AboutAGirl
oh, be nice
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2005
- Posts
- 2,693
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Fun thread. This is actually something I think quite a bit about, so I can diagram it pretty clearly.
Every couple of years I get into something new that expands my scope. Fun fact, in 2001 when I only owned about 6 or 7 CDs, I was really into that 'Wheel in the Sky' song and I listed my favorite bands as:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. The Doors
4. Journey!
5. The Who
I then explored the wide world of classic rock. Some lesser fascinations include Yes, and Ten Years After. By 2004 I had a much better grasp on music and my list looked like this:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. The Doors
4. Neil Young
5. Bob Dylan
In '05, Alice in Chains and Nirvana were added to the menagerie, as I explored grunge during the height of my depression. Then came Tom Petty, who I had been listening to since 2001 but who only became one of my favorite artists after I heard his folkier 1990s albums like Wildflowers and Echoes.
During my romantic period in '06 I also became very fond of some great indie artists, namely Neutral Milk Hotel and Regina Spektor.
In 2007 I was experiencing quite a bit of turmoil in my life and as a result I went through a massive metal phase where Pantera and Metallica entered the "pantheon." These first ten bolded artists are what I consider my classic ten, the groups that will always have a special significance because I really grew up with them. I'll always invariably have the largest cache and most poignant memories about listening to those bands as I came of age. The list cuts off right about when I left uni and became an adult.
But a lot of those bands, which completely rocked my world, and did it for years, haven't necessarily all carried over to today. They'll always have their rightful and fully deserved place in the pantheon, but I don't necessarily listen to them that much. For Zepp, Floyd, and Bob Dylan, I've overplayed them so thoroughly in the last 13 years that I mainly enjoy them in small doses now. For Nirvana, Alice In Chains & Pantera, they simply don't have enough material to inspire a living, breathing interest in me over 5, 10 years. I need new material to explore, artists with 15, 20, 30 albums. I wish that these bands could still be around and putting out new material but sadly they aren't. (I'm not that fond of the new AIC.)
'Phase Two'
Okay, so back to 2008 & 2009. After college I was feeling pretty burned out on music and I started to explore more obscure things. Recreational intoxicants may have also play a certain role. My taste became more eclectic as well. I became very enamored with the hypnotic, fearsome metal of Burzum, and the submersive groove of The Breeders. I also had a big rap phase with Immortal Technique and Eminem. For a while I very much thought The Pixies would be a lasting favorite of mine but my interest in them ultimately didn't hold, sadly. GG Allin was also really good, but mainly just for his acoustic/country material.
My music listening stagnated again until in the last couple months of 2009 I picked up a couple Neil Young remasters, which rekindled my love for Neil and Tom Petty, as well as inspired a bunch of 90s alt-rock listening and basically I was re-oriented from my metal, rap, and indie era back to the rock n roll stylings of my youth. This rekindled love for rock is what prepared me, believe it or not, for my transition to pop. Because there aren't any pop songs that are good in the same way a Burzum, Immortal Technique, or Pixies song is good. But a 4 minute Tom Petty or Neil Young love song? Yeah, you can see the connection.
'Phase Three'
At work they had installed this corporate radio device so I was listening to 40+ hours of their choice material a week. What's really amazing, though, is that for a while it had an enormous, truly enormous catalog of material and it was extremely, insanely diverse. So I discovered countless great songs through this system and that's how I first heard Taylor Swift, Kesha, and Katy Perry. Miranda Cosgrove also won me over, her style kept erratically changing, which was great for a variety-junkie like me (sadly she doesn't make music anymore). This was new music for a new age, I was finally over my depression and I had also decided to curtail recreational intoxication and so this happy, sober, clear-cut music was perfect for me.
After 2010 & 2011, my life has really settled down, and it's done something really cool to my taste in music (as well as TV and film). For the rest of my life I have always been a complete phase jumper, going from one extreme to the next. But now that my life has steadied, for the last few years I've really been able to enjoy all of my favorite things simultaneously, for the first time ever. I don't have one particular mode, phase, fancy, or orientation, I just like it all at the same time. On any given day I might listen to a 20 minute Burzum noisefest, followed by T-Swift single, a misogynistic Dr. Dre rap and then a political treatise from Ani.
Throughout all of it, the primary constants have been NEIL YOUNG and TOM PETTY. While I wouldn't have thought it was possible in 2004 or 2006, I sincerely enjoy them much, much more today than I even did in my youth. Their immense catalog, perpetual variety, and their dedication to continuously release exciting new material today has made them invaluable for me. Sometimes I feel like, they're my only real favorite bands, since as much as I love other groups, you could add the next 20 best acts together and they still wouldn't match Neil or Tom alone.
Today I've calmed the jets and I mostly stick with exploring my pre-existing favorites more richly deeply. My only major acquisition in the last couple years has been Ani Difranco, who really knocked my socks off with her hard-edged acoustic rock and nearly Dylan-level mastery of the lyrical persuasion.
