I am a music snob. I have been this way for years. I have collected vinyl, compact discs, cassettes, etc. since around the age of 7. I specifically remember my parents picking me up in their old Volkswagen van, and holding out a bag with 2 releases that came out around that time...
"Appetite for Destruction" by Guns and Roses, and "Polka Party" by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Hi-Fi cassettes.
This was just the beginning. Speaking of beginnings, here's, technically, where this obsession came from:
When I was a mere toddler, my mother had a 1968, baby blue, Volkswagen Bug. The stereo had been taken out of it, thanks to some dubious ruffian, so it was just the two of us, singing songs. She will always proudly tell people that the first song that I ever learned wasn't "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "London Bridges", or even my "ABC's". It was "I Only Have Eyes for You", by the Drifters. Random, I know. I can only imagine my son, singing "ARE THERE STARRRS OUUUUT TOOOONNNIIIGGGHHHT?". Funny, I think.
When an automobile with a stereo finally reached our family, my mother was always listening to whatever oldies station was on at the time. Soon began the music game. "Who sings this song?". "What's the name of the song?". "What album is it on?". By the age of 10, I could pick out "Tangled Up in Blue" by Bob Dylan, from "Blood on the Tracks".
Football was not in my future. Later, we realized studying, Rocket Science, and finding the cure for Cancer wasn't, either.
My parents were hippies, in their own right. It was Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Country Joe and the Fish, Big Brother and the Holding Company. You get the idea, but they loved the other stuff, too. Dion and the Belmonts, Bobby Vee, Stevie Wonder. Motown. Chess. Stax.
This was all going to form me into the snob I now am.
Starting my love for mainstream music in the 80's was a weird thing. The choices were strange. Hair Metal was king. On the other side, you had Debbie Gibson, Pet Shop Boys, Milli Vanilli, Yacht Rock, and the like. Just really pappy pop music that usually spawned out 1 hit, and the name was forgotten (Anybody remember Swing Out Sister, or Information Society?).
My first concert was a Stevie Wonder show at the pavilion. This was during the Yacht period of "I Just Called to Say I Love You", but it's Stevie Wonder, so who cares? Shows following were Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Nelson, Kiss, Winger, Slaughter, MC Hammer...it was the late '80s to early '90s. Shut up.
Here's where everything got weird.
There was a record store in the West Boise area, called Five Mile Records, which later changed to Five Mile Disc and Tape. I would go there to find whatever hair metal band I saw the previous Saturday on "Headbanger's Ball", buy the tape, and hope that band would come play soon, so I could make my mother's ears bleed.
While looking through the tapes, I found what seemed to be a pretty "metal" looking album. There was a young man, standing in suburban America, holding his skateboard...AND HE WAS ON FIRE!!!! Plus, the album was called "Suffer". This had to be metal, right?
Well, it sure wasn't. The fast paced 4/4 drum beats that had drawn me to that metal was even faster, had better melodies, harmonies, and was unreal. This, my dear friends, was my introduction into the underground. Bands with names that I thought were "too weird" or "not PC" (i.e. Dead Kennedys, or Sex Pistols) came into my collection. I wanted more. NEEDED more. Soon, it wasn't just punk rock. Ska, Hip Hop, Prog Rock. All of these gave me an appreciation for sub-cultures, and their fashions. My own mother wasn't surprised when I came home with blue hair. The people I associated with had mohawks, liberty spikes, studded jackets, and the like. The people that my mom would have crossed the street if they were walking up, she now embraced.
Sure, I went through my whole "fuck major labels. They're for sell outs" phase. I still feel it from time to time when one of my favorite bands signs to even a mid major.
I guess there's 2 reasons I'm sharing this with you:
For someone who has spent his life reading about (insert washed up, junkie musician here), listening to everything on the planet that I can get my hands on, and constantly playing music whether it be my own, or somebody else's, I find it extremely funny that I choose to play extremely simple music. Ska, punk, and pop punk. That's what I know how to play. Kind of funny. I'm not trying to be the next Keith Richards, Ace Frehley, or Eric Clapton.
Secondly, I'm wondering if the effects my parents had on me by showing me all of this music will have the same effects on my son. Then again, he ignores my stereo when I try to play him the new Riverdales record, yet dances like a retarded monkey when "Miss U Much" by Janet Jackson is played on his mother's stereo.
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