The first album I loved

Well this seemed like a fitting way to start off my JamsBio. This is going to be a post about how my musical tastes got to where they are today. This shouldn't be too painful.

The first music I started listening to often was Madonna songs. They were on casette tapes, and they were used by my mother for music to work out to when she taught an aerobics class. Like all pop music, it was catchy and easy to listen to, so I'd listen to her for a VERY long time. A little later, my parents began playing Dave Matthews Band's Under the Table and Dreaming a lot. It was like the pop music I listened to, but there were actual instruments being played. "Ants Marching" instantly was and still is one of my favorite songs.

From there I discovered the joy that was American Top 40. Mainly pop music with the occasional rock or alternative band, this music was also really easy to listen to and like what I've already heard.

It's worth noting at this time that I took up concert band percussion. This would lead to me playing a brief amount of jazz drumming and orchestral percussion, which is where my small but potent love of classical and jazz comes from. The finale from Mahler's 3rd symphony and Dvořák's 9th symphony became favorites of mine.

Somewhere along the line, our family got a desktop. My dad used Kazaa a lot when it was legal, and he had much too many songs on his computer. I instantly took to liking a few of these, mainly "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter, "Roundabout" by Yes, and "Raven" by Dave Matthews Band. I used to play these songs over and over and over and over again whilst doing my work on the computer. These would shape my tastes a lot in the future.

Then my dad played the album that would define my musical interests entirely from there on out. I got my first listen of Pink Floyd's Animals and instantly loved it. Around the same time I got an iPod mini, and with access to the iTunes store I began to amass the entire Pink Floyd discography. From here, I branched out a little bit into classic rock. However, the biggest influence this had was getting me interested in progressive rock. From here I would start listening to Genesis and Rush in a big way. 2112 and Selling England by the Pound were big albums for me around now. This also got me interested in Dave Matthews Band's music again, but this time I started listening to their live performances (The Central Park Concert). They were AMAZING.

I met a friend named Remy when I was in high school. When we met, our musical tastes were literally worlds apart. I was interested in mainly classic rock and prog, he was a huge metal head. From there, I discovered the common ground, and started listening to progressive metal. This got me interested in Dream Theater (Live Scenes from New York) and, later on, Metallica (Master of Puppets). From here I also listened a lot to instrumental rock, ie Joe Satriani (Surfing with the Alien). This is generally where I am today. I hope this gives a good overview of my tastes and should give some insight to my lists and reviews.

I should also list the performances I have attended, as it is a short list. I have seen Foreigner at the Champlain Fair Grounds in Vermont, Dave Matthews Band at Fenway Park, Rush this summer at SPAC, and will be attending Buckethead and That 1 Guy next Friday. Wooo.

-tgp