Describe your musical journey of genre, influences and places throughout life.

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I had horrendous taste in music before the age of 13. I did like some decent stuff, like britpop and a bit of mainstream hip hop, but it was mainly horrendous chart bilge.

When I was 14, Barenaked Ladies had a hit with One Week, I bought the album and was hooked - got their entire back catalogue. Also, because of my age I started to dislike the worst of the shite I had previously listened to and more into the indie/britpop side of things. Aside from BNL, my favourite bands were Ash, Space and the Lightning Seeds. I also won a phone in on UK Play (a crappy music channel run by the owners of UK Gold etc) and alongside Reef and Blur, there were quite a lot of less mainstream indie records in there. I was also really into No Doubt after Tragic Kingdom and then stumbling upon their debut album for £3 in Woolies but had no idea where to find any other bands that sounded like then.

Aged 15, on a school trip to Switzerland, I was introduced to Green Day (mainly Dookie although Nimrod was their current album at the time). That, together with Blink 182 and The Offspring hitting the mainstream a year or 2 later, introduced me to guitar music. I was never as into the latter 2 bands as my mates were, but through them I discovered the Epitaph record label and bands like Pennywise and Bad Religion who are both (as well as the Descendents) still my favourite American Punk bands. Over the next couple of years this evolved into a lot of ska-punk bands (I think
I'd discovered the connection between these punk bands and No Doubt's early material) like Less Than Jake, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Capdown, Reel Big Fish, and this got me into Two Tone ska with the likes of The Special, The Selecter, Bad Manners and Madness.

This also coincided with the rise of Nu metal and I loved a lot of those bands too (Slipknot, Korn and Limp Bizkit mainly), although it was Punk and ska that were my main loves. After a while, these bands became stale and unexciting so I started to look out other similar artists - One Minute Silence, Marilyn Manson; earlier hard rock like Rage Against The Machine and Janes Addiction (thanks to the chef in my part time job washing dishes); Cypress Hill released the rap-rock hybrid Skull and Bones. Because of the nu metal scene, my search went in 2 directions, "proper metal" and hip hop - Pantera, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies for the former, The Roots, Jurassic 5, Ugly Duckling for the latter.

Around this time, The Libertines exploded as well and I was still a big fan of the rockier end of the indie scale (Ash, Idlewild, Feeder). I started listening to a lot of the bands featured in NME as well and looking out bands like The Jam, The Smiths, The Stone Roses and I was discovering a lot of American indie bands and solo artists (Ben Kweller, Pete Yorn, Ryan Adams, Ben Folds Five are all still big favourites of mine nearly 15 years later).

My taste in music got very eclectic and then m I started getting into a lot of political music from the likes of Ben Harper, Michael Franti, Xavier Rudd, Public Enemy, Gil Scot Heron.

In 2007, I bought my first house so had no disposable income. I was in a musical rut for almost 10 years, buying only the new releases by the artists already in my massive CD collection without any room for new artists or genres. I did, however, get quite heavily into Johnny Cash and Tom Petty during that time.

Then Apple Music was launched in 2015 and reinvigorated my love of music. It made suggestions so my tastes expanded even further, both with new genres (stoner rock, alt-country) and new artists. I'm still learning about music and expanding my tastes all the time with music streaming - shameless plug I'm documenting this through my blog (see my sig) where I review the albums I've been listening to that week.
 


Born in 1969. As a young kid, I remember prime influences being:

a) we had a tape of dubious one hit wonders that used to get played a lot. Mostly acts managed by Jonathan King, probably.
b) Parental influences - mam was/is a fan of Queen, Neil Diamond, John Denver and Don McLean amongst others, dad was/is into classical music (the big names, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach), Al Jolson, Glenn Miller and Mario Lanza. Both were big fans of The Spinners (the folky ones not the American disco act we know as Detroit Spinners).
c) watching TotP every Thursday. I remember being very into Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks (which with hindsight is quite morbid for a 5 year old) and Slade and being scared of the androgynous one from The Sweet.

Later (by secondary school), my influences were more down to mates and Radio 1 (Evening Session (or forerunner, Peter Powell, Peel and Annie Nightingale mainly) as well as some TV (The Tube and Whistle Test). Mates at school were into rock/metal and I picked and chose a bit from that but also post punk, new wave, goth etc. Became a big fan of amongst others, The Cult, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Jesus and Marychain, Prince, Rush, Fish era Marillion, The Smiths, and REM in my early to mid teens.

