This one is a little weird, but think about it for a minute. Can you remember the first time you heard a song and decided that you wanted to start buying music and listening to it?

I was never interested in music. All I heard was the crappy (IMO at the time) Christian, soft rock, and cheesy oldies music that my parents listened to, so I had no desire to buy music, much less spend over $1000 on a system to really listen to music.

I was just thinking back, and the artist that inspired me to get into music had to be, get ready for this...

Weird Al Yankovic

I was at my friend's house and Weird Al made fun of that ridiculously ****ty song "Achy Breaky Heart". It was then that I realized that music could be something other than annoying overly sentimental trash, and I knew that I wanted to buy some tapes and a cheap tape player, and cheap headphones, just to listen to something that was "cooler" than the stuff my parents listened to.

The first tape I bought was Weird Al "Bad Hair Day", followed shortly by the sound track to Mortal Kombat. "Bad Hair Day" made me interested in hearing some of the songs that he parodied, which were actually pretty good songs. Mortal Kombat, which in retrospect has an abysmal soundtrack , showed me that I liked hard rock. Then a friend of mine played some of Offspring off of their worst CD Ignition, and I was completely hooked.

My first two CDs were Blues Traveler Four and Offspring Smash (talk about opposite ends of the rock spectrum! ), and here I am now with a sizeable investment in audio gear, and about 160 CDs.

What's your story?

(BTW, it was Junior High when I started buying tapes, wouldn't want anyone to think I am a very strange 21 year old )

Daryl Hall & John Oates - Kiss On My List. It was a single, 45. I was probably in in 3rd grade?

I remember distincly enjoying the tunes from the Nintendo game Rad Racer... That was like when I was in 2nd grade (1988 or so). I also remember listening to music in elementary school... mostly CDs/tapes my brother or parents had around the house. Born in the USA by Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper were some faves at the time...

My first favorite band/singer was gensis/phil collins. That was back in 5th grade or so? In Jr. High I began to buy CDs... and it was history since then. My first CD was Eric Clapton's Unplugged album, and then I joined Columbia House and the floodgates began to open from there. The revelation that is music had begun (another of my early faves was They Might Be Giants - Flood, and also Weird Al's Smells Like Nirvana album... ugh, and I can't but help to remember the time when I had the Simpon's Sing the Blues on tape over and over again...)

And then, there is what I consider the second phase in my musical appreciation/purchasing... and that all stems from listening to Bjork late a night with my trusty PCDP and headphones... To be sure, they were pretty bad headphones but I thought they were great at the time (Sony MDR-v100). I will never sell these headphones because they mean too much to me. My eyes were opened to musical appreciation and the rest is history. I delved deaper into genres, deeper into more genres, and began making music myself. This happened when I was around 14.

Now I'm a 4th year undergrad and wondering where my music tastes will land in the future...

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When I was in the 3rd grade I had a radio headset for about a week, and I listened to a local rock station. If only that headset hadn't broken because I might have developed an earlier interest in music. Then I wouldn't have wasted my money on baseball cards. Instead I could have started buying stuff like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, and Alice In Chains. If only I could go back...

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9th Grade I joined Columbia House and BMG, and the floodgates certainly opened wide.

If only I would have stumbled on to Headwise back then (if it was around). Maybe I would own Grado SR80 and/or Sony V6 instead of wasting my money on Sennheiser HD495, which could not be driven well from my portable.

Back in 1981 my cousin decided to buy me a cassette tape (I was 13 at the time and just started to get into music) and i asked for the U2 Boy album. They had no idea who I was talking about, and I had to re-emphasize "the lettet U and the number 2".

She still loves to tell that stoty today, because she's so proud of me, due to how huge U2 has become.

Stupid, isn't it?

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Stupid, yea... but it's kinda cute.

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Aw man, if I had stumbled upon all this stuff when I was in Jr. High or just starting high school... I mighta ended up even dorkier than I already am! j/k j/k... well, there's a little truth to that... i'm sure i would have ended up in the electrical engineering department though. But at least i would be able to make some cheap super-cool, super-customized electronic stuff. Ah well, there's still time to learn... It'll just take a little patience...

I would post about this but I would write way too much and start rambling...

Okay, I just wrote 2 1/2 pages on how I got into music, what I listen to now, and everything that happened inbetween in Microsoft Word, until I realized no one probably cares about all the frigging details. Maybe I'll truncate it and post it in the morning when I'm not so dead tired. Ugh...that's what happens when you stay up late studying for a Physics test.

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Heh heh, I know the feeling Rizumu. While I was writing my short response I realized how much fun I was having reminiscing about my music history. Maybe I'll do like you and actually make more of a reflection on it... it might help me realize a few things about myself...

