The Musical Evolution of Me: 1996-2011

[Raiders]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4598026415_66f7901618.jpg

As I was thinking the other day, I realized that my taste in music, or at least the music I become obsessed with, has changed almost each and every year, and often I could find a good correlation between my mood and point in life for the respective year and the music I listened to. So it occurred to me that it might be fun to trace the last fifteen years of my life, picking an album for each year that I remember being obsessed with and finding its relevance to my natural and musical evolution.

[EyesWideOpen]

Can't wait! Sounds like this is going to be a cool thread.

[Raiders]

1996

Cracked Rear View
Hootie & the Blowfish

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Jo2i3FXzL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

12 year-old Raiders wanted to be a singer. I had an old-school karaoke machine that I used to torture the neighbors, my parents and certainly the family dog. My dreams, once of interacting with Saturday morning cartoon characters had been hijacked by me standing on a stage wailing and spitting and sweating on my screaming fans. And in 1996, Hootie & the Blowfish were at their height and their easy southern rock, unchallenging, sing-a-long style was just what I needed to sit in my room with headphones on and rock to the heavens.

All my friends loved the album as well, and the band's name could be endlessly amusing to the adolescent mind. When we weren't riffing on the words "Hootie" and particularly "Blowfish" we were telling of how our pre-Wikipedia research had found Hootie, who was naturally the lead singer, used to be a failed rapper, which must be true because he was black. The rest of the band were the Blowfish for reasons that seemed then and now unimportant.

For broader evolution, this was also the first CD I ever owned, signaling the shift in media and the ease of singing along. No more endless rewinding and fast forwarding, settling for missing the first ten seconds of a track with a "good enough" shrug. I wore it out and by this year, 1996, the scratches had turned a couple of the tracks into skipping remixes. To this day I still enjoy a couple of the tracks, namely "Time," but the album may mark the final time where I didn't listen to music for the music, but to sing to what was being said and incanted. Once my dashed dreams of leading a four-piece rock group had been laid to rest, my outlook on music saw a noticeable shift. High school was next and a personal and musical awakening lie ahead.

[Thirdmango]

I've often talked to music buffs in these terms, talking about your evolution makes a lot of sense why you're into certain things and not others.

[ThePlashyBubbler]

Great write-up, Raiders. Tuned in if you ever wanna continue.

[Derek]

Great write-up, Raiders. Tuned in if you ever wanna continue.

Ditto, this was promising then died way too early. Come back, Raiders!

[EyesWideOpen]

I remember I used to have magazine covers of Hootie & the Blowfish on my wall. My first three cds (I got all three at the same time) came in 1992. I bought Boyz II Men - Cooleyhighharmony, Kriss Kross - Totally Krossed Out, and Color Me Badd - C.M.B..

[D_Davis]

My first CDs:

New Order - Technique
Tears for Fears - Seeds of Love
Midnight Oil - Beds are Burning (single)

[ThePlashyBubbler]

I think my first CD might have been Jock Jams 4.

:|

[Winston*]

Will Smith - Big Willie Style :cool:

[Derek]

Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
Dinosaur Jr. - Where You Been
Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle

[Ezee E]

Ew, I even hated Hootie & The Blowfish at 13.

[Boner M]

Hijacking this thread for my own musical evolution.

1985 - present: Superlative taste.

Carry on, Raiders

[Kurosawa Fan]

First CDs:

C&C Music Factory
Vanilla Ice

I wanted to joke that these are awesome choices, but the shame is far too powerful. I'm just going to walk away.

[Ezee E]

Never bought music as a youngster, my first cd wasn't bought till 14. That CD was Prodigy's Fat of the Land. Still love it.

[dreamdead]

Toad the Wet Sprocket's Dulcinea (still love Windmills off of this one)
The Cranberries' To the Faithful Departed (a few decent tracks here, I remember liking "Bosnia")

[D_Davis]

First tapes:

Weird Al in 3D
Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger
U2 - Unforgettable Fire

[Sven]

1st CD:

Led Zeppelin

Win.

[Sven]

Duran Duran - Seven and the Ragged Tiger

Though this one is amazing too. Reflex and Union of the Snake are two favorites, but Seventh Stranger is one of the best.

[D_Davis]

Though this one is amazing too. Reflex and Union of the Snake are two favorites, but Seventh Stranger is one of the best.

Yeah - totally.

