Two and half years ago, I listened to the Jonas Brothers. Two and a half years ago, via AIM, a friend of mine flat out told me that my taste in music sucked.
The problem with that statement... was that it wasn't true. (The proper diagnosis probably should have been "misguided". But who isn't at eighteen, really?)
What's odd is that I'd grown up with decent music around me: traditional Italian folk music, Bon Jovi, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, Blondie, The Cars, The Beatles, Madonna, R.E.M., Michael Jackson, and pretty much the entirety of Motown. My late Aunt Silvana was even a classically trained opera singer/teacher.
By the time I was nine years old, and beginning the very first few days of pre-teenage self-consciousness, I was already forgetting my background in music culture-- I'd started listening to the Spice Girls. 'Nsync, Ricky Martin, and 98 Degrees would follow.
By the time I was twelve... I was slightly "emo"-- venturing tentatively into Linkin Park, Green Day, and Evanescence. In high school, most people would have been surprised to find that I listened to little other than over-hyped Broadway show tunes, the marching band and choir music that I practiced daily, the commercialized crap my "best friend" told me to listen to on the radio, and when I was alone... a lot of pretty dark stuff.
I graduated high school really depressed and looking for an outlet. That's why, in an attempt to "get happier" in college, I turned to the only things I knew: pop crap and more show tunes. At least the show tunes, by this point, were in foreign languages.
It was in January of 2008 that someone told me what they thought was the truth: I didn't know who I was. I was judgmental and superficial. Why? Because of the music I listened to.
This was a huge lie. And a horrible thing to say to someone (drunk or not).
By December of 2008, I was on a mission. To get educated. About so-called "good music".
It turns out that the "good music" had been within me all along.
I ended up graduating college with a minor degree in Applied Music Theory, History, and Vocal Performance. I want to learn the guitar. I own a turntable. The only music I physically buy is on vinyl record. (It's all about the cover art, man.) I attend gigs in New York City at least every two months. I read, and read, and read. I listen, and listen, and listen. My favorite bands range everywhere from The Velvet Underground, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Cure, Gogol Bordello, The Jackson 5, and David Bowie to Lacuna Coil, The Black Keys, Muse, Franz Ferdinand, and Kasabian. I also can't resist a little of the GaGa. (I love me some wacky performance art.)
My Jonas Brothers CD's are in the trash.
And I'm still learning. I live for new (and discovering old) music daily. Exciting music. Music of quality. People who play instruments as smoothly as running a comb through their hair. People who are beautiful because of the stories they create with their music. Living (or not), breathing, walking dreams. Young and old.
Everyone likes "shitty music" at some point in their lives. Hell, that's how we find ourselves.
And you know what? Fuck the people who tell you otherwise. They don't really know you. Because, in the end, all you have is your own confidence and your own will to prove yourself.
And, for fuck's sake, I have this blog!
-GC
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