-About a Girl-
Thursday, April 14, 2005
My little Love Affair(s) with musicIt all started when I was 8. I still remember the first cd I ever bought...it was The Backstreet Boys' Backtstreet's Back, their second album. Hey! I was only 8 okay... At least I wasn't listening to kids songs or anything.
The Pop Years, 1997-2001.
The first few years of my "musical journey" were filled with countless annoying albeit popular songs played to the death on Hitz.fm, back then just known as Hitz Fm. Any song they played, I knew every lyric, but then again I don't think their playlist was that bad.
Alot of:
The Spice Girls
Backstreet Boys
Hanson
Britney Spears
I'm pleased to say that even at that tender age, I was selective with my music. I would refuse to listen to N SYNC and Christina, as they were the arch nemesises of BSB and Britney. LIME also influenced my taste alot, and looking back, I still don't understand why I read that silly excuse of a magazine.
The Pop-Rock, Hip Hop Years 2001-2002
When I was 13, I started to get really annoyed at the mainstream, and my main source of fresh music, Hitz.Fm, was starting to get stale. Plus, Johnboy, my favorite DJ, was no longer there and when he DID come back, he had lost his cool, oh-so-american accent and instead decided to adopt a british one, which made him sound like a Ross copycat. I thus decided to venture away from the mainstream, and found something else equally as crude: Hip Hop.
Listened to:
Ashanti
Ja Rule
anything Murder Inc
Linkin Park
Good Charlotte's
I had a crush on DJ Joseph Hahn who was, back then, very cute but now, sadly, just very fat.
Also M'sian bands like:
Pop Shuvit
Damn Dirty Apes
This was when I started my obsession with Alicia Keys, and I owe my piano playing to her music, which made me realise that the piano wasn't just a torture-intstrument I was forced to bang out classical music I didnt give a toss about, but I could also use it to play blues and really, anything I wanted. And that, ironically, was what sparked my interest in classical music, and thats when I understood that the piano wasn't just an piece of wood that occasionally made nice sounds if played with the right technique, but also a very good outlet for emotions and creativity.
I remember listening to alot of modern rock bands but can't seem to remember any of them now, except The Used which I still listen to. Proves how unworthy of listening to the rest were.
The Retro Years, 2002-2004
This was circa form 2 when I was 14; I got so sick of hip hop, and Avril Lavigne was EVERYWHERE, and it felt like I was the only one who saw right through that poser of a loser. I went out with a certain 20 year old stoner/drummer (Why, Kim, WHY??) who's band played Motley Crue and Guns n Roses, and *BHAM!* I was hooked, sucked in by the energy, trashiness and honesty (compared to avril)...besides, no one else was listening to it.
Alot of: Warrent (my god, what was I thinking)
Bon Jovi
Metallica
other 80s crap
The Darkness realeased their first album that time and i was IN LOVE with them and was hunting all over Malaysia for their damn cd but couldnt find it, and ended up ordering it in. That was also when I started getting into weed.
Also, one night I went to Planet Hollywood with Sam for some battle of the bands thing, and I was picked from the crowd to play this game whereby who sang the opening line of led zeppelin's Black Dog (i had no idea it was led zeppelin at that time) the best won a converse bag...I narrowly but happily lost out to a guy wearing a Darkness T-Shirt (that was before everyone was listening to them, and I was the only 14 year old who didnt think they were gay faggots), but thought, "shit, what was that??" It was Led Zeppelin.
Started to listen to:
Nirvana
Oasis
Smasking Pumpkins
The White Stripes
The Vines
Pink Floyd
Incubus.
Ironically, watching American Idol introduced me to some good oldies like Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin...now THAT'S music.
The Anything Goes Years 2004-now
in 2004, I was watching an episode of Sync or Swim on Discovery Travel one day, and the host, Jamie Aditya (soooooo adorable!) was playing his guitar and singing, "It's all I ever had, Redemption Song." Thats Bob Marley for you. And thats when the whole Bob Marley/reggae thing started, and I'm still reggae-ing my butt off now ;p
Got REALLY into:
Led Zeppelin
Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Incubus
Nirvana, especially Kurt Cobain
And also new stuff like:
The Killers
The Scissor Sisters
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Somewhere in the middle of 2004, I got sick of sticking to just one type of music and realised that you should never be prejudiced against any genre, and never let another person, some magazine review or what your friends think influence what your tastes and opinions, because all kinds of music are beautiful in their own way...except for bad techno and silly dance songs. THAT I still can't stand. =)