[Raiders]

1997

On Fire
Galaxie 500

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BCV7rUmgL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I still can't tell you how I bumped into this album. I would like to declare that I was standing in a local Championship Vinyl and happened across the the red-orange glow of the cover, turned to the hip employee, gave a nod and paid my money and went home and transformed. Such is not the case; it was likely either by accident or some song I happened upon one of my shoegazer friends playing--though thinking back, "my shoegazer friends" doesn't sound very accurate, not the least of which because the genre had gone out of style even by '97, but also I seem to remember my friends still jonesing for Nirvana and the grung-era, something that both Galaxie 500 and the various genres they fit into were consciously in stark contrast to.

"Genre" almost doesn't even help in describing this band... oh sure, we could go on about all that they fit into here and there, but their dreamy/sad sound and hypnotic grooves, less shoegazey and more melodic, even perhaps dating back to the days of the experimental 1960s, seeped into my mind and slowly erased the years of pop sing-along I had enjoyed up 'til now. I was in high school and it was time to define myself, express myself to the world. I was too cool to go walking down the road singing "Only Want to Be With You," I needed my shaggy hair covering my eyes as I engulfed myself in my walkman and the textures of the lo-fi sonic wonders of On Fire.

Sadly, the pressures of high school would cause me to sort of put aside this form of music and embrace more of the grunge/alt. rock that was still extremely popular in the late '90s. I would return to this in the wake of my emo-craze (which will be covered shortly) and by charting Galaxie 500's influences, discover the band that to this day can probably be considered the real foundation of my subsequent dive into the vast recesses of music: The Velvet Underground.

[D_Davis]

Great pick, great album.

[bac0n]

First CD - Ministry, Land of Rape & Honey. I believe I bought it before I even had a CD player.

[D_Davis]

First CD - Ministry, Land of Rape & Honey. I believe I bought it before I even had a CD player.

Nice. I had this one on tape. I used to buy more tapes than CDs back then because my car had a tape player.

[Derek]

1997

On Fire
Galaxie 500

Awesome, one of my favorites. And kudos, I didn't hear it til way later than '97.

[EyesWideOpen]

1st CD:

Led Zeppelin

Win.

If given the choice of listening to Led Zeppelin or Color Me Badd, C.M.B. would win everytime.

[Raiders]

1998

Turn the Radio Off
Reel Big Fish

http://skarevolution69.files.wordpres s.com/2011/03/reel-big-fish-turn-the-radio-off-1996.jpg

So fun fact: I was in a ska band in 1998 and 1999. The name was Ambassador Kwan, influenced by Jerry Maguire. I looked online to see if there were any references to the band given that we broke-up before the Internet *really* started becoming ubiquitous, and I actually found not one but two bands with this name, same spelling and all. Neither is in this area and the one where I could find a lineup has no members from my band. Apparently this is a good name for a local ska band. No references to my band, though we were not without our success. We sold about 400 copies or so of our CD which the lead singer had made. We played a few local shows, even one which was actually headlined by The Toasters, a band many 90s thrid wave ska lovers knew well as among the founding bands of our beloved musical movement. But, when we started trying to plan out actually becoming a bigger band, ska started dying (which, looking back, is ever-so justified) and we moved on. Our best song was Jonny/Jenny, a goofy homage to Victor/Victoria and Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda. We wanted to do a weird love story, and I had only seen Ed Wood's film which I watched right before writing this song (how much weird cinema can a 15/16 year old have seen?), but helped to write most of the lyrics. Sample:

See that man standing over there?
Little girl, do you think he cares?
Jonny's moved in, he took Jenny's place
Such a lovely voice, such a familiar face

Jonny! Jenny!
Your lies will destroy you
Jonny! Jenny!
You think they accept you?
I've always loved you, I told you that
But baby I want my sweater back.

I played the alto saxophone and wrote most of the music with Keenan, the lead singer. It was fun times. Viewing this time period now, removed about 14 years, I can see how futile it really was. The kind of music we were playing required very little musicianship and even less vocal ability. It was frat-house music, good for drinking and moshing to it, but the return on the time spent was so very little. Same as it is for listening to the music. I profiled above Reel Big Fish's most famous album and the one I had on loop in my car. I still have that copy and I won't deny that some of their vocal riffs are clever and amusing, and unlike many ska bands their punk attitude felt pretty genuine, but having been a part of this music scene, even if only in a small way, has forever exposed the soulless and largely talentless core of the style. Once we broke up, I quickly removed this all from my consciousness.