And I know what you mean about late night physics ... and procrastination. I'm so glad I'm an upperclassman now and I've finished all my prereqs... Actually, I should probably be studying for my biological oceanography midterm right now... but what the hey.

the first CDs I bought were from UB40, but I no recollection at all as to how I got the idea to buy UB40...not like they were all over TV or anything. perhaps my parents took something of em from the library, they used to do that a lot. guess theres where I picked that up... fear I lost one to many braincell over the years to remember that (was only 10 years ago tho)...

An old radio handed down to me by an older sister when I must've been four years old inspired me to take up music listening.

Not long after I was at the local department store with a parent purchasing my first Beach Boys cassette.

When the radio stations around here stopped playing the songs I liked I had to go and buy the CDs so I could ahh...continue listening to well, the songs I like. That was over 10 years ago, and now I have enough CDs that I rarely ever listen to the radio.

Doo dee doo...I'm psyched because I got a 95% on my Physics test. I guess my studying paid off, eh? Well, this is what I was originally going to post, and since I'm too lazy to hack it up...you can either run away in fear of its length or enjoy Considered yourself warned...

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"I never really listened to music until I was about 12 or 13. Probably at 14 was when I became familiar and comfortable with the kinds of music I like and don't like. Before then, I was bouncing all over the place.

People would ask me what my favorite bands were, or if I watched MTV, but because I've been homeschooled since fourth grade, I was never really exposed to that stuff I suppose, or the "mainstream". My parents and brothers aren't avid music listeners to any extent either. My musical tastes were something I discovered on my own, over time. They've been constantly developing and evolving since then. Which I suppose is the best way it can happen. No trying to be "cool" and wading in the endless murk of marketed mainstream crap. I sort of got lost in there anyway, but managed to pull out okay. More on that later.

I suppose I started really listening to music when I got my first PCDP...I must've been 12. What brand it was I really don't remember, but I remember my mom had purchased it for me based on the fact that it was "blue". Well, suffice to say, it died in a few days, we returned it to the store, and I got a $50 Sony model (D-E307 I believe?). Heheh, I can remember being in the store with my dad, asking him which kind we should get, and his rationale was, "How about a Sony? They made the dang things first, didn't they?"

I think I still have it in a drawer somewhere...it's pretty haggard looking. It's my second one, actually. I got it to replace the first when it died, and the second eventually died as well. By died I mean it would just stop playing the CDs for no reason sometimes. This happpened more frequently until it wouldn't play anything at all. I have no idea what headphones I used to use...probably whatever crap came with the PCDP. I later used mostly earbuds. Eventually I got a Panasonic PCDP with "Brainshaker" phones (more like "Headsplitter" - Ouch!), but getting back on subject...

My mom doesn't like a lot of noise in the house, and like I said, no one in my family is really an audiophile or music enthusiast, so we didn't really have a good speaker system, or at least one that
anybody used. So, from the very beginning, my experience with music has been inseparable from headphones, although only now am I beginning to move up the ladder and see what's really out there.

I think the first song I heard that really prompted me to go out into the music world and check out a band was, get this, the Offspring's "Pretty Fly For A White Guy". *cue gagging* Yeah, it's a horrible song compared to their other stuff (well, compared to any stuff really). BUT, it was awesome in my mind, and I remember burning a CD with the MP3 on it and listening to it like all night long. My headphones were junk of course, and it was more akin to blaring speakers in the night than listening to headphones privately in my bedroom, so my parents got pissed because of the noise. Oh well.

So I got into Punk music. Not because I got involved in a crowd or group or that scene or anything, rather because I loved the music.

*sigh* This is waaay too long-winded. I guess I should add too that while I was exploring the Punk genre, I was simultaneously getting into J-Pop/J-Rock, or Japanese popular music for the uninitiated. This is because I was taking Japanese classes at the community college at the time, was into Anime, had friends who knew people from Japan...etc. So I got to borrow and get copies of CDs of that sort.

I suppose I "lost my way" when two things happened:

1) I finished Japanese 4. No more classes, some friends went off to Japan, others I didn't see as much anymore, and my source of Japanese music was broken off.

2) My computer's HD crashed. I lost everything. It was a "deal" computer that my Dad had gotten from some obscure company -_-
So, all my MP3s were lost, mainly my Punk stuff, and for awhile I didn't have a computer. I hadn't nearly delved into all that Punk had to offer, but my exploration of that genre was jerked to a halt.

I was 13 or 14 with not a whole lot of money, so where did I turn?

Answer: I was drawn toward the mainstream. By this I mean MTV type stuff...Limp Bizkit...Kid Rock...I don't even remember what I listenend to. I've tried to blot it out I think. Think "the dark ages" of my music exploration. I don't know, I guess I just had to check out that kind of music for myself. I vaguely recall why I listened to what I did - I mean it may seem all appealing on the outside, but you lose interest in music with no real substance fast, though, so pretty soon I escaped the mainstream, MTV, and all their trappings.

