The evolution of your musical taste

I was born in 1972.

From time immemorial (say, 1976) until second grade I remember hearing country music but listening to my dad’s old pre-Beatles rock and roll records. I can still sing ‘Yakkety-Yak’.

In second grade I moved somewhere where radio other than CBC North was available and started listening to AM radio. AM radio at the time was stuff like Steely Dan, The Police, Bruce Springsteen. I leaned more towards the rock than the New Wave and was listening to stuff like Def Leppard and Judas Priest and Iron Maiden by the sixth grade.

I moved on to older stuff like The Stones and Pink Floyd and particularly The Doors in junior high. And, oddly, Kiss. I was big into older Kiss when I was about 14. I knew who Rush was, but don’t remember especially being a fan in junior high.

I was still listening to the classics in high school, but had also decided The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone were pretty neat too. Then Rush released ‘A Show of Hands’ and that was pretty much that.

University wasn’t much different until I graduated and moved in with a friend from school, a classically trained pianist who played guitar. From that time came exposure to jazz and fusion and basically music for musicians, music by people we both still refer to as ‘ECM guys’. I’ve since devoured most of Zappa’s catalogue, got into Al DiMeola and Paco De Lucia and their ilk, have gone to see Medeski Martin and Wood twice, and basically listen to what a classic/prog rock sort would listen to when not listening to classic or prog rock. Primus came along at some point in there too. What bit of bass guitar I can actually play I learned at this point by ear, mostly Bob Marley, The Police, and Talking Heads.

Not much new rock has grabbed my attention. Radiohead put out a couple of good albums, Green Day put out a couple of good songs, I have nothing against Soundgarden but have no interest in Nirvana. Lately, Big Wreck albums put me at risk of speeding tickets.

I was born in 1945.

When I was a kid, I heard my father’s classical music and Broadway shows. I think he wore out his recording of “My Fair Lady” (decades later, it was one of the first CDs I bought). He also had the entire Swan Lake ballet on 78s (I still have it). I also remember my mother singing along with all the “old standards” on the little radio in the kitchen. I remember asking my mother why all those songs were about love, and she told me that’s what’s important to people.

Middle School: I started playing violin at the age of 11, so I started liking the music I played, especially what we played in the school orchestra.

High school: More classical (like listening to the Beethoven symphonies in order, in one sitting). More stuff we played in the school orchestra. Also folk music (Dylan; Peter, Paul & Mary; Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez).

Early college: More classical, shifting to the romantic period; opera; operettas (thanks, Ayn), Streisand

Later college: Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel; Mamas and the Papas, Diana Ross, Hendrix, Joplin, some jazz, many others. NOT the Stones.

Adult: More classical, operetta, opera, musicals, miscellaneous pop/jazz, gay men’s choruses.

*This has all been cumulative. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped enjoying any music I once liked. Right now I have about 20,000 tracks in my collection; about 55% classical, 20% musicals, 25% pop/jazz/humor/everything else.
*

I am more of a fan of artists/performers rather than genres (which is one reason why I can’t really get into Pandora or even regular radio at all), but here is the best approximation I can come up with on what I have listened to over the years (I am 32, by the by):

Pre-high school: nil (seriously – I mean I guess I listened to Top 40 but nothing stands out for me from this time)

High school: I started out by liking the Spice Girls and then Natalie Imbruglia (still one of my favorites, actually), but then quickly fell into a group of friends who, through various influences, had me listen to Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails, and watch the movies Hackers and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I guess I liked Pink Floyd and NIN OK, but I really got into the music for the two movies. I got several ‘techno’ albums (Orbital, Prodigy, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher) based on my liking the Hackers music, and I LOVED and started absorbing Ennio Morricone music (composer of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). I got every soundtrack I could find with his name on it, whether I had seen (or even heard of) the movie or not.

By reading about Ennio Morricone, I came across the name John Zorn and became very interested in his work. He is an avant-garde artist who has worked in a number of different genres, including free (very free, actually) jazz, hardcore, klezmer, chamber music, etc (that etc covers a lot). I also became interested in the Kronos Quartet based on a chance hearing of them on NPR one day, and hearing about Bjork some way too. Much of the rest of my high school career was devoted to obtaining and hearing as much as possible from Zorn, Kronos, and Bjork, as well as people they had worked with or were influenced by or who they may have influenced.

College: As it seems like a lot of people did in college, I got a little bit into ‘indie’ music (the Fiery Furnaces are the only ones I remember liking a lot, but Natalie Imbruglia had a sort of indie-sounding album at that time too). However, my main direction came from the Natural Born Killers and Any Given Sunday soundtracks, which I first heard during this time (I was on a big Oliver Stone kick). I began getting albums from several of the artists on each album, most notably Leonard Cohen, Diamanda Galas, the Ruff Ryders crew (DMX, Drag-ON, Eve, and especially rap producer Swizz Beatz), LL Cool J, etc.

Later 20s: I got really big into Miles Davis (especially his second quintet) and Eric Dolphy, as well as DJ Spooky. I also went back to Top 40 music, influenced by the TV channel MTV Hits which had just appeared (and the third Natalie Imbruglia album – see a pattern?), . M.I.A. and Nelly Furtado were other major artists I got into during this time.

Recently: 12 Monkeys was a another movie I liked a lot for many years. Astor Piazzolla (who had music on there, as well as having worked with the Kronos Quartet) music I started getting into really big, and then that grew into more ‘traditional’ tango music from the early 20th century. I moved to New Orleans when I turned 29, so since then I have also sought out a lot of very experimental and improvisational artists that you can only find in a bigger city. Also, the Spring Breakers soundtrack has been another recent like for me (Skrillex, “trap” music).

That’s a pretty reasonable approximation.

Elementary age: 70’s AM radio pop like “Seasons in the Sun” and “Stayin’ Alive.” Some Rock like AC/DC. “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” was a big favorite on my recorded cassettes.

Middle School age: Country like Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, Elvis, pop rock.

High School: 50’s and 60’s oldies, rock but mostly 80’s hair metal like Winger, Bon Jovi, and Whitesnake (don’t judge me.)

Late high school/early college: Beatles, alternative rock like The Breeders, rap & hip-hop, like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Nirvana, Guns n’ Roses, and Metallica “Black Album” rocked my world.

20’s: R&B/hip hop music, pop, country, alt rock, punk, goth.

30’s: Little of everything; classical, rock, metal, punk, goth, classic country like Johnny Cash making a comeback. Got into some bands I had tried to like before but failed; Pink Floyd, Misfits, and Pixies.

40’s: Metal like Electric Wizard and classic Metallica, bluegrass, classic country, outlaw country like Hank III, punk, some alt rock like Black Keys and Florence & the Machine.

From childhood in the '80s I latched onto what was available, only not all that was available. So my mom’s Bowie but not necessarily the other stuff like Randy Travis, Genesis or Rod Stewart. I found what I liked myself. As I grew up into MTV 86 and on) I did the wait for hours to hear the video I did like/tape the radio song I liked. It was a blessing at 11 when I didn’t have to pick through big sisters pitiful tape collection. I started getting into The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Smiths. The teen years of the 90s wasn’t all good. I briefly loved Tori Amos, Alanis, etc. The internet after 1996 broadened my world a lot. I could order music I wanted online, hear of new stuff. Not just something good that happened to be more well known. I loved Iamx and Patrick Wolf kinda stuff, Owen Pallett. My twenties were a lot like now of 34. My musical obsession has long time been Aesop Rock. I would never have known about music I liked without internet. I still really love The Smiths. I guess I am artist over genre…