As a kid I was already into music in a way, but nothing felt like it was my own taste. My parents gave me a love for pre-1980s rock— Beatles, Stones, Grateful Dead, Van Morrison, ect.
For my 13th(?) birthday my older sister gave me three CDs that I burned onto my iPod. They were:
The Suburbs — Arcade Fire
Oracular Spectacular — MGMT
Vampire Weekend— Vampire Weekend
Life changing in a way
May 3, 2024
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i was 15 when i discovered musical consciousness. Before i would just listen to the charts and not really feel the need to use music as a vessel of self expression. I was 15 when i got spotify. I remember the music being: George Ezra, The Beatles, The Blues Brothers, Avicii, and then a lot of generic pop. When i turned 16, i remember finding Green Day and The Rolling Stones for the first time. i think they were the only 2 bands i listened to for the entire year of 2016. Then i found a band called "The Frights" in late 2016, through Billie Joe's son's band "SWMRS". The frights have led me to where i am now
I think it's really cool seeing how my music has changed through the years. I think music dictates a person more than their clothes and most other interests. My spotify liked songs is my journey from a boy to a man, and i think that's pretty neat
May 26, 2025
I was blessed to come of age at a time in which both physical media and streaming were prevalent. One of my friends/neighbors got sent away to a boarding school run by monks in alaska and gave me his crate of CD‘s for safekeeping. this led to a lot of classic hipster /mu albums like in the aeroplane over the sea, oracular spectacular, hospice, gorillaz/demon days/plastic beach (i got rise of the ogre from the library and asked my mom what cunt meant bc it was in the book), the suburbs, the reminder, and bands like TMBG, james blake, eels, sleighbells, etc. I also was one of the only people in my school who loved lana del ray, even after her SNL performance. I had a good friend who i bonded with over born to die and after her death, i further deepened my relationship with lana’s music. She also really liked WHY? and alopecia was a big grief album for me.
I also listened to a lot of rap like the first odd future album, XXX, down from the 36 chambers, ex military (found takyon on youtube and it changed something in me) and most of all good kid MAAD city which i had on CD and blasted in the minivan on the drive to school daily.
The most cringe aspects were my deep love of ska punk and folk punk like defiance ohio, AJJ, reel big fish, but especially streetlight manifesto, who I quoted in my senior yearbook. I don’t listen to ska anymore so that’s why I consider it cringe, it’s so far from who I am now, but if i hear a streetlight song i’ll still know all the words.
Mix CD’s also had a huge impact on my music taste. The cool older hipster kids (these are all people who were unimaginably tumblr famous, especially being from a small town) who got together and created the Royal Mixtape Society. It only happened once, but we all created a mix CD and got a copy of everyone else’s in return. This lead to a lot of incredible discoveries, most of all the “Butts“ mixtape which has been the soundtrack to core memories of me and my best friends.
May 26, 2025
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Which meant it was the first time I got to listen to music that only I could hear (a monumental experience for a young teen in a conservative christian family). This also coincided with the emergence of CD burning. As a result, I had so many new artists and genres of music that I could dive into and immerse myself within - it was a beautiful time.
A few of the heavy hitters that come to mind are: dashboard confessional, guster, the rocket summer, death cab for cutie, weezer, and phantom planet.
Feb 27, 2024
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