Shuffle Play

I'm listening to Pandora right now, so let's get a bit musical.

I was born into both the greatest and worst musical decade of the last century--the mid-1980's. To put that in historical cultural context, everyone living before me grew up without MTV, and everyone born after me...wait, this analogy doesn't work anymore. That channel chopped off the words 'music' and 'television' from their logo and stopped showing music videos years ago. 

Reality killed the video star.

The point is that I grew up with the most diverse variety of musical styles available, and that was compounded by the fact that my family are all baby boomers and post-Depression 'greatest' generationists who witnessed the birth (and subsequent death) of music. I've only seen the rise and fall of grunge, the wave of mid-90's "rock" (you know, the stuff that sounds like the interstices of any episode of Friends), the odd permutations of hip hop--the Fresh Prince won the first Rap Grammy in 1988 and fifteen years later, Eminem took home the Academy Award!--and finally, the resurgence of pop boy and girl groups, for which I hold a special (and much derided by my friends/family) affection. But more on that later.

I can't recall my very first musical memory, but I have a few strong images of scenarios where certain songs were imprinted. The first is of 4-year old me in the front of the shopping cart at the grocery store with my babysitter, while Seduction's "Two to Make it Right" plays overhead. Second, there were many late Saturday or Sunday mornings when my mother would be frantically attempting to clean our apartment on the off chance that Grandma and Granddad would pull another spontaneous visit. At that time, over the roar of the vacuum I knew that Taylor Dayne was pleading for us to communicate directly with her second most vital organ while MC Hammer demanded that we could not touch...whatever "This" was. 

Back when school bus drivers were exempt from background checks, Miss St. James used to put Zhane and Salt 'N Pepa on full blast on the way to and from Ramona Alessandro Elementary. And here's a little twist: When Mom and I would drive up to visit the grandparents, she would put the (*sigh*) cassette of the Premiere Collection from Andrew Lloyd Weber on automatic repeat.

Your children will NEVER know the
symbiotic relationship these share. 

You know what? I do remember my first song, and, oddly enough, it's tied to my first memory, ever. When I was 3, my mom took me to the drive in to see the first Batman movie, and I was absolutely enamored with not only the visuals but the score. Danny Elfman's theme was so seismic that I started listening to movie soundtracks and, to this day, will see/pass on certain movies based on their composers alone. Elfman, WIlliams, Ottman--all of them persuaded me to spend my money on some real clunkers--see my upcoming Cinemacid Reflux post.

To be fair, someone 

gave this one to me.

J-14? Me-ouch!

So I got equal doses of everything except hardcore hip hop and heavy/death/folk/death metal until I was about 11 or 12. And then the Spice Girls came out, and not too long after that, Britney-Christina-Jessica-Mandy (that's all one name). Suddenly life was nothing but running home from middle school to see TRL and a hunt for the latest copy of J-14 for the removable poster to plaster on my bedroom wall next to that one close-up pose of Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) holding her right clawed hand crossed over her face.

Haha, I don't have to pause for a breath in text and that last sentence STILL can't be considered run-on!!

What is it about the transition into adolescence that causes someone to reject every fiber of their upbringing only to re-embrace it with an unbridled passion in adulthood? In my case, I never truly walked away from Justin, JC, Joey, Lance(ton), or Chris. (Side note: *NSYNC made the best career decision in musical history. They got big, guest starred on The Simpsons, then called it quits.) I did, however, adopt a new life soundtrack when I took up street skateboarding. I won't bother with specific band names, mainly because I don't remember them. Suffice it to say that if a song was featured in a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game or listed in the credits of Daria, it could be found on one my dozens of burnt CDs, mini CDs, or even in my earliest mp3 players.

** And now a moment of silence to remember the fallen mavericks of the Golden Age of peer-to-peer file sharing: Napster, iMesh, Kazaa, Limewire, Frostwire, and WinMX **




I rediscovered and subsequently fell in love with Garbage after (1) hearing their theme to The World is Not Enough at age 13, and (2) finding their debut album in a bargain bin at Goodwill at age 15. Somehow the dulcet tones of Shirley Manson "riding high upon a deep depression" just spoke to me more as an angsty teenager than it might have when the album was originally released in 1995. You know, when I was 9. And listening to Seal try to make out with some flower.




