inspired by pitchfork's 5-10-15-20 column i'm going to grace you lucky loveys with my own. you should try it too. it's kinda fascinating to reflect on the music that shaped you. hmm, but yeah, i need to call myself out now. there's a major difference between my 5-10-15-20 & those found on pitchfork. am not some bada$$ indie artist with a brain the hipster masses are dying to pick. whatever. and you know what i think? i think all the super star indie bloggers out there SHOULD do their 5-10-15-20s too so that the rest of us can get a legit idea of where they're coming from when they pitch sounds. anyway, here's what i listened to around age 5, 10, 15, 20+:
5
i was living in raleigh, n.c. and big into putting on dance routines in head-to-toe neon for my parents. it WAS the 80s after all. said dance routines were all about the sounds of blondie & cyndi lauper. not sure how i stumbled on these, i think it was in the car. my dad was a member of one of those album/cassette clubs and i vividly recall him buying me blondie 45s and the she's so unusual cassette tape. he was big into hippie sound. my mom dug the beatles. they played their respective records from time to time. (keep having to edit as i think, did love MJ, i admit. but man, prince was WAY cooler.)
10
still in raleigh and spending long summer days on the swim team at the Weswyn swimclub afforded me the opportunity to totally soak up all sounds new wave. that was my childhood soundtrack. and i wanted my MTV (LOVED peter gabriel vids, hard!). boy george, tears for fears, pet shop boys, level 42, inxs, human league, thompson twins, modern english, flock of seagulls, wham!, OMD... it was around this time that i first heard depeche mode too, just didn't realize it was depeche mode, thought it was tears for fears (people are people). also remember dancing about to LL cool J, run DMC, young MC. that's when i dug rap.
15
by 15 i was full-blown music obsessed. and getting my first taste of seeing the bands i loved live. very first show: depeche mode/nitzer ebb. my tastes were all the hell over the place. i was experimenting with my ears. sounds spinning on my CD player: depeche mode, the cure, new order (dabbling in joy division too), REM, dead milkmen, violent femmes, helmet, fugazi, henry rollins band, rancid, operation ivy, jane's addiction, echo & the bunnymen, ride, happy mondays, nine inch nails, front 242, lords of acid, meat beat manifesto, my life with the thrill kill kult, the farm, they might be giants, and ugh, of course, a foray into grunge—really really dug alice in chains and soundgarden back then, more than the much more hyped nirvana or pearl jam.
20
could. not. get. enough. dance. music. and just back from a semester in london. i fell hard for all sounds electro and under the spell of major DJs & dance artists, around 18-19 actually, but such an obsession definitely carried over into my early 20s. bouncy, happy house music, deep heart-felt thudding, the trance-y mental ambient stuff— allister whitehead, faithless, jeremy healy, keoki, moby, underworld, the chemical brothers, leftfield, john digweed, sasha, fat boy slim. The chill sounds of St. Etienne, the whole brit invasion lot of blur, oasis, cornershop, suede, pulp, super grass. i also saw trainspotting in the theater. like six times. and found its soundtrack, original and disk 2 killer to the core.
25
and then there was something of a lull in my music listening development. i reverted without regret to my sound trifecta (the cure, new order, depeche mode) and kind of lingered there. for like, well, a few years. then the curiosa festival happened, created and headlined by the cure. this festival submerged my head back into new indie music in a major way. interpol, mogwai and the rapture opened. i fell hard for interpol, mogwai and the rapture. thank you, robert smith. bands like bloc party, keane, the killers, the bravery, the strokes, the hives, also made their way into my consciousness. time frame was transitional. pale in comparison to...
30
hot. damn. bam. the internet explodes upon my ipod & suddenly i'm 15 again, flooded with so. much. killer. new. sound. i love right now in music. hard. and the access we all have to tracks almost the second they're created. the fact that so much brilliant stuff IS being created. that every single week you can encounter like five new dig-able bands. so please do DIG IN.
and the super star indie bloggers i referred to earlier. i'm going to name names. give us your 5-10-15-20s too. i beg. i insist. i demand. i doubt.
hipster runoff
gorilla vs. bear
stereogum
(damn i'm forgetting so many, help me out.)
Or what about you
COSlive?
Gotta Dance Dirty?
Cream Team?
Right Hear?
Or just music lovin' individuals like
popnwave
DJBrianL
ilikethebass
jesus_suns
poken girl
show me your 5-10-15-20s.
love,
sunlovey
(dress from dress candy boutique)
FIVE!
ReplyDeleteMy first music memories are tied to MTV and my dad lifting weights in the basement (LOL), nothing edgy just pure pop:
FIVE! Michael Jackson & Paul Mccartney - Say Say Say:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9jGSdGVNFI
TEN! I was under the Stock Aitken Waterman spell. Banarama, Kylie.. and UGH yes Rick Astley! Luckily, my brother, being 6 years older exposed me to Smiths, New Order, Cure, Depeche Mode, RHCP, etc though at the time I didn't remotely appreciate it!
Rick Astley - She Wants To Dance With Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtIS0Qv2U_Y
FIFTEEN! By this time I was pretty confused, not sure if I wanted to be straight outta Long Beach , Seattle or somewhere over in Europe!
Dr Dre - Ain't Nothin' But A G Thang:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOXAJbs-GBI
Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6P0SitRwy8
Snap - Rhythm Is A Dancer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ppF2yK4NM
TWENTY!
I had gone to the dark side, I was stomping around the local club The Castle clad in jeans and my newest "industrial" band shirt from KMFDM or whomever. It wasn't until the year after that I spent a semester in Prague during them summer of '99 that I got back into lighter/brighter electronic stuff. That was the year trance pretty much owned the world.
KMFDM - Megalomaniac:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvZqWq0ZNjk
And One - Get You Closer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9o2CGunWsM
@sunlovey HELMET!!! YES!
ReplyDelete@rainmkr Nice pick from And One. I'm always shocked that people have heard of them. My personal favorite of theirs is "Panzermensch"...that one filled the dancefloor during my short-lived goth/industrial dance night.