I remember my dad coming into my room—I had just turned on my stereo, probably to crank some Metallica so I could focus on my sophomore trig homework—and telling me I was “addicted” to music.
Huh?
“You can be addicted to anything,” he said.
Dad was a psychologist, and he was only sort of kidding.
I do occasionally turn off the music while I’m driving, so I can enjoy the quiet, but other than that I have never tried much to kick the habit. Mostly, when my significant others have wanted silence in the house, or even different music than I just turned on, it has only made me inwardly grumpy. I used to (and sort of still) take it as an affront if people don’t like my music. As if because they don’t like my taste, they don’t like me. Wait, maybe that’s kind of true. No wonder it gets under my skin ;)
My first music curation projects started in 1983, at age 8, after I realized the new boombox Santa brought me could record the airwaves directly onto a cassette tape! I felt like a pirate, surprised how easy it was to steal a song I loved, without having to pay for it. Sure, the DJ talked over the intro, and the outro was always cut, and I often only nabbed part of the song if I had just switched to the station, but I made tape after tape of songs that were awesome. Casey Casem’s countdown was a weekly ritual, and served up the best of the era. Billy Joel, George Harrison, Glen Frye, the English Beat, Sunglasses at Night… I often didn’t know the artist or the song name.
I loved those tapes. I gave each one a creative name, like Midnight Crime or Dance Craze.
My initial embrace of top-40 expanded into vast territory over the years. I inherited an original Walkman prototype from my mom, and around age 10 I used it to listen over and over to the Beach Boys greatest hits as my parents and I cruised around the western US and Canada on a 3-week road trip. I discovered the Kinks through a random purchase from a coffee shop display case. Exposed to musical theater in junior high, I sidestepped for a bit into showtunes (Camelot, Give My Regards to Broadway, Cats, etc). I also absorbed the easy listening, smooth jazz that my dad played on the radio. My dad, who studied music at a conservatory, composed, and had played with New York jazz groups, liked music that I slowly grew to detest. Sorry, Dad. But, then, you never sugar-coated your distaste for my music either. (I’ll never forget how you almost pulled the Violent Femmes tape out of my boombox to destroy it. Ha!) But Dad and I did bond over the prog-rock band Yes in the early 90s, and later over weird-jazz pioneer Stan Kenton. I really treasured these shared tastes with him. And now it tickles me when my son and I share a fondness for Green Day.
As I prepared to enter high school, it suddenly occurred to me that the music I had been listening to was not cool enough. I became determined, if a little scared, to find the hard rock station. Did kids really get into satan or hurt themselves because of heavy metal? I immediately heard Alice Cooper’s Poison, and liked it. This kickstarted my era of AC/DC, Iron Maiden, and a bunch of hair bands that of course I’m a bit embarrassed about: Motley Crue, Slaughter, Warrant, Poison, Winger, Cinderella. At least my first live concert was kind of cool: Damn Yankees opening for Bad Company. Well, Ted Nugent is kind of an asshole, so maybe this isn’t so cool. But “Feel Like Making Love” is a total classic, and I’m proud to be the one that suggested our band mash up that song and make it sacred, Bhakti Explosion-style!
At 16, a kid I respected loaned me Nirvana’s Nevermind. The world didn’t immediately change, but it definitely rang in a new era: I started really enjoying getting exposed to all kinds of obscure music, and I wanted to befriend the kids who liked this interesting and non-mainstream music. This music wasn’t being played on the radio, but it was broadcast loudly on the amazing t-shirts of the kids in the art classes and theater department. I even covertly checked out Black Flag, the Misfits, and other bands displayed by the goths to whom I gave lots of distance in real life.
The kid who joined me for the Bad Company show mocked my appreciation for the grunge bands I was coming to love. I’m not friends with him any more. On the other hand, the kid who introduced me to Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Primus, and some other awesome bands is still one of my best friends, and he and I made some cool, unreleased music in later years.
In college, I got exposed to DC and California punk rock, and I was invited to sing for a ska band without even really knowing yet what ska was and how awesome of a vibe it was.
After college, I started my own band to explore, in a participatory way, my a newfound love for indie rock like Guided by Voices, Sukpatch, and Neutral Milk Hotel, and Quasi.
While living in Wellington, New Zealand for the better part a year, I totally soaked in the dub and reggae that permeates that town.
At 28, I discovered Burning Man and the power of electronic music. By the time I was DJing at Black Rock City a few years later, my sets either blended progressive house, breaks, and Bassnectar, or tasty, rare, classic funk.
These days, my car radio bounces around between indie stations, the jazz station, modern rock, and the pop music station (not JUST because my kids choose that one a lot, but that’s a big reason).
As couldn’t be more obvious by now, music is a huge part of my life. Yes, you might even say I’m addicted. Oh well. I am constantly on the hunt for the latest and greatest sounds, and I love creating Spotify playlists each season with my favorite new music. I get excited about the next season’s list the day after I post the current one. With ~100 public playlists at current count, my Spotify profile is a bit like a museum, with dozens of genres and groupings.
And I sort of feel like the odd museum curator, who loves digging into the minutiae, and wonders if people think he’s a little weird. Like, even the other music lovers can’t possibly love the variety of stuff that he does.
Like, my first wife called me “Random Boy” with respect to my music tastes.
I’m a little surprised I didn’t veer at some point into becoming music director for a college-based radio station. (I did work in the studio for LA-based "tastemaker" station KCRW for a year, and would have stayed there if it weren't for the move to Colorado for law school.)
And who knows? Maybe my playlist curation will be increasingly meaningful to people (I know you're out there) who share my tastes. I have started getting some recognition for my curations. One of my popular playlists has 450+ followers, and a few years back a radio DJ asked permission to spin my offbeat Christmas playlist on air.
While it feels super good to be sharing the musical love with others who are appreciative, I’m now also realizing another huge potential benefit of putting out these playlists: other music geeks like me, who have grokked my tastes, can recommend even more music that I’m going to love!
Wow. I do sort of sound like an addict. Maybe this is a cry for help ;)
I’m always looking for great new music, so if you know about something you think I might like, let me know!
Digital self-portrait courtesy of me, copyright 2004-ish.