The sixth form common room tape deck was always being fought over. On the one hand, there were the rock kids (who, sadly, mostly wanted to listen to Bon Jovi) and then the indie kids (Smiths, The Cure, New Order). I remember getting very into the Kitchenware bands around this time. Listened to "Steve McQueen" loads and, likewise, "Boat to Bolivia" and then, a bit later "Gladsome, Humour & Blue" by Martin Stephenson & the Daintees loads. Got very into The Wonderstuff. Around this point, I became a regular reader firstly of Record Mirror then NME.

I was mostly a student from 1987 to 1993, primarily in Leeds then a year in York. This was the first time when I'd been able to go to gigs regularly without the logistical extras of transport to and from them. Mostly indie stuff, I guess, although I remember seeing de la Soul and Public Enemy in Leeds. During this spell, I remember seeing local heroes The Wedding Present, The Bridewell Taxis and Cud a lot and becoming a fan of, amongst others, The Family Cat, The Triffids, Kitchens of Distinction, They Might Be Giants, Fatima Mansions, Blue Aeroplanes and The Band of Holy Joy. The prevailing wind was, of course, with both Manchester and acid house. I saw The Stone Roses quite early, Happy Mondays (shambolic), The Charlatans, James (several times) and Inspiral Carpets as well as a lot of lesser lights (The High, The Farm, Paris Angels) and bands who were connected to the Manchester thing primarily by geography (World of Twist, Dr Phibes & the House of Wax Equations). Also began my fandom of The Fall. Saw early gigs by Blur, The Manics and Ride. All three were sort of promising but, sort of, disappointing. Saw The Pixies and Leeds Poly. Probably went to less gigs in York because the course I was on was pretty intense and less bands played York but I was on a research council grant, which meant a bit more money so I could buy more albums/singles. Spent Saturday mornings and the occasional Tuesday trawling York's record shops.

In 1994, I moved to Cambridge for work. This coincided more or less with Britpop. Through my love of indie stuff, I was already a fan of Suede, The Boo Radleys (who were more of a shoegaze band really) and, as an outlier PJ Harvey. Listened to a lot of Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Went to Glastonbury in 1994 and 1995 and mainly remember seeing John Otway and Frank Sidebottom. Also, more interestingly, Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, Pulp and Radiohead. Listened to a lot of triphop, realised that Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky were by far the best bands in that scene.

Earning money meant I could buy more albums and also switch to primarily buying CDs, which were easier to listen to on the move than vinyl and better quality than tape. Kept going to a lot of gigs, Cambridge has/had some decent venues and London is reachable by train. Extended network of friends got me listening to things I otherwise wouldn't have and, sometimes, might not listen to again. Through starting to read Uncut, I became interested in the burgeoning alt-country/Americana scene (Lambchop may have been my starting point for this) and also got interested in folk via a chance hearing of "The Lang Toun" by James Yorkston. Went to Green Man festival in 2004 and got immersed in the overlap between folk, psychedelia, indie and electronica that was happening there. Since then, thanks to the internet, I think my tastes have extended outward from what I was into rather than having any major musical epiphanies, thanks in part to the internet. In saying that, I can't imagine that my 7, 17, 27 or even 37 year old self would have spent the journey to work listening to Malian desert blues rock as I did today.
Topper post mate, very interesting read.:)
 
In 2001, aged 26, I graduated Uni and started work at the local college for the Music Technology and Performing Arts departments. Got introduced to loads of brand new music by the college kids; muso-metal bands like Incubus and Dillinger Escape Plan, loads of electronica from trance to techno to happy hardcore... abstract sonic art, post-rock, and in my spare time I discovered a load of historical gems that I'd missed or hadn't appreciated the first time around, like KLF, Tony Christie, all the Beastie Boys stuff that came after Licence To Ill (which I knew from the hip-hop years), Gordon Lightfoot, Hank Williams. For a time I even found a few things in the charts that I liked, (which had been a massive rarity since about age 12), such as Shakira's Laundry Service album and the Geri Halliwell single Look At Me. Got into some more interesting jazz-influenced electronica like St. Germain and some well-produced-but-not-really-that-good stuff like Mr. Scruff.

