of them. I also finally understood the stations my Dad listened to, and Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Steve Miller Band, and many more groups from the 60s and 70s joined my ever-expanding cd collection.

My freshman year at Western, there was this fantastic noise coming from a room on the guys floor, and when I stuck my head in to see who it was I made a friend that I still talk to. In addition to being introduced to Dave Matthews Band, of course. Pink Floyd’s Division Bell became the background noise at the parties I went to (well, it was Western). These were also the years that I started getting into techno in all its many forms, and none of my friends could understand how I could study French while Rabbit in the Moon pulsed through my dorm room. Techno music was the first I could actually dance to, and I threw myself into the Seattle rave scene hard.

Moving to Wales in 2002 changed things. Almost every radio station in the country plays pop, of the sugary-sweet kind, and my huge collection of cds and downloaded music was what I listened to exclusively. It’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve started getting an influx of new music again, and it surprised me how much I missed it.

I’ve been discovering new bands, with new songs, and I’m loving it. I’m also rediscovering bands that I wasn’t very aware of when they were big, and getting to appreciate them more than I would have before. My youngest sister has surprisingly good taste (most of the time) and, although it makes me feel old to have a 15 year old point out bands I should be listening to, am enjoying having something in common with her for the first time I can remember.

I’ve noticed that the songs I like on particular cds seem to evolve with me – there were some that I loved when I was 16 that I’m not a big fan of now, and other songs that have taken on an entirely new meaning with experience. I’m looking forward to finding a new soundtrack.