Nostalgic Tangent series: music

I rarely yearn to be a developmental psychologist (if that's even a real term), but now is one of those times.  Because as I think back on my childhood music phases, I'm noticing that they occurred later in life than last post's TV phases or next post's movie obsessions.  Truth be told, I had very few "childhood" music faves, just a bunch of obnoxious adolescent ones.

Why is that?  Referring back to my opening sentence, I'm guessing it has to do with the development of our minds.  Kids have ample time to watch TV and are drawn in, entranced, to moving things.  But what context is there in a kid's life for music?  They don't have the patience to just sit around listening to music, and so if they have favorite songs, they're probably from Barney or some wretched Mickey Mouse detective show (much to the chagrin, I'm sure, of parents and older siblings).

Well, enough pretend psychology.  Here were my major musical phases growing up.  Be warned: they're going to shock you.


My ridiculous list of favorite musical performers while I was growing up

Phase 1 (1993-1994): Billy Joel

My early love of Billy Joel was the result of three factors:

1. I was the age when I started to like music
2. My dad was a huge Billy Joel fan and would often play his records for me
3. Billy Joel rules

And in case there's any doubt, I mean that third one.  Yeah, he has some annoying songs ("Uptown Girl" comes to mind), but he has some awesome ones as well.  One of my favorites is "The Ballad of Billy the Kid", the first line of which is

"From a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia, rode a boy with a six gun in his hand."

That line alone compels me to love Billy Joel.

• [Tangent-within-a-tangent: I have postulated a Billy Joel Hypothesis.  It states that if you visit an establishment in Pittsburgh, PA that plays a loop radio of pop music, you will hear a Billy Joel song during your time there.  I don't know which song, and I don't care how short your visit it.  You'll hear one.]

Phase 2 (1995-1997): Boyz II Men

For those of you who know me now but didn't in 1996, which probably accounts for 99% of people reading this, this will be a huge surprise.  But believe me, or at least believe my Boyz II Men cassette tapes, that I was a huge fan.

But there are consequences to every action, and being a fan of an R&B group at age 10 is no exception.  There is a hilarious-- and I mean uproariously funny, embarrassing, horrifying, amazing, and profoundly disturbing-- home video of me and my cousins, circa 1995, in which my cousin Simeon and I sing "I'll Make Love to You" as the musical accompaniment for our cousins' dancing.  I don't know about Simeon (who was a player from a young age), but I definitely didn't know what making love was at age 10. 

I just sang about it.



Phase 3 (1998-1999): Bad Religion

I will probably devote at least one blog entry someday to the craziness of middle school.  Isn't it amazing that almost everyone, especially girls, hated middle school?  But I won't let myself get carried too far away on that tangent.

For me, middle school wasn't too bad.  And for that, I mainly have to thank my then-best friend Brett.  At a time when other middle schoolers were... well honestly I have no idea what they were doing... Brett and I would sit in his basement and ponder metaphysics, mathematics, Jesus, and women.  I'm serious.  That's what we did.

In addition to making my middle school years unique, nerdy, and cool, Brett introduced me to a lot of music.  Foremost among this music was Bad Religion.

Ironically, the person who probably laid the most groundwork in those years for me to know God also introduced me to a band whose logo is an X-ed out cross.



Phase 4 (1999-2000): Dave Matthews Band

I won't go into much detail here.  Dave Matthews Band's first three studio albums were incredible, and they were even better live.  But beyond just the music, the rampant popularity of DMB eliminated all middle ground and forced all my peers and me to choose a side:

• DMB-lover: You had to go to one DMB concert every 18 months, listen to them at least once a week, and complain about how the radio was killing "Crash" by overplaying it.
• DMB-hater: Your only rule was mandatory complaining anytime a DMB song came on the radio, a DMB fan droned on about their awesomeness, or a "DMB" bumper sticker was spotted on a car.

I chose to love.


What about you?

What music did you grow up on?
Please comment.  I get lonely.

Jon