So there you have all my favorite bands over the years. The ones that stuck, a few that didn't... The bolded ones are the big favorites and the italicized ones are my secondary favorites.
Every couple of years I get into something new that expands my scope. Fun fact, in 2001 when I only owned about 6 or 7 CDs, I was really into that 'Wheel in the Sky' song and I listed my favorite bands as:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. The Doors
4. Journey!
5. The Who
I then explored the wide world of classic rock. Some lesser fascinations include Yes, and Ten Years After. By 2004 I had a much better grasp on music and my list looked like this:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. The Doors
4. Neil Young
5. Bob Dylan
In '05, Alice in Chains and Nirvana were added to the menagerie, as I explored grunge during the height of my depression. Then came Tom Petty, who I had been listening to since 2001 but who only became one of my favorite artists after I heard his folkier 1990s albums like Wildflowers and Echoes.
During my romantic period in '06 I also became very fond of some great indie artists, namely Neutral Milk Hotel and Regina Spektor.
In 2007 I was experiencing quite a bit of turmoil in my life and as a result I went through a massive metal phase where Pantera and Metallica entered the "pantheon." These first ten bolded artists are what I consider my classic ten, the groups that will always have a special significance because I really grew up with them. I'll always invariably have the largest cache and most poignant memories about listening to those bands as I came of age. The list cuts off right about when I left uni and became an adult.
But a lot of those bands, which completely rocked my world, and did it for years, haven't necessarily all carried over to today. They'll always have their rightful and fully deserved place in the pantheon, but I don't necessarily listen to them that much. For Zepp, Floyd, and Bob Dylan, I've overplayed them so thoroughly in the last 13 years that I mainly enjoy them in small doses now. For Nirvana, Alice In Chains & Pantera, they simply don't have enough material to inspire a living, breathing interest in me over 5, 10 years. I need new material to explore, artists with 15, 20, 30 albums. I wish that these bands could still be around and putting out new material but sadly they aren't. (I'm not that fond of the new AIC.)
'Phase Two'
Okay, so back to 2008 & 2009. After college I was feeling pretty burned out on music and I started to explore more obscure things. Recreational intoxicants may have also play a certain role. My taste became more eclectic as well. I became very enamored with the hypnotic, fearsome metal of Burzum, and the submersive groove of The Breeders. I also had a big rap phase with Immortal Technique and Eminem. For a while I very much thought The Pixies would be a lasting favorite of mine but my interest in them ultimately didn't hold, sadly. GG Allin was also really good, but mainly just for his acoustic/country material.
My music listening stagnated again until in the last couple months of 2009 I picked up a couple Neil Young remasters, which rekindled my love for Neil and Tom Petty, as well as inspired a bunch of 90s alt-rock listening and basically I was re-oriented from my metal, rap, and indie era back to the rock n roll stylings of my youth. This rekindled love for rock is what prepared me, believe it or not, for my transition to pop. Because there aren't any pop songs that are good in the same way a Burzum, Immortal Technique, or Pixies song is good. But a 4 minute Tom Petty or Neil Young love song? Yeah, you can see the connection.
'Phase Three'
At work they had installed this corporate radio device so I was listening to 40+ hours of their choice material a week. What's really amazing, though, is that for a while it had an enormous, truly enormous catalog of material and it was extremely, insanely diverse. So I discovered countless great songs through this system and that's how I first heard Taylor Swift, Kesha, and Katy Perry. Miranda Cosgrove also won me over, her style kept erratically changing, which was great for a variety-junkie like me (sadly she doesn't make music anymore). This was new music for a new age, I was finally over my depression and I had also decided to curtail recreational intoxication and so this happy, sober, clear-cut music was perfect for me.
After 2010 & 2011, my life has really settled down, and it's done something really cool to my taste in music (as well as TV and film). For the rest of my life I have always been a complete phase jumper, going from one extreme to the next. But now that my life has steadied, for the last few years I've really been able to enjoy all of my favorite things simultaneously, for the first time ever. I don't have one particular mode, phase, fancy, or orientation, I just like it all at the same time. On any given day I might listen to a 20 minute Burzum noisefest, followed by T-Swift single, a misogynistic Dr. Dre rap and then a political treatise from Ani.
Throughout all of it, the primary constants have been NEIL YOUNG and TOM PETTY. While I wouldn't have thought it was possible in 2004 or 2006, I sincerely enjoy them much, much more today than I even did in my youth. Their immense catalog, perpetual variety, and their dedication to continuously release exciting new material today has made them invaluable for me. Sometimes I feel like, they're my only real favorite bands, since as much as I love other groups, you could add the next 20 best acts together and they still wouldn't match Neil or Tom alone.
Today I've calmed the jets and I mostly stick with exploring my pre-existing favorites more richly deeply. My only major acquisition in the last couple years has been Ani Difranco, who really knocked my socks off with her hard-edged acoustic rock and nearly Dylan-level mastery of the lyrical persuasion.
So there you have all my favorite bands over the years. The ones that stuck, a few that didn't... The bolded ones are the big favorites and the italicized ones are my secondary favorites.