I know any of you who like Punk will probably cringe at this, but it's true. The band that carried me out of the mainstream, and back into Punk and other types of music was none other than Blink 182 when I saw them on MTV. Boo, hiss, "you're not punk". Yeah yeah, I know a lot of people get all over groups like Green Day, The Offspring, and Blink 182 for being "sellouts", but without them, I'm not sure where I'd be. Of course I lost interest in Blink 182, but they served as a stepping stone so to speak.

I'll give a little summary of where this all led me to:

I tried the modern rock of the mainstream and there's just so few redeeming bands out there...I swear, feel free to dispute this, but it seems likes there's the Rap-metal scene, and then an endless stream of Creed sound-alikes. Neither impress me.

The main bands from Punk and its related genres that I love are Bad Religion, Lagwagon, No Use For A Name, Offspring, A.F.I., Less Than Jake, The Get Up Kids, and Alkaline Trio. I don't think Bad Astronaut would really count as Punk, but it's a side project of the singer of Lagwagon and I can't wait to get their new release. Bands I initially liked, such as Blink 182, The Ataris, New Found Glory, Green Day, etc., didn't stand the test of time.

I've tried listening to older music; my dad likes classic rock, for example. I think from checking out older rock bands, the only thing that stuck with me that I really enjoy is Queen. Awesome band...I just really took to it. Bands like Led Zeppelin though, they're not really my thing. You can try to get interested in and like someone else's musical tastes, but if it doesn't work...it just doesn't.

As for classical and orchestrated music, I've played the piano since I was in third grade, so I've listened to and appreciated classical music for a long time. I'm taking a Music Appreciation class right now and really enjoying it. It makes me think about getting a pair of headphones just for classical/orchestrated stuff. I've always enjoyed film scores and epic soundtracks, and there are many video game soundtracks on the same level and scale IMO.

Recently I've gotten back into Japanese music, and since a lot of what I've been listening to is influenced by electronica/techno, I've been checking that out as well.

Well, call my tastes strange, call them eclectic, call me only 16, or whatever you want, but I think that pretty much sums it up. Make of this ridiculously long post what you will, because I'm dead tired
from studying for the Physics test that I took today and am going to bed."

I think I overdid it a bit...

My earliest choices of music we essentially not my own. From Childhood up until maybe 13 I listened to the old rock that was my mothers favorite. Beatles, and most other stuff from the 60s. When she listened to the radio it was almost always country. Well as I entered my teen years I completely threw aside all music. I stopped listening accept when it was played around me.

This was the case until February of 1998, I was 18. While at a small party with my friends we were playing lots of “modern rock” tunes. Well after listening to things such as Nirvana, Foo Figters, Green Day, Blur’s Song 2, and several others my interest was peaked. I began listening to the radio and started getting to know what was on my local modern rock radio station. My earliest CD’s were probably Nirvana’s Nevermind, Green Day’s Nimrod, and Garbage V2.0

Then as I got out to college and actually had cable for the first time I began to watch MTV, VH1, and eventually into the world of MP3s. My musical horizons grew and music became a big part of my life and self identity. Kind of hard to believe that I spent all of my high school years in a music less world.

Rizumu

Thanks for that post; I did indeed read the whole thing. Ironically I was listening to Offspring while I read it. I was listening to Ixnay On The Hombre, which I believe is their best album. However, I wouldn't call them sellouts. Their music really hasn't changed a whole lot since Smash. Listen to "Keep Em Separated (Come Out and Play)" off of Smash, and then listen to stuff off of Americana and/or Conspiracy of One. They haven't changed a whole lot; it's more like they went back to what worked IMO.

Pretty Fly is a stupid song, but do you really think they were trying to make anything other than a stupid song? It's kinda ironic that their song that received so much radio play was making fun of people who go overboard into mainstream culture.

I never meant to imply that I think they're "sellouts", I just stated that other people are always branding them as it... I still love the Offspring. They were really the first band I listened to, so I don't know how I couldn't. Thinking about it, Ixnay is probably my favorite too; it definitely has some of my favorite songs of theirs on it. The Meaning of Life, Gone Away, All I want, Amazed, Change the World...

I should buy that CD...the last Offspring CD I bought was Ignition. Not as good as the later stuff, IMO. I'm slowly but surely moving away from MP3s as I try to get into higher end audio...or at least something besides rock bottom.

Is it just me or do you think "Original Prankster" is a horrible, horrible song? It seemed extremely out of place on Conspiracy of One. It was otherwise a great album.