Soundtrack To Your Life
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I listened to a lot of classical growing up (Mom made me play the piano)… classical and Queen. I've always loved Freddie Mercury, except for that bullshit Radio Ga Ga song. Had one of their greatest hits CDs when I was 4 or 5... would always skip that song.
Mom passed away when I was seven, so Dad's musical tastes dominated the airwaves. Heard a lot of that damn Alabama NSYNC crossover on the country radio stations. Some of it wasn't so bad- the twangier stuff. Didn't mind Garth Brooks.
My first CD that I got to pick out all on my own was No Doubt. Still have a crush on you Gwen.
Napster came along when I was young. I spent all day downloading stuff. I thought I was really dark and brooding so I would download a bunch of industrial techno stuff. Nothing good. Velvet Acid Christ. Then, I found MetallicA (stylized like this of course). I didn't get much into them at this point in my life, but I sure loved 'One'. Still do. Then I started getting into Tool, pretty heavily. Got Reign in Blood for Christmas as well. But Static-X was my fav band, so of course I dressed like Wayne Static with the big ass pants. Silly me.
I liked Tool a lot, but I REALLY loved A Perfect Circle. I must have wore out Mer De Noms. Still remember the first time Judith came on in the car with my dad...
Dad made me turn off the Sabbath on the way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame cause it was too loud. Went to Ozzfest that year, saw Sabbath original lineup in 01. Didn't truly appreciate it (same deal that I went through with Metallica) but certainly loved War Pigs.
Then punk was popular and all my friends listened to it. I didn't get the Ska nonsense, but I bought ...And Out Come the Wolves and Minor Threat's Complete Discography on the same day (didn't even notice it was the same album cover). The Misfits Collection II would be one of my most played albums. Then we started hanging with some trad skins so I started to appreciate the old ska - The Specials. and some oi!- mainly Oxymoron. I couldn't ever stick to one genre, so Oxymoron made so much sense to me- were they skins or punks? who knew. Both. Saw Blood for Blood. Loved Hatebreed. Went to both Ozzfest and Warped Tour when it came around.
At this point, I started to get really into the hardcore scene- Hatebreed's Satisfaction is the Death of Desire, Killswitch Engage's cd with My Last Serenade. Poison the Well, that Atreyu CD Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses.
And for some reason, I was in a car with people I barely knew and we were driving down an icy road packed into a car, coming home from Hot Water Music/Thrice/Vendetta Red and out of the middle of nowhere, this dude starts clapping in the middle of a folk punk song... turns out it was Against Me!'s Those Anarcho Punks are Mysterious. That band changed my life. That was fucking real man. Before they got big, man. Shit, those guys (guy and one girl?) were so nice. I bought their Acoustic EP at a show one time, go up to Laura and tell him (her? at this point he was a him) that I loved their shit. He asked me if I had their new EP (As The Eternal Cowboy)... I said I didn't have enough money because I already bought their Acoustic EP. "No worries"- signed my punk vest, gave me the EP.
At this point, dad couldn't stand anything I listened to, except for I told him I got down with some Johnny Cash. The only CD we listened to from then on was Live at Folsom Prison.
Then, I got lucky. The cool thing in music was d-beat. I now didn't have to choose between the punk shows and the metal shows. I just listened to a bunch of Motorhead, and then came the metal. A LOT of metal in college. Evergrey was one of my favorites because they actually sang and I could understand the words. Slayer still played a bunch. Dark Tranquillity. Maiden, often and loud.
I spent some time drinking with one of my cousins who bought me one of my first punk rock albums - Social Distortion's White Light White Heat White Trash. We started talking about what he'd been listening to. "Alt-country". Put on some Old 97's and got really into it. Fell in love with Lucero. Re-fell in love with Social D's eponymous album.
Then came gradschool and the indie shit came. Typhoon's Hunger and Thirst became one of my most played albums of all time, pretty quickly. Old Crow Medicine Show was pretty much on the radio when Typhoon wasn't. And then someone told me I should put on this band Godspeed You! Black Emperor...
Since I spent all my time listening to music and reading economics, I got really bored of everything... so I put on a Blackstar album. Turns out I love Mos Def... and Talib.
