I began appreciating music later in life. Coming from a family that moved around a lot we didn’t really have much as far as musical roots. My parents had a record collection from the 1950s and they were warily suspicious of modern music as not being good for kids.
When we finally settled in Houston, my Episcopalian grade school had some bizarre fixation about the links of Satanism and rock and roll that was common in the early 80’s. They stressed that it was a corrupting influence and partly due to that for a long time during my childhood I thought that the name of the rock band KISS was an acronym and it stood for “Knights in Satan’s Service”.
So I was somewhat late to the music scene in the 1980’s. Which was a real shame because it was such a wonderful decade for music. I was finally able to fully experience it when I got my Walkman cassette player in the 1986 and listened to music of my choosing with the earphones. Tape cassettes were on the way out and cheaper to buy than CD’s and they were also much more rugged and easier to transport so I spent a lot of time with them.
I found that the hard rock music I had originally been denied held the most appeal for me. Bubble gum pop rock was nice but sometimes too nice. Lite rock came into being around that time and it had this wimpy reputation that I couldn’t get into. But hard rock bands like AC/DC, black sabbath, Joan Jett, Metallica. Those I felt represented what rock was really about.
Then I got my first taste of progressive rock (prog rock) bands from the 70’s and I was hooked. Led Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd. The music was lyrical, it told a story, it had deep meanings and multiple meanings. It was the difference between Dune and Star Wars.
Other music types? I did listen to them as well. I don’t really believe that there is anyone out there that doesn’t have a favorite song from a polar opposite genre. They might not confess to it among friends but I am willing to bet that they do listen to it in the car alone.
Country music? Mostly the older songs from older artists like Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubbs, Bob Wills. The modern country songs are too much like lite rock for my taste
Rap? Not my favorite but again I will listen from time to time and my tastes run to older artists like Run DMC, Ice T, the beastie boys, some public enemy, and even some N.W.A. Again though I am not a fan of the modern stuff.
So what do I listen to that is contemporary? Not much. Of Monsters and Men is a good indie folk band from Iceland with some prog rock stylings.
But mainly I like going back to my old 70’s and 80’s songs. They still hold a lot of power for me.
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