I lost many good years of my life listening to stuff that I could just barely tolerate and being told I liked it. Until I was about 16, my music choice was essentially limited to whatever mother dear figured I should like- mostly country. My older sisters tried to help, but mother had a habit of throwing out CDs she didn’t like whenever we were visiting dad for a weekend. I made a tiny wedge when, after both sister were away and out to college, I went on a short Soul Asylum kick and chanced across Hang Time and … and the Horse They Rode In On at a used CD’s place. Being completely and totally different from the two albums I bought because I remembered songs from radio play, they opened my eyes.
Thanks mostly to a 45-minute drive to school and loans from HS friends, I’ve got a decent idea of what I honestly like and what I dislike, but I’ve still got just over two years experience to work with here.
Third Eye Blind’s eponymous album holds a very special place in my heart, and “Burning Man” is the only song of theirs I remember that I don’t like. Smashing Pumpkins and Sublime, similarly, can do almost no wrong. I’m most fond of the lyric-driven, especially bitter songs of those three (Such as “Jumper,” “Tonight, Tonight,” and “New Realization” respectively). The Replacements tend to either be big hit or apathetic with me, nothing in between. Rehashed sentimentalism is always a hit, even if it’s shallow and pathetic.
So my main tastes are Punk, Grunge, and Ska, but outliers include The Roots, Gin Blossoms, and Joni Mitchell, oddly enough, all being enjoyed quietly with headphones on, and only when no-one else is in the room. All are considered pretty good, but not great or awesome. While a great many people with tastes similar to mine love them, I absolutely cannot stand Story of the Year.
So, help me out. This is the place that revealed to me The 'Mats and others that I’ve got two or three songs via iTunes, so I know I’ll hit something worthwhile here. Thanks to Amazon’s (and some of the better music stores) lovely little sample function, it’s better to mention things you’re pretty sure I’ll like than to miss something. There are enough ways to get individual songs out there that those would also be appreciated.
