it just came to my attention...
...that I don't really know anything about popular music. which is weird because I pretty much base my life around music...you'd think I would be more concerned about who is doing what and what song is a hit right now and all that other bullshit...but really, I just listen to the bands I like and/or have met and enjoyed their company...its easier to appreciate a bands music if you are acquainted the artists themselves...and there are always the bands my friends like...I don't always like what my friends are listening to, but I respect their opinions and often times even learn new ways to appreciate music just by looking at it from their perspective
I don't listen to the radio much
I don't watch tv much
I love the combination of driving and listening to music
I love bands that sing songs that I can think to...
I grew up without really caring at all about music...I liked it and always got yelled at for tapping whatever rhythm was in my head on the counter top...but I never really had any sort of an older brother figure to show me some cool bands...my mom tried to get me into the piano, but I hated having to practice the parts from my piano book...it was too much like a text book and failed to hold my interest...I played clarinet and saxophone in middle school, but I wanted to play guitar so I could play with a band...my mom wanted me to learn on an acoustic first...so I played an acoustic until christmas when I got my first electric...a clear red finish (that you could see the grain of the wood through) that would eventually become sticker laden, and a checkered pick guard...
it was around the same time that blink 182 got really popular...its kinda funny cause anyone around my age, give or take a few years, that I've met started playing in bands the very same way...blink covers. my first band tried out to play at the school talent show by playing dammit with me rockin the vox...we did good I thought, but the teachers weren't too stoked on it...we didn't make the cut...but it was just school, so we didn't really care
over the next few years I listened to a lot of punk bands...it started off with pop punk bands like new found glory, mxpx, and rufio...some ska bands found me in their skank pits for a couple years...then it moved on to some harder punk rock like rancid, nofx, bad religion, anti-flag, and the bouncing souls...I especially loved anti-flag because they had my favorite bassist, #2...from then on it branched out to a wide range of bands like the rx bandits, thrice, thursday and a whole bunch of others...these bands along with the bands I was playing in really taught me a lot about not just music, but life in general...I even ended up getting a seven inch anti-flag gunstar tattooed on my stomach...and though I'm pretty sure my little punk self would beat the shit out of my older self, I've given up caring about politics...it reminds me too much of sports...the people that are into it can sit there and have a 20 minute conversation that means absolutely nothing to you, and in the end it really just boils down to the fact that people like to have things to argue about...maybe I'm just dumb, but it doesn't seem like competition between advertising campaigns is a very good way of keeping things democratic...you don't learn anything about anyone, you just see their faces and some lame logo...and the whole 2 party system is just frustrating...it automatically divides everyone in the whole country into 2 categories...and a lot of the time people just vote for their party...like its a sports team...and mine is better than yours
I know I'll eventually become more politically aware at some point but I already don't like society in general...people suck and that is a fact...I mean there is a whole lot of fucked up shit going on in this world, and when I start to think about it I get pissed off...but I'm a happy person...I don't like being angry...and I've found that music makes me happy...I believe that it can do the same for everyone else too...so instead of becoming a politician of some sort in an effort to help change the world for the better, I've decided to become a musician in an effort to inspire people to enjoy life the way I do, which from my perspective helps change the world for the better...
so anyway, I don't really know anything about popular music...
I don't listen to the radio much
I don't watch tv much
I love the combination of driving and listening to music
I love bands that sing songs that I can think to...
I grew up without really caring at all about music...I liked it and always got yelled at for tapping whatever rhythm was in my head on the counter top...but I never really had any sort of an older brother figure to show me some cool bands...my mom tried to get me into the piano, but I hated having to practice the parts from my piano book...it was too much like a text book and failed to hold my interest...I played clarinet and saxophone in middle school, but I wanted to play guitar so I could play with a band...my mom wanted me to learn on an acoustic first...so I played an acoustic until christmas when I got my first electric...a clear red finish (that you could see the grain of the wood through) that would eventually become sticker laden, and a checkered pick guard...
it was around the same time that blink 182 got really popular...its kinda funny cause anyone around my age, give or take a few years, that I've met started playing in bands the very same way...blink covers. my first band tried out to play at the school talent show by playing dammit with me rockin the vox...we did good I thought, but the teachers weren't too stoked on it...we didn't make the cut...but it was just school, so we didn't really care
over the next few years I listened to a lot of punk bands...it started off with pop punk bands like new found glory, mxpx, and rufio...some ska bands found me in their skank pits for a couple years...then it moved on to some harder punk rock like rancid, nofx, bad religion, anti-flag, and the bouncing souls...I especially loved anti-flag because they had my favorite bassist, #2...from then on it branched out to a wide range of bands like the rx bandits, thrice, thursday and a whole bunch of others...these bands along with the bands I was playing in really taught me a lot about not just music, but life in general...I even ended up getting a seven inch anti-flag gunstar tattooed on my stomach...and though I'm pretty sure my little punk self would beat the shit out of my older self, I've given up caring about politics...it reminds me too much of sports...the people that are into it can sit there and have a 20 minute conversation that means absolutely nothing to you, and in the end it really just boils down to the fact that people like to have things to argue about...maybe I'm just dumb, but it doesn't seem like competition between advertising campaigns is a very good way of keeping things democratic...you don't learn anything about anyone, you just see their faces and some lame logo...and the whole 2 party system is just frustrating...it automatically divides everyone in the whole country into 2 categories...and a lot of the time people just vote for their party...like its a sports team...and mine is better than yours
I know I'll eventually become more politically aware at some point but I already don't like society in general...people suck and that is a fact...I mean there is a whole lot of fucked up shit going on in this world, and when I start to think about it I get pissed off...but I'm a happy person...I don't like being angry...and I've found that music makes me happy...I believe that it can do the same for everyone else too...so instead of becoming a politician of some sort in an effort to help change the world for the better, I've decided to become a musician in an effort to inspire people to enjoy life the way I do, which from my perspective helps change the world for the better...
so anyway, I don't really know anything about popular music...