Wrote loads of bad electronic music (and one fairly decent progressive techno track) that spanned pretty much all subgenres of electronica after discovering the pseudo-studio PC app Reason.

Got stabbed by the punky-covers band's drummer. Left that band.

Had an argument with the band-leader of the disco-soul band. Left that band.

Started a new female-fronted funk/soul/jazz/rock band with a couple of guys from the college and a vocalist we'd found who sounded like Michelle Pfeifer in The Fabulous Baker Boys when she wanted to. Had an amazing 6 months gigging intensively then everyone moved away from the area to go to their various uni choices / year-out destinations. One of my favourite bands I've ever been in.

In 2004 I got a "dream" job in London working for EMI at Olympic Studios and Abbey Road Studios as a technical engineer. Despite being surrounded by bad pop and modern derivative UK indie music, was introduced to loads of amazing alternative/underground/historically superb music from PJ Harvey, Tom Waits, Jeff Buckley by the guys I worked with.

Wrote loads of hard rock / prog rock/ metal music and a bit of industrial stuff solo, and did a bit of writing with a few different studio-based projects but didn't have the spare time to get into a proper gigging band. Guys I was writing with introduced me to a load of well-produced modern hip-hop and electronica but I don't really remember many of the names. I remember one guy gushing about The Grey Album by Danger Mouse, which is a mashup of Jay-Z's The Black Album with The Beatles' White Album., but if I recall correctly I was unmoved by it except for the production quality.

One of the people I lived in a flatshare with was French and into loads of interesting music I'd never heard but grew to love, from folk-indie band Tryo to jazz legend Serge Gainsbourg, house band Down To The Bone, and crazy DJ gymnastics stuff like C2C and Birdy Nam Nam.

In 2008 I was made redundant by EMI and moved back to my uni town to live with my lodger, also a Frenchman but with tastes much more based in jazz and hip-hop but also bits of electronica, rock, metal, funk, and to be fair happy to listen to music of any genre from any country in the world. Almost every Friday and most Saturday nights since then until last month (when he moved back to France) were TV, take-away and music nights where we played each other our most recent music discoveries during ludicrously eclectic playlists that had no rules other than "don't stick with one genre for too long".

We found so much amazing music in the last 8 or 9 years or so that it's hard to list them all, but here's a select few of my favourite new discoveries and rediscovered/newly-discovered oldies from this era of my life...

