JessiCoplin

My name is Jessi, and I am 23 years old. I currently live in a small town in Kansas. I work at a bank and a gas station, and am trying to save up enough money to get out of this town and into the city so I can go back to school. I'd like to study to become an anthropologist.

I grew up singing and studying music theory. Until I was 16, my goal was to be a professional singer, but eventually I tired of it and got interested in music journalism. I went to college for a year to become a music journalist, but eventually I decided that I didn't want to work at some rinky dink newspaper for ten years before I got to write a music review. That's when I got into radio broadcast. However, managing a college radio station for 2 years sucked whatever fondness I had for broadcasting right out the window.



My all-time favorite band is The Beatles. I have been listening to the Beatles since I was about 12 years old, and I have only grown to love their music more and more as the years go by. My favorite Beatles album is Abbey Road, and I am probably the most fond of John Lennon.

I am a big classic rock fan, moreso before I worked at a classic rock radio station, but it is still dear to my heart. I am very particular about what I actally consider "classic rock", and I don't listen to many recordings after 1975. Some of my favorites are any solo Beatles besides Ringo, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Who, The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys, Queen, Elton John, Cat Stevens, Cream (and really any Clapton-associated band), Steely Dan, CSNY, The Doors, Grateful Dead, The Velvet Underground, The Zombies, and The Band.



I like to blame my age, but frankly I am just a huge fan of pop music, of which I can no longer be ashamed. I am a huge Spice Girls fan (as you can probably see by my charts). I have become interested in many other types of music over the years, but I have been a devoted Spice Girls fan since the first time I heard Spice in 1996 (age 10!). While I won't say that they are the best albums from any critical standpoint, Spice and Spiceworld are two of my favorite albums. I could probably sing them playing backward. I am realistic about the SG's solo careers, but I do love many songs from them individually, especially Melanie C.



I think I love pop music so much for two primary reasons: escapism and singing along. So of course, the Spice Girls are not my only highly-played pop music artists. Before the entering the Spiceworld, my entire musical taste consisted of four amazing vocalists: Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Toni Braxton. Their songs from the early 90s are still my favorites to sing at Wednesday-night karaoke. Later, a natural part of loving the Spice Girls to me became loving all pop music from Britain, such as B*Witched, Sugababes, The Corrs, Robbie Williams, All Saints, Girls Aloud, Steps, S Club (7), and Samantha Mumba. Nowadays I am a big fan of both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, but I listen to a lot of music in this vein, like Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Hanson, P!nk, Santogold, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson (very ashamed of this one), ABBA, Michael Jackson, Brandy, TLC, and much more.

I have been with my boyfriend for almost five years, and he has introduced me to many bands I have grown to love. Most notably of these is Modest Mouse. Seeing them live in September 2009 was a religious experience for me. Other bands I have stolen from my boyfriend are Radiohead, The Magnetic Fields, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elliott Smith, Death Cab for Cutie, Portishead, Bjork, Neutral Milk Hotel, Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, and more.

I am also a white person, which means that of course I like "classic hip-hop" and I adore Eminem. Really this all started a few years ago with Last.FM playing the song "Gangsta Gangsta" by N.W.A., which I found to be the most hilarious song ever at the time. I bought Straight Outta Compton which I became mildly obsessed with, so I bought some more hip-hop albums that I really like. Some of these are The Low End Theory and Midnight Mauraders by A Tribe Called Quest, Reasonable Doubt by Jay-Z, Illmatic by Nas, Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers by Wu-Tang Clan, Ready to Die by Notorious B.I.G., and The Chronic by Dr. Dre. These are good albums anyone can appreciate.

I am pretty open-minded to all genres of music, except for contemporary country. I can always appreciate a woman with a powerful and emotive voice; I love great vocalists from Amy Winehouse to Patsy Cline. I also love Prince, but admittedly most of my plays of him are from listening to songs from Purple Rain on repeat.

I like to say I can appreciate all kinds of music, as long as it's good.