Post by strudders on Oct 6, 2016 7:36:59 GMT -5
My musical tastes have changed over time, sometimes dramatically. Here is a (very) personal overview of my 'musical life'. I have probably forgotten many important bands !
I consider myself fairly musical. I taught myself to play guitar by ear when I was about 14 and I dabble with keyboards too. I was in a 'band' in my early 20's - although we never gigged and just hid away in rehersal studios
I was the guitarist and singer (as we didn't have anyone else who was willing to sing). These days I only play guitar/bass/keyboards occasionally - usually when trying to encourage my kids to get into playing. I also enjoy a bit of Karaoke from time to time (sad but true).
So what bands/genres have I been into ?
My first 7" single was embarrassing - 'Tiger Feet' by Mud. I have no idea why I chose that. Probably just a random kid thing.
After that time I listened to records with a friend of mine who was pretty subversive for his age. He got me into The Dammned, Crass, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers and other punk acts. I guess I was about 10-12 years old then. This was the same friend who had the Atari 2600 ! Great times indeed.
Shortly after, I began getting onto Ska music, specifically the band Madness. I grew up in the North London area of Camden which is where most of the band came from. The first album I got was One Step Beyond - their debut.
That phase lasted a couple of years as most people at school were into the music - especially due to the fact that the school was in Camden too.
After that my group of friends entered a Rock/Metal phase. One close friend loaned me a cassette of the Kiss - 'Alive II' album. I remember listening to it in my bedroom with my brother on a little mono cassette recorder. We used to listen at night so our parents didn't know. We thought we were listening to 'devil music' or something. That album is forever etched into my mind.
So I got heavily into Kiss after that. Saw them live a few times, before they went 'unmasked'. In fact, my first gig was actually ACDC. I remember we took cotton wool to put in our ears because my friend scared us when he said we would all be deafened. We didn't end up using it though, it was fine. Quite an amazing first gig - 7 rows from the front at Wembley Arena.
Some of the rock/metal acts I was into - Kiss, ACDC, Iron Maiden, Rush, early Metalica (especially Master of Puppets).
The next band I was majorly into was Marillion. Some great times listening to their stuff.
After that I entered an 'indie' phase. Was heavily into The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, The Wedding Present. Going to a lot of gigs - normally every week.
Then there was a major Pixies phase. They are probably my favourite band of all time.
Back to 'indie' as the whole 'baggy' phase hit - bands like Happy Mondays, Charlatans, Stone Roses etc. Going to clubs. Radiohead too.
Then the grunge era - Nirvana, Soundgarden. Also - Manic Street Preachers. This was the time I was in the band. We covered a lot of this stuff and wrote our own too (most of it pretty bad to be honest).
After this I had a wife and kids so things changed somewhat. I still listened to a lot of old stuff, especially Pixies. Still going to some gigs.
I made 'compilations' for my kids every few months. Mostly stuff they liked, like Disney songs or Britney Spears
. But I would add other tracks. Anything from The Beatles to J-Pop. By the time they were in their mid teens we had got to compilation 100. Well over 1000 songs in total. About a third chosen carefully by me. Hopefully that gave them a good musical education ! 
So, whats on my iPod (iPhone) now ? Mmm. An odd mixture. In a way not always indicative to what I'm into as I'm always struggling with running out of memory:
Neo-retro synth-wave like:
Mitch Murder
Lost Years
FM-84
If you're into retro 80's synths I really recommend these artists. Very good for playing along with Atari !
Indie:
Pixies
Wedding Present
Smiths
Beach House (newer band)
Mazzy Star
Teenage Fanclub
Rock:
80's 'cheese' songs
Kiss
Chili Peppers
Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack
Rap:
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Link (my fave rap album)
Other:
JPOP - Matsuda Seiko, Noriko Sakai
Mindfulness mediation tracks
Zen Shakuhachi relaxing tracks
Japanese language lessons (I started learning the language 15 years ago. Don't know why I bother having this on my phone anymore !)
Tokimeki Memorial Piano Collection (bizarre piano versions of songs from Japanese 'dating' game. But very very nice relaxing music)
Beethoven piano sonatas - Pathetique, Appassionata (my two favourite classicak tracks. Pure genius)
Compilations:
All childrens compilations (older Strudders and Mini Strudders)
Favourite band - Pixies
Favourite album - Surfer Rosa - Pixies
Favourite song - Bone Machine - Pixies
Favourite gig - The Wedding Present - University of London Union - around 1987
That's about it.
I didn't intend on writing so much but once I started it was hard to stop !