Adrien Moignard (laid-back jazz guitar)
Anglagard (scandinavian post-rock)
Babymetal (stupid fast J-pop/metal featuring the musicians from Dragonforce)
Beck (didn't really get him back in the day but love it now)
Brian Culbertson (easy-listening jazz pianist who did one amazing album, "Bringing Back The Funk", with loads of old funk stars)
Burial (kind of dark chill-out electronica with vocals)
Cake (Beck lite)
Calima (jazz-flamenco)
Choc Quib Town (Colombian hip-hop/latin jazz/electronica)
Chrome Hoof (f***ing barmy head-melting experimental rock/electronica "orchestra")
Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit (the "godfather" of "jam bands" and his blues/jazz/fusion band)
Aquarium Rescue Unit (same band minus the Colonel, with a much more rock-oriented fusion sound without so much of the bluesy side)
Common (rap)
Common Market (rap, no relation)
Control Machete (Mexican hardcore hip-hop)
Doigts De l'Homme (French modern "gypsy" jazz manouche)
Esperanza Spalding (young but incredibly talented female jazz bass / vocalist)
Galactic (began as jazz-funk/soul, went more hip-hop, then more electronic, but all their albums are amazing in their own way)
Gogo Penguin (jazz/electronica. some of it's pretty crazy)
Hiromi (absolutely amazing and eccentric female japanese jazz pianist)
Jacob Collier (very talented young abstract vocal jazz multi-instrumentalist. Weird but very good in a kind of Frank Zappa way.
Jazz The Roots (Ecuadorian jazz-reggae crossover band. Very interesting mix and very good musicians)
Kamasi Washington (modern sax-fronted epic jazz)
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (mostly small-band modern jazz with bits of hip-hop and other stuff thrown in occasionally. Awesome stuff!)
La Shica (Female Spanish flamenco/hip-hop/pop artist. Her voice has this sexy gravelliness to it.)
Lonely Island (modern comedy electro-pop/rap)
Macaco (Spanish electro-flamenco-reggae-hip-hop)
Maria Pia De Vito (bizarre Italian abstract jazz vocalist)
MC Frontalot (the "godfather" of Nerdcore rap)
Nacao Zumbi (Brazilian trip hop/hip hop/latin/alt rock)
Nils Landgren (scandinavian jazz/funk)
Ninja Sex Party (comedy classic rock by an egotist vocalist and his psychotic friend Ninja Brian, who has a habit of killing almost everyone he meets)
Noir Desir (French 90's alternative band whose singer was jailed for killing his girlfriend during a drunken argument)
Ojos De Brujo (Spanish flamenco/funk/jazz/hip-hop/electronica band)
Old Gods Of Asgard (tongue-in-cheek modern classic rock from Scandinavia)
Peter Muller (German slap bassist. Listen if you like Marcus Miller)
Rock Candy Funk Party (modern funk / jazz-funk)
Sasha Masakowski (modern trad jazz vocalist)
Sélébéyone (modern ultra-produced jazz/electronica/hip hop)
Slowly Rolling Camera (interesting jazz/soul-influenced vocal electronica. mostly laid-back but then a couple of stonkers!)
Snarky Puppy (insane jazz-electronica)
Theo Croker (awesome modern jazz)
Tia Fuller (female modern jazz saxophonist whose main job is saxist for the Beyonce band and also teaches jazz at Berklee)
Tiro De Gracia (Chilean hip-hop)
Watsky (young white middle-class half-jewish "kid" doing sharp, amusing and thought-provoking yet authentic and at times very impressive rap music for nerds and hipsters. Actually very good)
Wicked Jazz Sounds Band (Dutch modern jazz-funk/soul)
Yoko Kanno (amazing Japanese jazz / anime soundtrack composer)
Youn Sun Nah (Japanese jazz, from the laid-back to the abstract to the bizarre choice of covering Ghost Riders In The Sky)

There you go @tunstall birdman

Was this what you had in mind?

Four hours. FOUR HOURS it took to write that post. :lol:

I bet nobody reads it, either.
:lol:Cheers, exactly what I wanted, A very interesting read indeed and well worth all the 4 hour effort.:lol::D

Never realised you were so musically creative and involved.
 
My dad played bass guitar for Mungo Jerry, his record collection is vast...so when I was young I listened to a vast amount of different stuff....
Off the top of my head, bands like
Weather report, Nick Lowe, Ian Gomm, Stanley Clarke, George Gershwin...tons of Motown , King Tubby, Miles Davis and most notably Billy Cobham, who is the reason I play drums....I've listened to his Spectrum album nearly every day since I was a kid to now....

When I was at school, I started to listen to a bit of pop...I liked Wham, Duran Duran and the Specials...oh and Big Country...let's move on...

In the mid-late 80's I discovered Hip Hop....the Jazz samples and phat beats had me hooked....and house music...this love had stayed with me till now, I'm 43

I love classical music, especially Bernstein, Copeland & Gershwin....

I've played drums since I was 2, so most of my music has a good groove to it....
These days I listen hip hop still, but the older stuff...house music, John Digweed and Hernan Cattaneo are class.....and Rival Sons, who are f***ing brilliant....but generally anything that grooves....
I could go on for ages, so I've tried to summarise a bit !
 
hard rock /Heavy metal, (Zepplin Who, Sabbath, Stones, Deep Purple ten years After) 1970-74, old time rock n roll (Chuck berry, Jerry lee, Bill Haley) 1975-76..punk rock (Clash Pistols, Johnny Thunders Damned Jam etc. 1976-79. Classic rock/ballards ala Springsteen, Bob Seger, Eagles....1979-82. then lost a lot of interest...then in last five years..classic solo artsist Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Dusty Springfield, Neil Simon, Billie Holiday..Aretha Franklin...
 
:lol:Cheers, exactly what I wanted, A very interesting read indeed and well worth all the 4 hour effort.:lol::D

Never realised you were so musically creative and involved.

You taking the piss? He's famous for saying he has binned better songs than anything Noel Gallagher has written :lol: I like him as a poster but that's wasn't his finest hour.
 
When I was 18, one day by accident I listened to "Ode for St Cecelia's Day by Handel, and I still haven't exhausted it. You did ask.
 
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