The most awesome thing I found while in gradschool though... was Mariachi El Bronx. I'll sing to 48 Roses any time it comes on.
Then I graduated, got a job, but first I had to sit at home in Cleveland installing floors (while waiting for my career to take off), so I got real angry and started listening to metal again. Thrashy shit- Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust, etc. Put on Metallica again and REALLY gave it a listen. Loved it, but the constant thrash started to give me anxiety, so I started slowing it down. South of Heaven made some more rounds on my playlist. Then Candlemass. Then Red Fang. Then Baroness. Then the inevitable Black Sabbath go around that hasn't stopped.
That being said, its really hard to program to metal all the time... so put on that Godspeed record again and fell in love with Explosions in the Sky, These Arms are Trees, (insert any 4 word post-rock band name here). Pined for something heavier, went to Russian Circles.
And here I am today. I've accepted that I'll never be able to listen to one genre for more than 2 months at a time because I get sick of it. I've also accepted that I love it all. I listen to whatever the fuck I want. I wear whatever the fuck I want. It makes me want to get a motorcycle and ride off into the sunset- hence the outlaw country I've been listening to lately... or the motorhead... or the stoner metal...
about that motorcycle..
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Great thread boot, let's hear from more people on this. I love reading through peoples musical journeys.
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@bubbapest insane post, this is a perfect example of what I was looking for when I created this thread. I wasn't asking for a list of bands. I wanted to here personal stories. Thanks for sharing.
Who is Next?
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I nominate @trail and arrow .
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for me its simple one track …....beck ............loser (so why dont you kill me )
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@bubbapest insane post, this is a perfect example of what I was looking for when I created this thread. I wasn't asking for a list of bands. I wanted to here personal stories. Thanks for sharing.
Who is Next?
thanks
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ok will do
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Appreciated
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a quick timeline in songs:
Early years 4-5 (learned to play on the piano):
Little later 7-8:
8-9:
10-11:
12:
13:
14:
15:
16:
College:
gradschool:
post gradschool:
and the latest kicks:
recent playlists i've put togther:
OUTLAW: http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/OUTLAW/101970722
STONER: http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/STONER/99056994 -
Well, let's have a go at this… I'm 33 and this is the kind of music that has me setting chairs a fire and tossing 'm out the window (starting round 2'): https://soundcloud.com/iron-bonehead-productions/cult-of-fire-vltava
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my dad was a university piano teacher (now retired), but also a very gifted (classical) pianist, who did gigs with other musicians... For instance, he did a duet with my uncle, who's first clarinet at De Munt (http://www.demunt.be/), and formed a "quatre mains" duo with my uncle, who is also a piano teacher and extremely gifted. There were also people who came over to practice at our house during my childhood - from opera singers, to violin players, and students needing private tutoring. Needless to say: classical music was rather omnipresent in my day to day existence as a wee'un...
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I have no idea how I got into metal, but at age 9-10 I was wearing a Guns 'n Roses hoodie... It was pictured on my ID back then, wished I still had the pic... This was around '91, so right around when Use Your Illusion came out... I remember the daughter of landlord dubbing them for me... I also remember me buying me very first tape - a bootleg of Iron Maiden's "Sanctuary"... My Jehova's Witness aunt's hubby looked at it and forewarned me "it was Satan's music"... Cool!..
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A year later, last year of pre-school, us non-religious, heathen kids had an alternative party to the first Communion... I remember my mate had dubbed Body Count's "Cop Killah" and I had it in me walkman on reverse... I also only had Iron Maiden tees to wear at "camp"...
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There was lots and lots of Metallica then... My uncle's girlfriend's brother dubbed me Injustice For All, which blew my mind... I bought all the old albums on CD, then the Black Album came out and well, it sucked... Although I do remember the t-shirt design of "Harvest of Sorrow" kicking max ass...
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Then there was Nirvana, cause y'know I was hitting puberty and it kinda fitted in...
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Then it was onto punk!.. Age 13 by now, summat like that... Sex Pistols, of course, and lots of it!.. Then onto bands such as Dead Kennedies, The Exploited,... Also some goth... My sis, bit older than I was, always had brilliant dubbed tapes (CDs were still expensive then)... Her boyfriend then sold me a Resist CD when I was about 15-16... I was also receiving dubs from Chaos UK and Conflict from what is now one of me best mates... Started a band... Drummer was 11-12... The rest of us was a bit older...
