Why do you like the mucis that you like? Whether it's Rock or Soul or Rap or Jazz or New Wave or Metal, etc. What was it that got you into the kinds of artists that you love? Was it parents? Word of mouth? The Media?

I personally love all kinds of music because I was raised to listen to differentkinds of music. But New Wave is one of them few genres that I truly appreciate because of its quirkiness and irreverence. I was born in the 80's and raised on MTV, and so I was introduced to these cool sounds that have created an impact on my life. They were the pop stars of that time, so I lent them an ear and heard magic. And to this day there are still New Wave/Alternative/Punk/Post-Punk artists that still continue to inpsire me. I could go into more detail about this, but I don't have time right now.


New Wave Forever!!!!

NWF said:

Thank god for that.

althom said:

Christopher said:

Oooh... you read "Get Fuzzy" too, eh?

When I was really young I listened to a lot of R&B at home. I watched a lot a tv and shows like Wonderama and American Bandstand, so of course I didn't only see R&B acts. When I worked in the Village I was exposed to the sounds of U2, Morrisey, Joe Jackson, etc. before I even knew who they were. Basically, I've always kept an open mind and have had all kinds of friends. One of my dearest friends, was an Asian guy who was really into metal and rock. He'd take me to concerts. We saw Joan Jett and the Black Hearts, the Eurhythmics, etc. Another friend, a Black guy liked new wave. He took me to see Lene Lovich, Fishbone, etc. My Puertorican/Jewish homegirl was into Living Colour I've seen them 3x with her. (I found Prince all by myself though.) Basically, it's like what En Vogue said: "Free your mind, and the rest will follow."

UptownDeb said:

That's awesome! It never hurts to keep an open mind.










































Althom's gay.

Raised around classic rock, teenage years found metal to match my anger, grew into Prince and the rest of music that history has blessed us with.

It amazes me that anybody can just find a group of music from a ten year span and say "this is as good as it gets" or "all other music sucks compared to this". It's actually sad to think that people's perspectives are so small.

My uncle used to be a DJ and so I grew up on R&B, so it's my first love. About eight years ago, while running away from the nonsense of my favorite radio station at the time, I lucked up on a new station where the personality was funny as hell and he played a lot of rock and alternative. So now, in addition to R&B, I listen that as well.

I was raised on R&B and "Old School" as well. It wasn't until I got out on my own that I broadened my musical tastes. The first "rock" album I bought was Smashing Pumpkins "Siamese Dream" and it was like a floodgate had been opened. I realized how much i had been missing musically. Now I'm into all kinds of music

My parents raised me listening to Motown and old-school R&B. In my early teenage years in the mid to late eighties hip-hop was what was happening. I can say that I experienced what was the golden-age of hip-hop in my opinion. In the mid 90's gangsta rap was being pushed heavily by the record companies and I got tired of it. I started listening to Prince around that time and of course new styles and sounds came to my attention. A friend of mine who was in a rock band started giving me tapes of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Santana, Coltrane, and classical music as well. Ani Difranco is my favorite musician at this point-- she best embodies my musical tastes at the moment.
[This message was edited Thu Mar 4 18:54:47 2004 by whodknee]

I grew up with a hippie mom who didn't have very strict limits to what she listened to, so during summer vacations when I was a kid I would dig through her records all day and pick out stuff that looked weird and cool...that's how I discovered David Bowie, George Clinton, The Residents, Edgard Varese, and a lot of other crazy shit. And she was always playing Zappa and Hendrix and Beatles albums, so that was a big influence as a kid...we always religiously watched music shows like Midnight Special and Don Kirschner on the weekends, too - I'm sure those shows influenced me more than I am even aware.

