Music

Answering Ten Questions About Music

What are your answers?

If you haven’t seen it yet, Scott-Ryan Abt wrote a fantastic piece in The Riff here where he says that there are ten questions that any music fan should be able to answer without missing a beat.

I wasn’t going to contribute until I saw so many cool answers from great music peeps like Kevin Alexander’s here, Buddy Gott’s here, Paul Combs’ here, and Alex Markham’s here.

So HERE I am doing the same thing.

Let’s get into it.

What Kind of Music Do You Like?

It’s changed a lot over the years and will continue to morph and change as long as I’m alive, I’m sure.

I used to be so narrow in my focus when I was in high school.

Thankfully in college by becoming a DJ with a fully stocked radio station’s worth of music, that taste gradually expanded from jazz, funk, soul, punk, and metal. I even ended up challenging myself this year to listen to all 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery in 365 days.

But when it comes down to it and if pressed, the music I love the most is blues rock. It’s the genre that had the biggest influence on my guitar playing and it always finds a way to hit me straight in the gut.

Give me John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, some Muddy Waters, that raspy jazzy-blues rasp of Tom Waits, and when you’re done, why don’t you hook me up with one the bands that pretend to hide their bluesy nature until you crack ’em open like an egg?

Yeah, I’m looking at you, Pink Floyd.

What Kind Of Music Did You Grow Up On?

Pop punk for sure. Blink 182, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, and company. If I wasn’t screaming in the car to the way to school to one these, I was probably blasting 70s prog.

This was after my parent’s introduced me to both the Beatles, the greatest hits of the 80s, and album after album after album of Billy Joel. While the first two I grew to really enjoy, it was only recently that I was able to overcome my bias for the really phenomenal songwriter Billy Joel, due to the human tendency of a son to rebel against his father.

What’s Your Favorite Band?

Oh god. I hate answering this…

It’s Pink Floyd.

If I hadn’t listened to them, no doubt I wouldn’t have started my musical discovery journey and I’d probably just be listening to music as “something in the background.”

But “Dark Side of the Moon” made me realize there was a lot out there I didn’t know. And when I was fifteen? That was enough to start the journey.

What Was The First Concert You Went To On Your Own?

We’ll get to me and concerts again later (a little foreshadowing…), but the first one I went to on my own was a 2008 Metal Mayhem where I bought my own ticket and went with a couple friends to see Disturbed.

To be honest, they were not great, and in retrospect, I was more glad to have seen Dragonforce, especially in their height, performing tracks from Inhuman Rampage. Yes. No foolin’. They really do play that fast live and they put on a GREAT show.

We left before Slipknot got halfway through their set. They were the worst I’ve ever heard them.

What Was the First Record/CD/Tape You Ever Bought? Do You Still Have It?

This is a weird question for me. I have had a strange connection with physical media over the years due to when I was born and when I grew up.

The first album I bought was digital. I believe it was Stanley Clarke’s “School Days” because someone in my jazz band said I should hear it. It was the first album I heard that helped me understand how much I loved jazz (but more on that later…).

But as mentioned previously, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into music the way I did without DSOTM. As far as I can recall, this was my first CD purchase, because at that point in the late 2000’s, if you wanted to listen to something in the car while you drove, it was easier to buy a CD than use whatever weird hookup that allowed your iPod to be a radio so you could “tune in” to your own garbled music.

A few years ago, I stupidly gave away all my CDs thinking I’d have no need for them and that one was included in the mix.

Now, I have a full sound system and greatly prefer physical media to streaming. You may not believe me, but I’m telling you, it sounds much better.

What Is The Best Show You’ve Ever Seen? The Worst?

The best show? Probably Meatloaf back in the early 2010s. It’s shocking to me that a man in his 60s could run around on stage and rock like that with the pipes he has.

I wish I could have seen him back in his prime.

The worst show? There was a showcase of one-hit-wonder 70s musicians (“Dreamweaver” was the only one I could remember) I got dragged to with my parents. Looking back, even they don’t know why we decided to go. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t memorable, which in a way, I guess is kind of ironic, isn’t it?

What Is The Next Show You Are Going To?

None at the moment.

With concert prices the way the are, most acts that I want to see not touring, and a general lack of good venues around me, there’s not one on the horizon.

Ask me in a year when I blow up on Youtube.

What is one band that you still haven’t seen that you want to, before it’s all said and done (for them or for you?)

I am so angry that I had a chance to see Hiromi and Stanley Clark live together for free back in 2015.

I was playing both of these artists on the radio regularly, but my car had completely crapped the bed. Even though I could have gotten a FREE TICKET because I was a radio DJ at the time, no one could give me a ride down to the venue.

So if I could see either of those artists, especially Hiromi, I’d feel like a wrong had been righted in my life.

What is the greatest song ever written, hands down?

“School Days” by Stanley Clarke. From the guitar solo intro to the bass solo that makes me cry, as I said earlier, it helped me understand jazz. And that genre continues to be one that I go deeper into, but never quite truly crack the puzzle.

So yes, that song is the gift that keeps giving.

What is your greatest regret, musically?

At first, I wanted to say it was that I haven’t been to many concerts.

Over the years, I’ve had countless opportunities to go to several, but either funding, bad timing, poor excuses, or the universe itself plotting against me has made it difficult to go to them.

I’m trying to rectify that wrong by recently rekindling old relationships with friends that go to concerts regularly, so I hope that in the future, I can make it a stronger part of my life.

But honestly and truly?

It’s that for so many years, I tried to ignore how important music was to my life. I got in a rut, listened to the same albums again and again, and told myself to stop worrying about discovery. I was never going to listen to it all anyway, right?

I even gave up playing the guitar, sold all my physical music, and buckled down into a terrible job I had at the time.

I told myself I didn’t have “time” for it anymore.

I’m past all that now. I’ve healed and now am trying to do a Tony Hawk style 180 skateboard turn by making it into a career.

But previously? I really had tried to bury that part deep inside myself. For a while, I figured it was gone forever.

Thankfully, it’s not only still here, but shining bright.

Thanks for reading everyone.

Hope this helps. Love you all.

And hey, if you haven’t answered these questions and you love music, you probably should.

It doesn’t hurt. Too much.

I’m Bill. I write about music. A lot.

I’m listening to 1001 Must-Hear Albums Before You Die in a Year and documenting it on Youtube with costumed characters from different eras.

Check out my channel here.

And hey, give me a follow if you like my vibe.