This may be the last posting of the year, which I am honored that SDM would allow me to close the blog out till 2010, barring something major that must be posted immediately. On that note, we, at SlowdiveMusic Blog, would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and healthy and prosperous 2010.
If you’re thrown by the title of the article, you should be; I still am. As a fan of music, I think my tastes are quite broad. If you were to pigeonhole me as a listener, I’d be considered a metal head; I was raised in a hard rock environment thanks to my father. Growing up I was exposed to tons of rock like Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Rush, Pearl Jam, Cinderella, Iron Maiden, and Dream Theater. It was mainly because as a child, let’s face it, kids have no say about what goes on the radio. But I liked it. Jamming to the rock stations of the day while riding in the car with Dad, my understanding of music was little more than “Hey, I know that song! Cool!”
As I’m writing, I’m reflecting back on my musical upbringing. My dad was very much rock n’ roll, my mother was more a fan of dance music. And of course, kids have no control of the radio, so while riding with her, it was nothing but Top 40 Pop, freestyle (very underrated by the way), and dance in general. Having no other choice, it grew on me. I would say both environments primed me for my musical future.
If you dig through my music, you’ll find all the bands listed above as well as the likes of Depeche Mode, The Cure, Yazoo, Boney M., Duran Duran, and Talk Talk. As a guitar player, I tend to favor big, fat guitar sounds with loads of gain thanks to Metallica, but what is it about sythnpop, post-punk, and dance that speaks to me and makes me a fan? Could it be the musicality? There’s a lot to be said about the arrangements of Robert Smith (The Cure) and Vince Clarke (Erasure). Could it be the instrumentation? For some reason, I’m a sucker for a disco beat, especially in hard rock (see Korn’s “Got the Life”). Could it simply be such a stark contrast to what I’m used to listening to that attracts me? I’m not sure. However, it’s easy to see how they complement each other and take root in such bands as The Ting Tings and White Lies (indie pop and post-punk revival, I know, but there’s something really groovy about them), and solo acts like Nine Inch Nails, as they incorporate electronica and pop with elements of hard rock.
Suffice it to say that my tastes have ever expanded over the past 10 years thanks to my friendship with a certain blog founder, who ruthlessly makes me listen to more music than I could handle. The tradition keeps up today, more so now as I am a contributor to the blog. If my mother planted the seed of the antithesis of rock, SDM made it flourish, expanding my musical horizons. Never in a million years would I have thought that Shakespears Sister would be rubbing elbows with Sevendust and Slipknot in my music collection, but there it is. Conversely, I have made SDM listen to a steady stream of music that has deepened the range of music in his way too large collection.
As you would imagine I have more rock than anything else, but there’s enough of everything else to notice and say, “Hey, wait… this doesn’t go here.” And so we open the forum to you; what musical mismatches have found a home in your music library?
And here are some videos/songs that I have come to enjoy.
Korn’s “Coming Undone” from their MySpace Video Channel.
Coming Undone
Korn | MySpace Music Videos
The Ting Ting’s “Great DJ” from their MySpace Videos page.
The Ting Tings -Great DJ
The Ting Tings | MySpace Music Videos
Mastodon’s “Sleeping Giant” from their YouTube Channel: MastodonMusic.
Shakespears Sister’s “Stay” from Siobhan Fahey’s YouTube Channel: ShakespearsSisterTV
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I grew up on Hip Hop because of my sister and as much as once I liked it as she did...I couldnt help but be more geared to more of rock and pop sounds...My collection of music is of a huggeeee variety lol if you were 2 look at it...its more of a library of music rather than somebody's personal collection of music lol...I listen to everything Friendly Fires rub elbows with Biggie while The Beatles and Lady Gaga go on a serious acid trip 2gether...Digitalism laughs it up with LMFAO...Imogen heap has dinner with Shakira...The XX's have it out with The Black Keys lol...I have no limit to what i listen 2..every artist and instrumental background of any genre moves me in its own personal way....ahhh a life with out music?? very depressing I might say....Music is a liberator <3
ReplyDeleteIt seems that we have similar tastes in music. Big fan of Metallica, Led Zep, Lynyrd Skynyrd Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden myself. Metallica's Fade to Black has gotta be one of my favorite tracks next to Simple Man by Lynyrd. I prefer live performances just to hear the amazing things they can do on the guitar. But anyhow, it's great to hear how broad your tastes in music are. Siobhan Fahey is incredibly talented. And Happy New Year and happy holidays to the Slowdive team!
ReplyDeleteWith my preference of music it started with listening to reggae, soca, and calypso music from my father in the house or in the car, I don't really remember his artists, but one name I remember was "Black Sparrow". After my childhood and I grew some I would listen to songs in a different genre, which came first was pop. When pop came hip hop came right after for me because I would get into the beats and like how they sounded, with my liking of beats I moved to rock to see how that genre sounded and I just loved it from there. Reggae artists I may like now may be Beanie Mann Sean Paul and always Bob Marley. Hip hop artists would be difficult to narrow down because I like so many but rock bands I grew to like were Blink 182 Evanescence Third Eye Blind and Five Inch Nails
ReplyDeleteI'm still a child when it comes to music but i understand where your coming from with the mix match of genres. Ever since i was young i was attracted to the sound of the guitar, and because of that i was always a fan of bands such as metallica, cream, panthera,and many more. Yet, just listening to the same genres never appealed to me because i wanted to appreciate more sounds and that drew me to seek comfort in the sounds of bands such as muse(personal top band), depeche mode and Siouxsie & the Banshees. I enjoy my mixmatch collection since it shows that im slowly growing and learning more about music which i love. Rock is forever my first experience and love but i love the wide world of music waiting for me to discover it. lol. Rock On!!!!
ReplyDeleteMy musical library is so broad it amazes even me. You could be listening to slipknot one minute then the next song could be mariachi. I'm your typical Spanish teenager that should be labeled as listening to reggaeton and because of the area i live in, people would label me as a person that listens to hip hop and rap. I do listen to all these genres of music but it's because I love music.I think attracted to all these different genres because i'm a musician, but whatever the case may be i'm proud of my background and the area i live in. I'm thankful for these things because they gave me my sense of versatility.
ReplyDelete._. Talking about musical mismatch, my music library possibly lives on the horizon! Especially being brought up to a family that would choose Pink Floyd to Frank Sinatra or the varieties from "back then" to "now". I'm never one to choose what genre I LOVE to listen to I just like to listen, music as for most is a calming relief for all my Artist moods and I guess thats why I would prefer to listen to a bit of Mew, Sade, or Gotan Project or just switch it up and do the head bob to Mastadon, Dethklok, or System of a Down! But through and through I guess even me as a child from "now a days," you do end up exploring the world of Music.
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