NWF said:

I guess I'm an eighties girl. My dad had stacks of videos recorded from music programmes to I grew up with a bit of everything - Madonna, Michael Jackson, Average White Band, Elton John, Phil Collins, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet. I guess my dad really opened up my mind to new stuff. The eighties was a pretty exciting time for music and I do get quite nostalgic about it. My first branching out came when I was a teenager and I started playing CDs to my dad and introducing him to new stuff like En Vogue. I think your parents have a huge influence on what you like musically - even if you rebel against their taste completely - it's still a reaction to what you have learnt from them.

being born in 66 i think i came up during a great time for Music,Music grabbed me reeeeeal early,i cant take 2days music, its all contrived and phony.i was raised on everything from Tito Puente 2 Hendrix. so thats a hell of a broad range of Music

This is a great thread NWF and it has been my intent to respond sooner.

My roots are in R&B and soul from the 70's. I grew up in a house with a family that loved music. My mom and father bought records alot back in those days. My father had an 8-track player and all that. My mom loved stuff like Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes, Natalie Cole, The Brothers JohnsonThe Ebonys, The Jackson 5(espcially on songs when Jermaine sung lead)....that's why she loved "I Found That Girl". She also loved gospel, she had albums by James Clevland and Shirley Caesar in her collection. My father LOVED music. He had very eclectic taste....I mean pops had a wide range of music in his collection....it was through him that my love of jazz began. My father had stuff like..The Blackbyrds, Donald Byrd, Grover Washington Jr(my father bought all of his 70's albums) plus Lou Rawls, Patti Labelle(my father is a Patti woman, he's LOVES himself some Patti). He also had Ohio Players, Isley Brothers, Walter Jackson BB King, Wes Montgomery and Lionel Hampton. And I've barely scratched the surface on what's in his collection. As I've stated before radio in the 70's was something to behold. Radio was so good back then. In addition to hearing all of this great music in our living room.... I got my first radio in December of 1975 and my love for music deepened even more throughout the rest of the 70's and beyond. I would listen to rock/pop/top 40 AM stations...in addtion to listening to AM radio soul/r&b stations. On those stations I would hear stuff like....

Boston-More Than A Feeling
Captain And Tennile-Love Will Keep Us Together
Neil Sedaka- Laughter In The Rain
Gary Wright-Dream Weaver
Ted Nugent-Cat Scratch Fever
Bee Gees-You Should Be Dancing
Leo Sayer-You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Vicki Sue Robinson-Turn The Beat Around
Eagles-Hotel California

My musiscal horizon broadened even more at the end of the 70's and into the 80's. When it came to music I always gave it chance. I grew up during a time where soul/R&B music was called "Black music" and it was sometimes called "nigger music" by some white people....and pop/rock music was called "white folks music". When I was in elementary school during the holidays, our teacher would allow us to bring music for our annual Christmas parties. Every year, there would be the huge argument as to what kind of music we would listen and dance to. For example, in 1979.....the white kids wanted to hear The Clash, The Eagles,The Knack and Rod Stewart.....and the blacks wanted to hear Michael Jackson, Mass Production("Firecracker" was STILL the big hit in 1979 during that time}, The Barkays, Cameo and the first rap song to cross over "Rappers Delight" by The Sugar Hill Gang. Our people would called The Eagles, The Clash and stuff like that "white folks music and even DEVIL music"}And white people would call R&B/soul music "black folks music" and I even overheard a couple of white kids calling it "nigger/queer"music. Yeah it was rough in th 70's.

But I never understood all of the resentment/denial of certain forms of music. To me, music is music and I enjoy all of it...To me, music is it's own reward and the BEST MUSIC{regardless of genre)surely reward if you give it a chance Another thing I want to say is that music is an open sky with endless amounts of possibilities.....my knowledge and love of music includes R&B/Soul, Pop/New Wave, Gospel, Rock, Jazz, shoot I can even get into a little Country and Western. I like Classical..but I admit I have lots to learn and listen to as it relates to this genre of music.

It's all good to me...from Madonna to Mamas And The Papas.....From Prince to Percy Sledge.....From the Jacksons to Jackson Browne.....from Freddie Mercury to Freddie Hubbard
From Janet Jackson to James Brown....From Art Of Noise to Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers. If the music is good I'm down!!!!!

In closing....people often ask what can music TRULY do for you?.....my reponse is what do you want it to do?

Peace,
Brother 9/15