Lifestages

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Another poll on a familiar theme. Obviously most here people will not be able to answer all the questions. Use the comments box to i. gasp at what other people say ii. explain yr choices if you like iii. muse generally on the changing place of music in your life iv. suggest more sensible staging points than the tyrrannous 5 year gap I have imposed here...

[Poll #1044379]

Introspective? Moi?

(oh and also I am using "song" to mean "piece of music", because I am lazy. "means a lot" can mean whatever you want it to - different things for different questions I'm guessing)

Comments

[mackromackro.livejournal.com]

10: Rick James "Give It To Me Baby" (1981)
- This was the first song I remember where there was definitely a musical bond that my mom and I shared, which was R&B and funk. If it weren't for her, I have no clue what my musical direction would be thereafter. After Prince's peak, she became less engaged with music altogether, followed by dropping R&B for contemporary country at the turn of the 90s. In any case, I still think this song is fab. One of the best R&B pop singles of all time.

15: Negativland "Time Zones" (1987)
- Negativland were the first group I discovered in high school that completely changed what the boundaries of music could be. After getting the Escape From Noise album on a whim, I started re-editting all my favorite 80s dance hits on my cassette deck... I made a 15 minute "remix" of Yazoo's "Situation" just because I could. The pause button on my cassette deck got a lot of abuse. I was also taping anything I could off TV onto cassettes in case it became good future sample material. It finaly did years later when I did an experimental music radio show at KUCI.

20: Nomeansno "The End Of All Things" (1990)
- By now, I had "gotten" moving music, This Mortal Coil's "Filigree & Shadow" being the first one, much of 4AD following shortly after. (And here I thought 4AD was just that label that put out "Pump Up The Volume"! I had no idea they were an "etherial" label.) But I was also in college radio, so I began the race to find the loudest ugliest music possible, which I found a lot of fun. Somewhere right in between, the furious album Wrong by Victoria BC punksters NoMeansNo had a wonderful song called "The End Of All Things" that had all the fury but also had a choir, a catchy chorus, and this swirly din of nihilism and hope at the same time. I had no idea why this made sense to me then, but looking back, it made all the sense in the world. (Gulf War, L.A. Riots, etc.)

25: The Specials "Stupid Marriage" (1979)
- I was in the middle of my never ending first software job in Orange County. I had nothing to think about but wondering why I was single all this time. A year later, I would distract myself thanks to exercise and diet for the first time in my life... and after that, I realized I just enjoyed being single and there was nothing wrong with that. But 25 was a really boring and depressing year for me. However, there was one album that was always my sensible friend that just nudged me on the shoulder and told me "Baaah, fuck it. Just do what you like. Have fun." It was the Specials' first album. The song "Stupid Marriage" was exactly what I needed to hear. Before then, I thought marriage or a long-term relationship was the only thing that validated humans.

30: Bjork "Overture" (2001?)
I moved to Seattle in 2001. Almost a year later, I was laid off. A month after that, I realized I could survive off this unemployment thing, enough to take a month-long road trip around the U.S. I took off in late March. This was just before the iPod for me, so I was armed with an mp3 CD player and a booklet of mp3 CDs I spent weeks burning in preparation for the trip. I planned the very first song, right after I filled up on gasoline in Issaquah and headed towards Snoqualmie Pass. It was the sweeping orchestral song "Overture" from Bjork's Selmasongs. There's nothing special about this song other than that I felt it should begin my first journey into the rest of the world. (Somewhat embarrassingly, the second song was The Stone Roses' "She Bangs The Drums". I mean, the hell? 'FUCK YEAH! IAN, SING IT!' Lol.)

35 and now: Sientific American "Saints Of Infinity - Part 9" (2000)
I'm 35 now. The only thing I now worry about is the rest of the world. Sientific American (now Scientific American with a "c") is Andy Rohrmann, a Seattle area electronic musician and all-around very sharp guy. "Saints Of Infinity Part 9" is another orchestral piece, although pieces looped, while a very faint C/-]rl S/-\g/-\n is postulating about how humanity should not destroy itself in stupidity, but could instead safe itself and everything around it if it were to wise up. I keep playing this song louder as every year goes by.