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Me mates and I got into DIY punk, crust, powerviolence and all then... We had some brilliant distros close-by... No internet back then, so we tried doing our homework by reading tons of zines (anyone remember Sludge & Lettuce or, later on, Inside Front?)... My first gig I attended, was in Ghent... Local guys, bit older than us, were opening for a band from Ghent, introducing their first LP... If anyone here knows of Katastrophobia, or Insane Youth, I'll be massively impressed haha... We were followed and harrased by boneheads on our way home... I'll never forget...
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Next couple of years (rushing through) I got MASSIVELY invested in the DIY scene, really getting to know people worldwide, exchanging music and letters... Doing orders from lads in the UK, Poland, Czech (anyone remember Malarie Records or Nikt Nic Nie Wie?)... I was also politically active... Radical left-wing of course...
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From those years, the most important bands were His Hero Is Gone, Dystopia, and a million weird, €uro bands I doubt anyone here will know... Later on, I also got into hardcore... For some reason, as a drunk, I liked sXe hc most (straight edge)... Trial, Catharsis, Undying, Integrity... I was still doing tons of small, local shows then, and the "skram" (screamo) wave hit hard... But I'm not ashamed to say I fell in love with La Quiete and Shikari... Saw so many bands then... Even went to Germany in 2005 or 2006 for the Cry Me A River Fest... La Quite, Louise Cyphre, Raein,... Brilliant that was, tons of mates from all over €urope I had been getting to know over the net...
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I toughened the fuck up and got me arse back into gear: Jap punk!.. Crow, Death Side, GISM, GAS, Gaizi, Geizz,... This is where me vinyl collecting days hit a financial high... And also when I decided to sell all my recs...
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Somewhere in the early naughties, I got into black metal, and that's kinda the only shit I listen to these days... Leviathan, Blut Aus Nord, Cultes des Ghoules, Cult of Fire, Weakling, Bölzer, Evilfeast, Kaos Sakramentum, Paysage d'Hiver, Lunar Aurora,...
But weirdly enough, the music I want at my funeral, is this:
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So the soundtrack to my life looks like this. I know I've missed lots, but here's what sticks out.
To start, my folks were/are very religious, so as a very small kid there wasn’t much music in my house. Which I know has nothing to do with my parents being religious, they just liked quiet in all ways, and expected my brother and I to follow suit. My Grandmother, however, loved music, classical violin and piano concertos were a constant at her house, but what she really loved were singers, and opera singers were her fav. Maria Callas, Pavaroti and Placido Domingo were it for her. Which is definitely why, at one point in my life, I was training to be an opera singer.
She also was obsessed with Musical Theatre, she was from England and would make yearly pilgrimages to the west end in London to watch everything. She would always come home with all the soundtracks which I would immediately copy and why I did actually pursue it as a career and am also obsessed with it.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
My parents……
I really don’t remember even acknowledging music as something I liked until around 8 or 9 yrs old. My parents would go to weekly meetings at the church and would hire one of the church kids to babysit me and my brother. Well the one they chose happened to be a massive punk and metal fan. Specifically the Ramones. This is why the first song I ever remember giving a shit about and really liking was “Beat on the Brat”, they remain my fav band to this day, gutted I never got the chance to see them live. She was awesome, she let us listen to all sorts of crazy stuff, Misfits, Sex Pistols, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, etc. Needless to say my head was exploding. Another life changer happened right around this time. While waiting to leave for church one Sunday, my brother and I happened to catch the music video (covertly of course) to “Welcome to the Jungle”. We lost our damn minds that day, for whatever reason, killer song coupled with video equals brain melting for young Mahlon321.During this whole time, from 4-11, I was required to take piano lessons and discovering that I had a nack for singing. (this comes in useful later)
Cue ages 12-13, finishing elementary school starting high school. Nirvana Nevermind and Pearl Jam ten, so very good. I was in a band at the time and our bass player was really into The Dead Kennedy’s and pretty unknown band called the Dayglo Abortions who were awesome. Of course G’n’R was still killing it and the Ramones put out their live album “loco live” which blew my mind as to how fast and tight they played, no bells and whistles, just fast and loud.
