A common question people ask when they're getting to know you is what kind of music you're into. What do you answer to this question? You want to seem cool but you also don't want to list off so many underground punk bands from the 80s as to render any further conversation with the person null and void. YOu want to be relatable but cool and so say something unoffensive like "Modest Mouse", having only ever heard "Float On."
When I was small I used to just listen to what my brothers told me to and now that I'm slightly less small I tend to listen to what my boyfriend tells me to. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not just some mindless goon who listens to whatever she's told to and doesn't have any of her own opinions. I've just always found that I liked the music my brothers used to play for me and now I like the music my boyfriend plays for me. Not all of it of course, but it provides me with a base upon which to build my own musical interests.
I never liked Britney Spears or Christina Aguilara as a kid. This was mainly because I wanted to be different even then and so decided that they were too mainstream and girlie and because I was expected to like them I wasn't going to. That said, I went to their concerts, after-all I was still a pre-teen girl. These were performers though, not musicians and soon throughout my early to mid-teens I learned about rock and indie and underground music- the stuff that it was okay to like. There was Oasis and Pulp and The Libertines and The Frames, Nirvana, No Doubt, The Doors and all sorts of others in this eclectic mix of musicians gone-by mixed with up-and-coming artists that I had begun to newly appreciate. Influences came flooding through my ears with indie music quizes in my brother's old red Fiat Punto clashed with my father's ecclesiastical choir music, my mother's love of Bob Dylan and my other brother's sojourn with the dreaded dance music and "Euphoria" albums that went with it.
I've always loved all forms of music (except for most R'n'B and hip-hop- y stuff mind) but for some reason when I'm feeling down there's always a genre of music that can pick me right back up.
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods.(source wikipedia)
I first heard any kind of ska in my brothers' Tony Hawk Skate playstation game. I was never allowed to play myself and so would spend hours watching them play and the soundtrack to the game was soon embedded in my mind. It was a Less Than Jake song if I remember correctly; All my Best Friends Are Metalheads
I just love that upbeat kind of happy sax line in their music, it makes me want to get up and dance about stomping my feel and flailing my arms and not caring a toss. Although I was never really into ska as they say, I still love bopping along to a good sum41 or Reel Big Fish song.
People too often assume great music to have to be heart-wrenching and for it to connect with our innermost sadness, worries and despairs but why can't good music be something that gives us joy and makes us happy and want to bounce around and jump in front of our mirrors, even for a short while. Yeah, you can keep your Hallelujahs, your Everybody Hurts and your Bridges Over Troubled water; I choose happiness......
.....then again, have you heard of Modest Mouse ever? Yeah they're pretty cool alright... yeah "Float On"! great song isn't it.
Keep on growlin'!
The Little Blonde Bear
When I was small I used to just listen to what my brothers told me to and now that I'm slightly less small I tend to listen to what my boyfriend tells me to. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not just some mindless goon who listens to whatever she's told to and doesn't have any of her own opinions. I've just always found that I liked the music my brothers used to play for me and now I like the music my boyfriend plays for me. Not all of it of course, but it provides me with a base upon which to build my own musical interests.
I never liked Britney Spears or Christina Aguilara as a kid. This was mainly because I wanted to be different even then and so decided that they were too mainstream and girlie and because I was expected to like them I wasn't going to. That said, I went to their concerts, after-all I was still a pre-teen girl. These were performers though, not musicians and soon throughout my early to mid-teens I learned about rock and indie and underground music- the stuff that it was okay to like. There was Oasis and Pulp and The Libertines and The Frames, Nirvana, No Doubt, The Doors and all sorts of others in this eclectic mix of musicians gone-by mixed with up-and-coming artists that I had begun to newly appreciate. Influences came flooding through my ears with indie music quizes in my brother's old red Fiat Punto clashed with my father's ecclesiastical choir music, my mother's love of Bob Dylan and my other brother's sojourn with the dreaded dance music and "Euphoria" albums that went with it.
I've always loved all forms of music (except for most R'n'B and hip-hop- y stuff mind) but for some reason when I'm feeling down there's always a genre of music that can pick me right back up.
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods.(source wikipedia)
I first heard any kind of ska in my brothers' Tony Hawk Skate playstation game. I was never allowed to play myself and so would spend hours watching them play and the soundtrack to the game was soon embedded in my mind. It was a Less Than Jake song if I remember correctly; All my Best Friends Are Metalheads
I just love that upbeat kind of happy sax line in their music, it makes me want to get up and dance about stomping my feel and flailing my arms and not caring a toss. Although I was never really into ska as they say, I still love bopping along to a good sum41 or Reel Big Fish song.
.....then again, have you heard of Modest Mouse ever? Yeah they're pretty cool alright... yeah "Float On"! great song isn't it.
Keep on growlin'!
The Little Blonde Bear
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