There are all of these countless lists about the best/worst of the year/decade and I thought I would do a few of my own reflections. Granted, they will be completely centered on me (and my daughter), but that is what this blog is about darling.
First, let's start with music. It has been a hot topic in the house this break because our beloved daughter is home from Hendrix and has a huge music/sound craving. There has to be music on at all times and in every room or car. Silence is antimatter to be avoided at all costs. She COULD listen on her personal listening device with headphones, but she also has this desire/need to SHARE her music with everyone around her at all times. So, we go about our days listening to rap/hip hop/nerd country/pop/rock music that fits her mood - regardless of ours.
For Christmas we got her Rolling Stone magazine because if you aren't listening to music you could be reading about music. The first issue is about the best music of the decade (apparently Radiohead is the #1 Album of the decade) and year. She is now making sure that she has every album on the list downloaded to her iPod.
All of this got me started about what happened to music in my life. (I told you it would mostly be about me.) When I was in high school I was very into music, listening to KROQ and the new wave crap that was peddled out at that time. I can still listen to the Sirius 80's channel and sing pretty much anything that they play (Smiths, Ramones, Talking Heads, The Cure). I liked alternative funky bands from California and sad melancholy music from men who wore too much eyeliner - and the Beatles, but everyone likes them.
When I was 21 (1990) I had our daughter and quickly left the land of alternative rock to Raffi and Chipmunks Christmas. I lived in the land of folk songs, kid music, and Disney Princess music for 10 years. I missed the entire grunge moment only to begin liking Nirvana after Kurt had blown his head off.
At 31 we moved from singable happy music onto Disney produced puff pop - aka Lizzie McGuire and other insipid twirly pop. Our daughter couldn't get enough of that easy to sing song garbage - although at some point she started to slowly become aware of our music collection and listened to the entire box set of Led Zeppelin (thanks to dad), Leonard Cohen, and the Ramones. We had picked up some U2 along the way, some Ani Difranco, and a few other couldn't be missed cd's in that 10 year void and she seemed to really like them.
For the first time we could listen to music that wasn't a family sing a long tape or produced by a marketing conglomerate. She was moving into music that we loved, which meant we got music back in the house. For the next 5 years we would buy music that we all liked (White Stripes, Rolling Stones, etc.) and were rolling around happily singing songs that weren't about whales, new worlds, or kittens.
Something happened though - she moved on, but we didn't. She got an iPod before we did and entered the world of downloading music. We stayed behind with our old CD's, but we weren't buying them anymore either -we were stuck with what we had bought. It seems odd to me to download music - what about the cover art, liner notes, and the flow of an album? It seems that it is leaving us behind and I don't like the sound of that.
Music had always been a part of my life growing up, my dad played the sax, I sang and we always had the radio on. I felt like I knew music up until 10 years ago - I would read Rolling Stone, watch the Grammy's and listen to NPR reviews of music (even if it wasn't playing I could keep up with it). Somewhere - and it isn't any one thing in particular - it has vanished from our lives and I am so sad about that. I am missing a soundtrack and I need to get that groove back. This may just be the decade I refind my music.
