Let’s take a musical journey through my life...
1992: Birth. I’ve been told I was humming as I exited the womb.
1993-1997: Sesame Street,
Sharon Lois and Bram, and
The Muppets.
My first CD purchased with my own money was
Shania Twain. I made my parents take me to Sam the Record Man at age four and listened to it days on end.
Man, I Feel Like A Woman! I could probably still sing all the lyrics if you asked me to.
My parents attempted to foster good music taste in me. We had a huge C.D and tape collection and my parents raised me, pretty much, on
Barenaked Ladies. Other favourites were
The Corrsand
The Beatles. Although Girl Power hit me hard –
NSYNC,
98 Degrees,
soulDecision,
Backstreet Boys,
Hanson,
The Spice Girls – I still secretly loved the classics my parents shared with me. I brought in
Santana and
Michelle Branch’s The Game of Love to Girl Guide’s “Favourite Songs!” night while the rest of the girl guides brought in
Britney Spears.
SEVENTH GRADE
2004-2005
One word: Chum. This radio station helped me mainstream it out in middle school and fit in with the crowd. Among my typical favourites were
Jeremy Fisher’s
High School and
Hey Julie by
Fountains of Wayne.
The boy I had a crush on liked
Neil Young and
The Beatles (His favourite song was Hey Jude.)
EIGHTH GRADE
2005-2006
I saw
Bob Kemmis open for
Jann Arden, and
The Perishers for
Sarah Mclaughlin, and immediately fell in love with the two. Especially Bob Kemmis. Hello, creepy emails to the man who probably didn’t get much fan mail. He always replied. I hope he doesn’t think I’m weird. Because, well, I was this close to being one of those fucked up celebrity stalkers (He was a celebrity in my eyes.)
My three best friends in middle school had varying music tastes. The first, who I am still best friends with (and managed to slightly influence her to better artists), liked Family Channel Hits – i.e.
Hannah Montana,
The Cheetah Girls,
disneymusic, etc.
Best Friend 2 liked
Death Cab for Cutie,
Jem, and
Jimmy Eat World. (AKA The O.C. mixes)
Best Friend 3 was a hipster – I don’t even know the names of the music she listened to. She was really wild and changed her mind every five minutes. I’ll guess that she liked things like
Belle and Sebastianand
Tilly and the Wall– a little beyond her time. Although her taste and style changed daily. She now attends alternative school and I hadn’t seen her since eighth grade when I ran into her at a bar. She smoked about 18 cigarettes in the time we spent together on the patio. If I hadn’t been drunk...I probably would’ve made up some reason to leave.
A friend outside of school sent me towards
Teddy Geiger,
Elvis Perkins, and
The Artic Monkeys. THANK YOU!
NINTH GRADE
2006-2007
I went through weird music phases in grade nine. I was nostalgic over my favourite pop hits of the 90’s – looking back on it, in my opinion, it was a little too soon. My parents continued to attempt to influence my taste in music by taking me to see
Micheal Franti and Spearhead at the Guverment and various musicals– i.e.
Wicked and
We Will Rock You.
I caught on to the musical trend and was so obsessed that I made my mother enroll me in a theatre Company. I was obsessed with music from what I saw live, as well as
Rent,
Hairspray, and the few musicals I was in: as Anne in
Anne Of Green Gables (my big claim to fame) as well as Tzeitel in
Fiddler on the Roof, and smaller parts in
Annie, and
Bye Bye Birdie. Unfortunately, I realized I’m completely and utterly uncoordinated and can’t take dancing roles, and thus my short-lived “stardom” came to it’s end.
Oh, also, my school choir made me obsessed with classical & 4-part music. Hello,
Il Divo and
Mozartin my library. We also performed a wonderful arrangement of
Billy Joel’s
And So It Goes which I will always associate with my choir crush on the bass section lead. He performed those Ooohs so god damn well!
TENTH GRADE
2007-2008
Fall 2007 – My older sister attempted to help my suffering music tastes and introduced me to
The Mountain Goats,
Tegan and Sara,
TV on the Radio. I DISCOVERED
Regina SpektorWHICH CHANGED MY LIFE. I saw her perform in October at The Kool House. Later in the fall I began writing my own music (aka emo beats) on piano about death and weird gothic shit. I listened to artists like
Bayside,
The Weakerthans,
Paolo Nutini,
The Clash,
Bjork.
Winter/Spring 2008- In early winter I listened to
Kimya Dawson,
Damien Rice,
The Smiths, and other slow-moving music. However, my ex boyfriend who I began dating in December really changed and influenced my taste in music. He loved
M.I.A,
Fiest,
New Pornographers,
C.S.S,
Imogen Heap, etc.
His friends, who I began rolling with as well, got me hooked on
Rufus Wainwright,
Martha Wainwright,
Sufjan Stevens, a little
Ron Sexsmithand
R.E.M.
I went to the
M.I.A concert in June with my boyfriend and my sister, at which point, I threw up before she came on. A little too much mixing of substances, yes. My biggest mistake in my life thus far.
And summer? This would be my time to embrace the pop music at Camp as well as abroad on a Blyth Trip in Italy. At camp, I loved
New Kids on the Block’s comeback music,
Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours. Also,
Sara Barielles’ Love Song. In Italy, I loved their taste – it was like, they got all of our pop music five years later. It was a little bit of an oldschool jam on every radio station, in every store. And at the clubs, they had recent American Music so we embraced Radar by
Britney Spears and Shake It by
Metro Station. Oh, also, one of my roommates shared with me
Norweigan Recycling and boy, I loved it. Although it isn’t in my library – I don’t know how or where to download/purchase it – I listen to it on YouTube.
GRADE ELEVEN
Now.
I suppose my current favourites range from
MGMT,
Rachael Yamagata,
Fiona Apple,
Kate Nash,
Imogen Heap. A bit of
Architecture in Helsinki, and
beirut.
Oh! And one of my sister’s friends,
Char McGee. I found her old CD which she made by herself, and really like her music.
My current best friends do not share the same music tastes as me at all. One loves country, another, punk, and another, dance music. The last one is good to have parties with because she makes rockin playlists. As much as I love that kind of music, I don’t know names or have much in my own music library.
I have also really begun to enjoy Original Movie Scores (
John Powell’s
P.S I Love You, and
Cliff Eidelham’s
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.) I love
Eddie Vedder’s
Into the Wild music – the lyrics are beautiful. And if you have a chance, be sure to check the album art. It’s quite something.
Sooo...I doubt anyone completely read through that...
But it was fun to take a trip down memory lane.
Il Divo
st track: (18 Nov 2008)
Generated on 13 Dec 2009
