What Does Music Mean To You? – Part 1

Music makes the good times better and the bad times bearable. Thanks to my Dad I got into music at an early age. He was always playing his records and some of my earliest memories involve his massive collection of 45’s in those classic cases and the musty smell. When I’d start choosing my own music it was cassette’s I’d buy because a Walkman was cheap and portable (although the first album I bought was Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ on LP with some of my First Communion money).

When we finally got cable in 1987 it was MTV and VH1 I watched on a daily basis hypnotized by the hits of the day, be it “Hysteria” by Def Leppard or “So Emotional” by Whitney, or a flash-in-the-pan like Johnny Hates Jazz or The Escape Club it captured and led my young imagination and lit the fire for me to love collecting and listening to music for pretty much every day of my life since those hair-metal rich days of the late-80’s until this very day.

I began to keep my own Top 25 and eventually Top 40 music chart as a means for cataloging and interacting with all the music I was listening to. Dutifully I’d keep this chart in a spiral notebook as if anybody besides me cared whether “I Remember You” by Skid Row or “Cherish” by Madonna was #1 on my chart.

As time went by I became more aware and curious about the music that came before my era of Top 40 awareness. Since my parents were divorced I had hours alone in my Dad’s basement to comb the shelves and see what grooves my Pops was jamming to before he had 3 kids. The Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin and so much Motown were the highlights. It also turned out there was a lot of dreck too before my time, as those K-Tel compilations featured some truly awful dreck that even my unrefined ears could tell didn’t age well. In fact I clearly remember the aural affront of “Seasons In the Sun” by one Terry Jacks and “Afternoon Delight” by Starland Vocal Band as serious offenders to my developing musical taste.

Also, as Dan and I pivoted to angsty teens, we would discuss and introduce different musical artists and ideals to each other. Sometimes we’d agree. Occasionally we’d differ. But we were brothers in our mutual misery and coming-of-age stories and music was the soundtrack.

We were the perfect age to be swept up by grunge and the third wave of hip-hop which paved the way for rap to rule the pop charts.

As the times changed I began to make my own money and the CD age took hold. Emboldened by the ease of signing up for record clubs like Columbia House and BMG I jumped whole-hog into getting as many albums as I could get my hands and ears on. So many mix tapes were made it became its own form of therapy or entertainment. I was never a drinker or into drugs. I believe music had a huge hand in that (along with Dan). I simply couldn’t afford that bad habit and all the music I was buying 😄! At this point Music was a huge part of my identity and what I was genuinely enthusiastic about. I loved discovering a new up-and-coming act but also reveled in going back-in-the-day and finding the forefathers of what informed the music of today. I also genre-hopped and took pride in the notion I could listen to the latest Tori Amos release one minute and follow-it-up the next by listening to a Classic Funkadelic LP. Over time I went wide and deep.

As the years have gone by music has been along every step of the way. From the finding and losing and finding again of love. From adolescence into adulthood and currently into middle-age. From inner city Detroit, MI to the beautiful suburbs of Nashville, Tn. From running a college radio station to being a parent of two my constant companion. As for what else music means here’s some quick hitters:

Community

Connection

Going to shows

Heartbreak

Intellectual curiosity

Emotional

Stereotyping

Happiness

Critical evaluation

Meaning

Hype

Anticipation

Discovery

Disappointment

Supreme creativity

Growth

Stagnation

Cultural

Salve for the wounded

Rhythm

Dancing

Eclecticism

Standing for what you believe

Essential

Friendship

Music is all these things and more. Like all great art it means what you mean and it depends on your mood at the time. Be it pop, rock, rap, soul, country, Emo or some bastardization or amalgamation of any of the above it’s both personal and communal. And it’s the reason you and I are here for this podcast. So that’s probably the most important takeaway of all. Thanks for including us on your musical journey.