I consider myself fairly musical. I taught myself to play guitar by ear when I was about 14 and I dabble with keyboards too. I was in a 'band' in my early 20's - although we never gigged and just hid away in rehersal studios
I was the guitarist and singer (as we didn't have anyone else who was willing to sing). These days I only play guitar/bass/keyboards occasionally - usually when trying to encourage my kids to get into playing. I also enjoy a bit of Karaoke from time to time (sad but true).So what bands/genres have I been into ?
My first 7" single was embarrassing - 'Tiger Feet' by Mud. I have no idea why I chose that. Probably just a random kid thing.
After that time I listened to records with a friend of mine who was pretty subversive for his age. He got me into The Dammned, Crass, The Stranglers, Stiff Little Fingers and other punk acts. I guess I was about 10-12 years old then. This was the same friend who had the Atari 2600 ! Great times indeed.
Shortly after, I began getting onto Ska music, specifically the band Madness. I grew up in the North London area of Camden which is where most of the band came from. The first album I got was One Step Beyond - their debut.
That phase lasted a couple of years as most people at school were into the music - especially due to the fact that the school was in Camden too.
After that my group of friends entered a Rock/Metal phase. One close friend loaned me a cassette of the Kiss - 'Alive II' album. I remember listening to it in my bedroom with my brother on a little mono cassette recorder. We used to listen at night so our parents didn't know. We thought we were listening to 'devil music' or something. That album is forever etched into my mind.
So I got heavily into Kiss after that. Saw them live a few times, before they went 'unmasked'. In fact, my first gig was actually ACDC. I remember we took cotton wool to put in our ears because my friend scared us when he said we would all be deafened. We didn't end up using it though, it was fine. Quite an amazing first gig - 7 rows from the front at Wembley Arena.
Some of the rock/metal acts I was into - Kiss, ACDC, Iron Maiden, Rush, early Metalica (especially Master of Puppets).
The next band I was majorly into was Marillion. Some great times listening to their stuff.
After that I entered an 'indie' phase. Was heavily into The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, The Wedding Present. Going to a lot of gigs - normally every week.
Then there was a major Pixies phase. They are probably my favourite band of all time.
Back to 'indie' as the whole 'baggy' phase hit - bands like Happy Mondays, Charlatans, Stone Roses etc. Going to clubs. Radiohead too.
Then the grunge era - Nirvana, Soundgarden. Also - Manic Street Preachers. This was the time I was in the band. We covered a lot of this stuff and wrote our own too (most of it pretty bad to be honest).
After this I had a wife and kids so things changed somewhat. I still listened to a lot of old stuff, especially Pixies. Still going to some gigs.
I made 'compilations' for my kids every few months. Mostly stuff they liked, like Disney songs or Britney Spears
. But I would add other tracks. Anything from The Beatles to J-Pop. By the time they were in their mid teens we had got to compilation 100. Well over 1000 songs in total. About a third chosen carefully by me. Hopefully that gave them a good musical education ! 
So, whats on my iPod (iPhone) now ? Mmm. An odd mixture. In a way not always indicative to what I'm into as I'm always struggling with running out of memory:
Neo-retro synth-wave like:
Mitch Murder
Lost Years
FM-84
If you're into retro 80's synths I really recommend these artists. Very good for playing along with Atari !
Indie:
Pixies
Wedding Present
Smiths
Beach House (newer band)
Mazzy Star
Teenage Fanclub
Rock:
80's 'cheese' songs
Kiss
Chili Peppers
Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack
Rap:
Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Link (my fave rap album)
Other:
JPOP - Matsuda Seiko, Noriko Sakai
Mindfulness mediation tracks
Zen Shakuhachi relaxing tracks
Japanese language lessons (I started learning the language 15 years ago. Don't know why I bother having this on my phone anymore !)
Tokimeki Memorial Piano Collection (bizarre piano versions of songs from Japanese 'dating' game. But very very nice relaxing music)
Beethoven piano sonatas - Pathetique, Appassionata (my two favourite classicak tracks. Pure genius)
Compilations:
All childrens compilations (older Strudders and Mini Strudders)
Favourite band - Pixies
Favourite album - Surfer Rosa - Pixies
Favourite song - Bone Machine - Pixies
Favourite gig - The Wedding Present - University of London Union - around 1987
That's about it.
I didn't intend on writing so much but once I started it was hard to stop !
He was always a cool dude. I never did anything like that - but I did dislocate my kneecap in the 'mosh pit' of a Wedding Present concert once. It was at the side of my leg. I was so hyped/drunk that I just whacked it back into place and carried on. At the end of the gig it had swollen to double the size and my friends had to take me to hospital. It's still a bit loose to this day.