My musical recollection from 2002-2007 is a bit fuzzy, save for my exposure to the same cultural phenomena we all got stuck with. Time and text do not permit me to relate the struggle to get "Hey Ya!", "Yeah", and "Trapped in the Closet" (something else that ran ad infinitum) out of my head. And I am still mystified at how 'spelling words over a melody' constitutes a hit single (Gwen, Fergie...S-H-A-M-E O-N Y-O-U). 

But something beautiful happened to me in the summer of 2008: I got a job at an overrated, overpriced, understaffed and underpaying restaurant. Specifically, I began closing the aforementioned restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights, and I found myself driving home after 11 pm, searching for something to keep me awake until I could crash safely into my bed. 

Now, I've grown up listening to San Diego radio and, like most rational residents, learned to despise the local stations. Why? Almost all of them are owned by Clear Channel (who somehow managed to rebrand themselves with the dumbest, most blatantly Pandering-to-Millennials name--iHeartMedia) and most of them share a common 15-20 song playlist. During the summer, you can hear the same Lady Gaga song on four different channels at the same time. The on-air personalities have none to speak of. Et cetera. 

  

"Boy Toy" Jesse has a daughter in high school. 91X plays rock music as much as McDonald's serves healthy cuisine--never. 

So I'm driving home, scanning the airwaves, and I stumble across FM 94.9's Big Sonic Chill. This was (and, as of last December, is once again) a three-hour blend of down-tempo, trip-hop, and ethereal music from artists like Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack, Zero 7, Portishead, and the like. Mind you, at this point I'm 22 and have never heard this kind of music before! It's calming at times, rhythmic at others, and mostly just weird. It instantly became my favorite genre, and I am proud to say that, to this date, the only concerts I've ever paid to attend have featured one or more of those groups. The audience is a gazillion times more mellow than that of a bookstore coffeehouse, which is such a relief. 

(Normally, I hate being at crowded events that don't feature the words 'circuit', 'district', or 'regional'...*wink*)

Over the past few years, I've begun embracing what I feel is the elder cousin of modern trip-hop and electronica: jazz. None of that "smooth" nonsense; save that for elevators. (Side note: One of the strangest experiences I've ever had was being in a mall elevator in Japan and hearing a Muzak version of The Jackson 5's "ABC.") 

Subarashii!!!

No, I'm trying to acquaint myself with the classics, and that's been a fun and interesting exploration. And every so often I come across a contemporary artist who has imbibed the sensibilities of the greats before them, but their resulting work is neither derivative nor overly flattering. One example is Madeleine Peyroux. She's an American of French descent and includes a a few tracks in each album sung entirely in French. Her voice and style are reminiscent of Billie Holiday--no mean feat!

As I said earlier, everything comes full circle in adulthood. Currently, I listen unabashedly to a goulash of artists and genres, and will continue to well into senility. If any of my groomsmen possessed an iota of rhythm, I would've choreographed a New Kids/*NSYNC mashup for us to perform at the reception (I'm sorry, my esteemed guests. And you're welcome, fellas)! On Pandora, I've created at least 15 stations, which include such creative nicknames as...okay, fine. Here they are:

1. Big Sonic Chill - 1st one out of the gate!
2. Smooth Criminal - 80's music. So there.
3. *NSYNC - [INSERT ANNOYING LYRIC/DANCE MOVE]
4. Batman (Film Score) - Film and play soundtracks.
5. Madeleine Peyroux - Jazz.
6. BoA - J and K-Pop.
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Did you know that Flea is actually a jazz prodigy?!
8. Yoko Kanno - She is the Elfman, Williams, Zimmer, and Coltrane of anime, all in one. The song "Tank!" is one of the best musical arrangements. Ever? Ever. 
9. Flight of the Conchords - "...because it's Wednesday..."
10. Sia 'n Stuff - I've liked her since before she lost her face.
11. 90's Pop - Pretty self-explanatory.
12. Mike Birbiglia - He's funny. And clean.
13. New Kids on the Block - See comments for entry #2, while sporting a high-top fade.
14. Weird Al - "Word Crimes" should be required listening in English class for everyone born after 9/11. 
15. Under the Sea - How'd that get in there? Just kidding. Love me some Disney classics. 

There you have it. The soundtrack to my life is a tapestry of some of the late 20th and early-21st centuries' greatest contributions and worst atrocities. What about yours? Not entirely sure how to do the comments/feedback thing, but I'm thinking of getting another account on the Facebook (the 'the' was intentional. Ask anyone who knows me--I still call it that). In the meantime, you can find me on the Twitter at @cagordon86. 

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