[D_Davis]

So fun fact: I was in a ska band in 1998 and 1999. The name was Ambassador Kwan, influenced by Jerry Maguire. I looked online to see if there were any references to the band given that we broke-up before the Internet *really* started becoming ubiquitous, and I actually found not one but two bands with this name, same spelling and all. Neither is in this area and the one where I could find a lineup has no members from my band. Apparently this is a good name for a local ska band. No references to my band, though we were not without our success. We sold about 400 copies or so of our CD which the lead singer had made. We played a few local shows, even one which was actually headlined by The Toasters, a band many 90s thrid wave ska lovers knew well as among the founding bands of our beloved musical movement. But, when we started trying to plan out actually becoming a bigger band, ska started dying (which, looking back, is ever-so justified) and we moved on. Our best song was Jonny/Jenny, a goofy homage to Victor/Victoria and Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda. We wanted to do a weird love story, and I had only seen Ed Wood's film which I watched right before writing this song (how much weird cinema can a 15/16 year old have seen?), but helped to write most of the lyrics. Sample:



That's awesome man. My first "real" band was a Ska band. We were pretty heavy into the California Ska scene in the early '90s. We actually played with The Toasters as well! Crazy. There is nothing more fun than playing ska or going to a great ska show. I still think of starting a new roots-ska band.

I think my favorite music-playing memory is the show we played with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Absolutely packed house, incredibly energy, and a night of pure insanity.

Do you still have one of your CDs?

[Raiders]

That's awesome man. My first "real" band was a Ska band. We were pretty heavy into the California Ska scene in the early '90s. We actually played with The Toasters as well! Crazy. There is nothing more fun than playing ska or going to a great ska show. I still think of starting a new roots-ska band.

I think my favorite music-playing memory is the show we played with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Absolutely packed house, incredibly energy, and a night of pure insanity.

Do you still have one of your CDs?

I'll check, but I don't think so. We used the masters on a disk to listen as a band and critique what we heard and I had heard it all so much I never saw the need for a CD. I know I had at least a couple in my possession at one time to give out, but I honestly haven't even thought of it in years. I still play my sax all the time though.

I do still own some of the sheet music that I scribbled after the fact. We always came up with basic ideas for songs and the chords, then played until it sounded right. I would then transpose.

[ThePlashyBubbler]

Awesome, used to looooove Reel Big Fish. Was also very briefly in a ska band, but the type who buy instruments, call themselves a band, and never really learn to play them. Trio From Rio!

[Boner M]

I love this thread.

[Raiders]

1999

No Need to Argue
The Cranberries

http://www.simplymasses.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/album-cover-cranberries-the-no-need-to-argue-300x300.jpg

Retreating to the comfort of grunge after being assimilated into the music of my peers via the crushing pressures of high school, I was at the same time becoming fascinated by female vocalists. In general, throughout my music evolution, I have loved the sound of girl singers, particularly in the realm of rock. I am not talking about hard rock/metal, which frankly I have never been convinced by, however non-progressive of me that may come across. But when I look at vocalists like Beth Gibbons, PJ Harvey, the ladies of Sleater Kinney or hell, even Kathleen Hanna, I always find something more expressive in their voices than I do in similar-styled male vocalists. Karen Carpenter is, for me, the height of pop vocalists and I frequently listen to Florence and the Machine solely for Welch's voice.

So it goes that when spanning the vast wastelands of grunge music from the prior ten years to hang my hat on, I chose The Cranberries and Dolores O'Riordan. In retrospect, I am pleased with my choice. "Zombie" still remains a grunge rock anthem I can get behind and they weren't blasting in every boom box and car radio in the school parking lot. They were tackling music and even themes a little more removed from the typical love/death merry-go-round while still fitting comfortably into the movement and genre so as not to make me look like I was intentionally being different. I also found O'Riordan, with the bleached short hair and tender-but-fiery voice to be sexy enough to satisfy the more derivative traits in a female vocalist. Let it be said though that my obsession did not "linger"... (sorry)

[dreamdead]

I can get behind Cranberries affection, as my first-bought cds attest to on the first page. I think I've worn out any ability for "Dreams" to be impactful, but "Linger," "Ode to My Family," and ""Zombie" still pack a punch. The whole dream-pop wave is something that crested around '97 in popularity, but I think the band brought some variations to that sound and aesthetic, even if they never matched the heights of their first two albums' best tracks afterwards.

My female singers from that time period were totally Kristy Thirsk (Rose Chronicles and Delerium), Dorona Alberti (KMFDM), and Lisa Gerrard.

Hope you're able to continue these. They're quite interesting.