ironmic40's music discovery chronicle

[ironmic40]

My intention for this diary is to chronicle my winding road of music discovery from childhood to the present. In this first post, I will give a rough sketch for how this has played out over the years.

Childhood– My parents listened mostly to Adult Contemporary “light favorites” radio. Mostly we listened to the likes of Genesis, Harry Chapin, Jim Croce, Chicago, Billy Joel, etc. I remember having a few cassette tapes that I would listen to extensively (Journey’s Greatest Hits and a Bachman Turner Overdrive/Grand Funk Railroad compilation tape).

Adolescence – I discovered Alternative music. I recall the first tape I purchased myself was Green Day’s “Dookie”. I recall being at my uncle’s house when the ribbon of the tape got lodged into my piece of shit generic walkman. As I was enlisting the help of my parents to dislodge the tape, they found the case with the lyrics, and decided that I should not listen to such music (I recall the line about “masterbation” being the deal breaker). This ban was short-lived, and I soon owned Live’s Throwing Copper, Nirvana’s Nevermind, and The Offspring’s Ignition and Smash. However, within a year or two I discovered Hip Hop and was hooked. I recall the first hip hop tape I owned being a dubbed version GZA’s “Liquid Swords”, which I played non-stop in my walkman. From 8th grade through college, I listened almost exclusively to East Coast rap. Favorite artists from that time period include: Wu-Tang Clan (including solo projects), DMX, Notorious B.I.G., M.O.P., Ludacris, Eminem, and 50 Cent. I entered college right around the time that Napster was at its zenith and procured a lot of rare cut/unreleased rap songs from these and related artists (probably my most treasured track was a compliation of Eminem battle raps from the Rap Olympics, ostensibly where he was discovered by Dr. Dre.) Oddly enough, I also would listen to country from time to time, especially Garth Brooks, and soon owned his entire catalog.

Adulthood - In 2006, I met my future wife, who was a long-time Beatles fan and introduced me to their music. After a weekend trip to Cleveland to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I became quite passionate about Rock N Roll history. This was around the time the Rolling Stones published their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, and I set out to begin collecting and listening to these greatest albums. Soon thereafter, I discovered Metacritic and began using that to supplement the Rolling Stone list, especially for newly-released material. I soon discovered that my tastes did not align perfectly to either of these publications, and I continued to look for other sites and magazines that ranked music for me to discover and help me figure out what to listen to. I should note that I rarely listen to the radio, so I have relied heavily on lists complied by other music fans. I soon discovered BEA, and have been using it ever since as my primary source of music discovery. I mostly prefer to purchase albums to listen to rather than listening through streaming services, as it often requires many listens for me to know my true feelings about an album. This is a very rough outline of how my music discovery process and music tastes have evolved over time.