Music Makes The World Go 'Round

I am a huge lover of music. My wife tells me I'm a music snob and says, "You don't love music, you love music you love." She is of course mostly correct. No one can just love all music. I will admit to a certain amount bias to certain genres of music but I'm willing to give most things a fighting chance.


Like most people I go through periods of exploration and periods where I just delve into my favorites and let them immerse my soul in their stirring and familiar sound. I don't propose that I have a better ear for music than anyone else, but most pop radio songs don't do it for me anymore. I am beginning to hear some interesting things on the radio again so I hope we begin to be amazed again at the sounds that come from the radio.

I'll list some of my favorite eras in rock as well as other genres, and bands so you can get some idea of my taste in music. First and foremost I am a lover of Rock, it’s hard to get much better than good old rock and roll. Like most rock fans it’s also hard to get much better than the era of rock from 1965 – ’75, the period known as classic rock. My favorite bands from that era are: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Doors, Credence Clearwater Revival, The Byrds, etc. You’ll also notice that my rock tastes tend toward the area of the blues. Blues rock is where it’s at as far as I’m concerned. Though my love for the blues and blues based rock runs deep, I also really dig other types of music. Reggae is tough to beat for a nice mellow feel, I’m not as familiar with reggae artists as I’d like to be. My current favorites being Bob Marley and Toots and the Maytals. I also really like some of the old and new ska that came about because of reggae music. The Specials, Sublime, a new band called Vampire Weekend all put down some fantastic grooves. Ben Harper is hard to put in a genre becuase he hops around so much but it would be hard to find another musician as talented and heart-felt as he is.

I fall into a phenomenon that most people fall into. I think the music that was being made while I was a teenager is among the best music to ever be made. So, I don’t know if it’s my own bias or if it was actually that much better but early 90’s rock is just phenomenal. There was a bit of a revolution going against the trend of glam rock bands from the mid to late 80’s. In 1990 we entered the grunge phase and it blew me away. I still remember hearing the Nirvana song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and watching the video at my grandparents house after school. The energy of that song and video were incredible. Follow that up with the brooding sounds of ‘Jeremy’ by Peal Jam and the heavy guitars of Stone Temple Pilots and I was in rock and roll heaven. That era saw everything from the dark depths of bands like Alice In Chains and the ‘Dirt’ album, to mellower stuff from Mathew Sweet and ‘Sick of Myself’. Some great girl bands came up in that time; Hole, Garbage, L7 and others reminded all of us that girls could rock just as hard as the guys. Courtney Love, of Hole, still scares me to this day.

Among the new bands that are coming up, or have been the last few years, and really blow my kilt up are: The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Shins, Band of Horses, Wolfmother, and others. The White Stripes and The Black Keys have proven that incredible blues based rock is still being made. The Shins and Band of Horses have made me believe in Pop again. Wolfmother and other bands are rocking as hard as Led Zeppelin ever did. I’m very optimistic about the direction music is headed today and the ability for small bands to get their sound out to the masses.

I plan on reviewing albums both old and new. Old ones that have been forgotten or need to be remembered because you’ve forgotten just how awesome Led Zeppelin I can be. And new albums because their new and someone needs to tell you if their any good. As Neil Young says, Keep on Rockin’ In The Free World.