Ah I realized that I never wrote my music post, so I figured better late than never!
As much as I love him and have SO MUCH to say about his music, I know I've already bored you to death with my insane love for my man, Tech N9ne. That said, I'm going to take this in a different direction.
Although I don't play and instruments and don't have a good voice, music is one of the most important things in my life. Nothing else in the world can give me the feelings that music can. It's indescribable.
You already are well acquainted with my love of Tech N9ne, but my musical taste goes SO much deeper. Over the years, I've gone through phases of music, moving from genre to genre and back again. All of this has accumulated to my crazy taste in music.
I'm going to set up a little timeline of my music to show you how I got from A to B.
Eighth grade:
This is where it really started. This was when it was cool to be emo, and Ohio was for lovers. I was obsessed with bands like Hawthorne Heights, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Kill Hannah, and From First to Last. (Little fun fact: From First to Last's lead singer, Sonny Moore, is Skrillex. For all who didn't know.). I discovered Saosin in 8th grade, and they continued to be my favorite band for about two years. I also got super into christian rock/christian pop punk with bands like Reliant K and Hawk Nelson.
Freshman year:
I continued to listen to my old favorites, but also picked up a taste for "butt rock". For those who don't know, "butt rock" is.... hard to explain. The most stereotypical "butt rock" examples I can think of are Creed and Three Days Grace. I always hated Creed but Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Atreyu and Skillet were some of my favorites. After my dad took me to my first concert (Kill Hannah) in 8th grade, he picked up my taste in music and I also adopted some of his favorites. He discovered "butt rock" before me, and I owe this year of my musical taste to good ole Phil. My dad and I bond over music more than anything.
Sophomore year and Junior year:
Probably the greatest years of my musical tastes. I got really into pop punk and whatever genre you wanna call all of that. I discovered Forever the Sickest Kids, who remain to this day, one of my favorite bands. I listened to 3Oh!3, All Time Low, Motion City Soundtrack, Paramore, Breathe Carolina, etc etc etc. I could go on for days. This was also the time period that I discovered Atmosphere. It's a group of not rappers but "Rhyme Sayers". I'd highly recommend them. Much like Tech N9ne, they have a song for anyone of any taste and so much versatility. Speaking of versatility, Hollywood Undead must be mentioned. They remain one of my favorite bands to this day. They rap, they sing, they do acoustic, they do rock, they're hilarious, they're emo as hell, they're just wonderful.
Senior year:
My love of Tech N9ne exploded this year. Please don't be confused in thinking I didn't listen to him before. I've listened to him since I discovered him in 8th grade. But this is the year that really really deepened my love for Tech N9ne. I also discovered a taste for the Beatles, Bob Marley, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Queen. I hadn't delved into oldies much before then but I was pleased when I did.
Freshman year:
One word: Dubstep. Nuff said.
Today:
I've retained my love for the emo music, the butt rock, the pop punk, the oldies, the dubstep, and of course throughout all these years I've always been a big fan of rap/hip-hop (no ignorant rap though). I've more recently gotten into Foster the People, Two Door Cinema Club, and Imagine Dragons. More indie stuff.
So, when I say I can dig it all, I truly can dig it all. I love music.
BTW listen to this song. I guarantee it will melt your heart. Without a doubt, the most beautiful song I've ever heard. Please give it a listen. AND TELL ME HOW MUCH YOU LOVED IT. :D
Nice post Katie. Really thorough job describing different periods of your life and musical tastes.I love rock. Love it and you know that. What the hell is "butt rock"? Does it have to do with butts? Does it have to do with rocks? Everyone hates creed so is that why its BUTT rock? hmm.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I need to hear more description of these styles. I don't know what "Butt Rock" or "Dubstep" are.
DeleteI think this, too, could be a cool essay, but I don't know enough about you (or your relationship with your dad) to figure out what these particular bands are about for you.
This was a really cool idea to do with music. : ) It is always interesting to compare and see where our taste in music comes from and how it can change in just a short time like a year. Nice job!
ReplyDeleteAlso you did a really good job at balancing the personal experience while explaining types of music types. I definitely learned a lot about music from this post. I love indie music and "pop punk", but I had never heard of butt rock and learned more about emo music.
Do you think there was any reason why you switched between genres? Anything that spurred your listening to certain bands, like going to the oldies senior year?
Great job! :)
P.S. I really liked the song and loved the imagery that went with it. I loved the harmony and chords, but I always love listening to pieces where multiple people are singing. (Oh, and I listened to the noose by tech n9ne - I also really liked it. )
Great way to take this subject. Music tastes, in my experience, are always changing. ESPECIALLY through high school. Analyzing your tastes year by year was relatable and gave details about you as a person.
ReplyDeleteFor me, there are some bands I look back on that I used to listen to that I have a certain nostalgia for. On the other hand, there's some music I look back on and I am dumbfounded at how much I used to like it. Is it like that for you or do you still delve into the entirety of your back catalog?
Love that Bon Iver song. First time I heard it was in the Kanye sample of it, which I also love. I imagine you've heard it but here is the link in case you haven't:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyQpQhrQ5Zs
Kanye West........... soul crusher. My life would have been a 1000000000000000000000000 times better if I had never heard that. He brutally butchered the most beautiful song to ever touch my ears. Thank you Zane, I appreciate you bringing this deeply distressing matter to my attention. lol. I'm sorry if you like his song... but after hearing the original, you have to admit he butchered beautiful art for money. Monster! lol
ReplyDeleteKatie, here's a challenge.
ReplyDeleteCould you do a thing with structure where you write three sentences about your musical taste from an era, put in some white space, and then write three lines of somewhat related biography from your life? Then, lather rinse repeat. So it would run A, B, A, B, A, B.
Again, I'd like to see this as a discography-biography, but I don't want to get weighed down by the band names (perhaps needless to say, I haven't heard of many of them). Maybe instead of bits of important biography, you focus on one part of your life--relationships, or appearance, or attitude about parents, or even something smaller.
Check out Matt Lardner's essay on Port Wine and Dave Howells's piece on his friend Johnny to see the way folks are using different structures.
This can be cool!
DW
baby on my knees. lisning 2 woods. soothed bb. thx.
ReplyDeletedw