music is in your blood

Have you ever talked to people who know little about music, you know those people. They have one song labeled LiKe ThIs from Limewire with no album art. Don't those people make you sick? If you're one of those people you're liable to not understand half the things in this blog so don't bother. You talk to them and you try to figure out why, why and how. Also you start to wonder about yourself, about if it's weird that you spent your weekend seeking that one rare Paul Simon bootleg from 1978. Or if memorizing tons of lyrics ; bios ; and small facts makes you what the popular crowd calls "a creeper".

I always start with the beginning. The way I see it there are three stages to everyones musical development some more or less then others. First it starts with what you listen to in the house. How important this is varies ; my house had polka... A lot of polka. And while I can still waltz the waltz those aren't playing out of my obnoxious headphones a majority of the time. This has a huge influence in ages 0-7. Though the memories resonate much much further around then is when you discover the radio. And by that time you have some kind of friend base ; you'll hear music coming from one of their older siblings rooms and think you're cool by listening to the same stuff. You're much more liable to make an ass out of yourself then you are to score any cool points with anyone. And so you float on, listening to mostly the pop music of the time (mixed in with some of the stuff from your friends siblings/older cousins/MTV/whatever it is that crush you have is listening to). Then you hit a point where you have a solid friend base all of which have central ideas in what makes good music but also vary. This is where you start to split off. Popular people download and drink 24 dollar mocha lattes discussing how much they could get, how much they are getting, and how much everyone thinks there getting. The Beatles, Zeppelin, The Stones, Pink Floyd. Those guys are the greats, they're the well you go back to after going far into "the indie scene". Each friend has some kind of forte where it's J-Rock, Psychedelic, Heavy Metal, Rap-Rock, or Pop. Then you're sure to have a full grasp of what's going on the the music world at least in the present. There's always a backlog of albums that came out way before you were even a thought that simply must be listened to in order to gain full control over a proper "musical pallet". I remember my first poster ; a huge Pink Floyd poster that still stands, and soon after more and more kept appearing until now. Now you can't tell if I even have a wall, it's adorned with The Door's, Belle and Sebastian, and of course The Beatles, Zeppelin, Floyd, and James Taylor.

I believe theres a way to tell a music LOVER, from the rest of the world. I've compiled a small (but growing) list of ways to tell one from the other.

1. You know the importance of Vinyl and you know CD and MP3's quality is for shite.
2. Rock isn't nor will it ever be "What it used to be"
3. You can have a three hour arguement over who "The Walrus" really was/is
4. Every band member you actually like can be refered to by first name only
5. Bob Dylan is essentially the Folk Rock crusader
6. You know that singles are just that and buy the album and listen through it to get the message the artist was trying to convay
7. 1001 Album You Must Hear Before You Die is considered a 500+ page shopping list
8. You've been to concerts where the preformer is at least three times your age
9. "Old Songs" are songs from another decade not another month
10.Disco is never. Ever. EVER coming back.

If You've made it this far then you may just read again. If I've lost you then maybe music is just not your thing. I respect that so respect my love for it