At this time 2 big events happened in my life musically speaking. Being not very sporty I ended up doing lots of musicals with the school drama dept, mainly getting parts cause I was a guy who could sing. But as it turned out, that’s where all the pretty girls were too!! And it so happened that I was good at it, really liked it.
The second was I met my buddy Kevin. My folks thought he was the devil and we weren’t allowed (forbidden) to hang out. (he was the best man at my wedding)
Kevin had the best music. So high school for me consisted of the Ramones, Sepultura, Metallica, Deicide, Obituary, Strapping Young Lad, Cradle of Filth, Danzig, Misfits, Rancid, Rage Against the Machine, The Smalls, Face To Face, Six Feet Under and The Dead Kennedy’s, along with such massive broadway soundtracks as Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, She Loves Me. Those 4 got massive rotation along with the punk and metal. I actually wore out my Grandmas’ copy of Les Mis.
Living in Saskatchewan, you also really can’t escape country music. My folks hated it, (no surprises there
) but Kevin’s dad LOVED it and only on AM radio should it be listened! So along with the heavy and jazz handzy stuff, I was also massively into Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline (she could sing the phone book and I’d tune in). Through all of the punk, metal and country I was also training heavily in classical voice and was in a various choirs which brought the classical back full circle and when I discovered the 3 tenors world cup album, their version of Nessun Dorma was about as good as it got for 17 yr old me.To the surprise of no one, I finished high school left Saskatchewan and went off to Musical Theatre school in Ontario. So college consisted of a shit ton of musicals both performing and listening. As well as I got really extra in to Rage Against the Machine, maybe because I was extra ragey, but they really made sense. Got to see them on my 21st birthday at Maple Leaf Gardens, that was rad.
System of a Down, The Living End, Pulp, Radiohead, Radiohead, Radiohead and Rage, were ticking all of the boxes. Ok Computer and the Bends are still favorites.After college I sort of gave up on music, I had blown up my voice and couldn’t sing any more so I was mad, I had broken up with my long term lady and I was sad. Lots of metal (System of a Down was on heavy rotation) and lots of lame pop radio stuff. I’m pretty sure that I was into Britney Spears, and I’m also fairly certain that I thought she was my girlfriend for a while. Mercifully that was short lived.
I was doing a lot of long distance driving at this point commuting to work so I found myself listening to the musical soundtracks again, it was the story’s, they pass the time really well. …and yes, I like to sing alog.
Moving on.
I got a call from a friend who was playing in the pit band for a local production of West Side Story, they needed a Tony and was I interested. I was, but I wasn’t sure if I could even sing as I hadn’t sung a note since leaving college. (If you are unfamiliar with the show, it is Romeo and Juliet with singing, Tony is Romeo.)
Well I went out, and everything was better than it ever was and I got the part, which was great because I ended up meeting the girl who would eventually be my wife. West Side Story gets a lot of rotation and love in my house
At the same time, I also discovered Rockabilly and the hot-rod scene (also a mechanic, theatre not so lucrative) so bands like Brian Setzer (his sun records tributes are epic) The reverend Horton Heat, Social Distortion and the old cowboys like Hank Williams and Cash came back to haunt me.
Currently I’m too old and set in my ways to want to seek out the newest, latest and greatest. Thanks to satellite radio, it’s all Broadway all the time. However, I’m finding myself on the bluegrass channel more often and I’m really diggin’ it. It’s exciting and I really like the banjo.
Anyway
I just opened my “most played” playlist and it looks like this.
Reverend Horton Heat, Avenged Sevenfold, System of a Down, Motorhead, Kanye, Kings of Leon, Billy Talent, Metallica, Cake, Muse, Queens of the Stone Age, Loretta Lynn, Justin Timberlake, Weezer, Bruno Mars, Soundgarden, Alexisonfire. Ignite, The Roots and Social Distortion…... -
Loved that @mahlon321 made me laugh a lot and read sections of it out loud to Paula…..
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@mahlon321 that rage show in toronto, was that with at the drive in and gang star?
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That's awesome! I actually missed both openers. Classes ran late and then the two girls I went with took forever to get ready…...
i had horrible seats
ugh seats at a concert what a shitacular idea
