I started reading _Perfecting Sound Forever_ by Greg Milner, a history of recorded sound. In the introduction, the author uses the example of the start of "When The Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin as an example of how sound is perceived. Now, I'm sure the author thought that they were using an example everyone had heard of. It's on Led Zeppelin IV, everyone has heard that album, right?
I've never heard the song before. Led Zeppelin has never been part of my musical vocabulary. When I looked up the beginning, to me it was the drum break from "Rhymin' and Stealin'" by Beastie Boys. Once I recognized that, that was all I needed to know and stopped listening. Still never heard the entire song.
But that got me to thinking about what was my music environment growing up. I certainly hear the fingerprints of that in my music selection in my life.
My parents listened to middle of the road pop station, country and little bit of big band. A lot of my fondness for the more mellow end of things comes from the MOR, as well as adding some 60s and 70s countrypolitan into the mix.
My oldest sister's tastes ran more towards The Captain and Tennile and Carpenters, both of whom that I also have fondness for. My older sister, on the other hand, was more into Styx and KISS. Me, I really grew up in the 1980s, so there was the new wave, New Romantic, Minneapolis Sound, hip hop and all the other sounds that came out of that decade. Ironically it was fondness for Styx and their 1983 album "Kilroy Was Here" that eventually got me curious about Japanese music. And fondness for the Art Of Noise led to seeking out more electronic groups, ranging from Moog records from the 1960s to house and techno.
But Classic Rock? Not so much. The original Rolling Stone top 100 albums issue from 1987, which has been cited as the codification of classic rock did lead me to explore Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye, and exposure to Dead Kennedys and Suicidal Tendencies opened me to more punk, but most of what was being played on the classic rock stations never interested me much.
Which is all reflected in what I play today.
Comments
I "accidentally" discovered MTV at the tender age of 4. That kind of thing should never happen. /s The first song I heard on there was "Round and Round" by RATT. I became a life-long metal-head, and quickly expanded my musical base from there. In time I would gain an appreciation for Blues, Classic Rock, Jazz, Classical, Funk, and to an extent Country. I am still learning to appreciate Latin and Hip-Hop, since those were influences I did not grow up with. In May/June of 2021 I made the jump into learning to DJ, and *that* has opened me to complete new worlds of music. But my earlier exposure to music showed me how it ALL evolves from roots. You can hear it in my "Genre-Fluid" DJ style. I will drop rock/metal tracks into the middle of Big Room and Techno. My tendency to finish with Hardcore/Happy Hardcore is a direct line from my early Heavy Metal listening. Music is truly the universal language, and it is as integrated as verbal languages; the same way all of humanity is.