Music

You Say You Are Into Music

Then Here are Ten Questions You Should Have Ready Answers to

We don’t have to like the same music, just like we don’t have to read the same books. Can we agree that it’s important to have opinions, though? If you tell me you are into music, I will take that at face value. And then I will ask you a few questions to see if you’re telling me the truth.

In the same way that good music must say something, make you feel something, form the soundtrack of your life, or change the world, I want your answers to have conviction. The conviction that comes from having given these questions some serious and hard thought over many years of constant listening.

I don’t see how it can be any other way if we are going to go forward together. And I’ll be able to tell if you make these answers up on the spot.

(Click here for Part 2 of this and a whole new set of questions)

What kind of music do you like?

I can’t bear it when someone tells me that they are into everything. Even worse is “everything, except country”. I am sorry for your singular bias against one particular genre, especially since that one has a lot of greatness to it. But you really can’t like everything. At least not if we will have a meaningful conversation about music. I like rock n’ roll. If you do too, we might have something to talk about. If you tell me you love electronic music, I’ll probably ask you, “Like what?” and see where we end up.

All I’m asking is that you know what you like. And maybe be open to something new that you hadn’t considered before.

What kind of music did you grow up on?

If, like me, you are fortunate to have at least one of two parents into music, then you likely benefited from and were influenced by their tastes. But if you weren’t as lucky as I was to come from that kind of situation, then maybe you had some friends who did, or maybe your early romantic relationship opened your ears. At the same time, it is indeed possible to come to a love of music completely on your own and later in life.

Either way, I hope you have songs that remind you of the person who introduced you to them when you hear them today. From my mother: Abba, Roger Whittaker, the Grease Soundtrack. From an older neighbour on my street: Depeche Mode, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, New Order. From early romance: “Hysteria” by Def Leppard. Oh yeah.

What’s your favourite band?

I need to know. What if yours is the same as mine? Then what? The chances are slim, and it’s never happened before, but it still could. But you have to know because it tells me so much about you. You can have a Top 3, even a Top 5. Go ahead and rattle off a Top 10, and if James, the Charlatans, and the Rolling Stones get a mention, then we can be friends. If you sneak in Social Distortion, the Manic Street Preachers, or Richard Ashcroft, we might talk all night.

What is the first show you went to on your own?

Please don’t tell me you don’t remember. You have to remember since it sets the tone for everything that follows. And I’m not talking about your mom taking you and your friends to the Backstreet Boys. I’m talking about that first show that you bought tickets for on your own, took the train into town, went into the stadium, and were mesmerized for two hours, and you just knew that you’d spend the rest of your life doing this.

Since you asked, mine was Sting in Vancouver, BC in 1988. Interestingly, depending on your point of view, he’ll be here again at the end of September, and yeah, I’m going.

Thirty-five years later, and one of us hasn’t aged a bit.

What’s the first record / tape / CD you bought with your own money? And do you still have it?

This is similar to the preceding question since it sets the tone for what follows in the subsequent years. Again, I am asking about what you did with your influences and how these impacted your purchasing decisions when you were finally free to do so?

My first LP was “Synchronicity” in 1984, speaking of Sting. I still have it; in fact, I just put it on. My first tapes were Eurythmics “Revenge” and Paul Simon “Graceland” in 1986. My first CDs were Crowded House “Together Alone” and Morrissey “Vauxhall and I” in 1994. I’d never ask you what your first Napster download was, and I don’t remember mine. Who says that technology doesn’t change the way we listen to music? I’m back to records now, anyway.

What is the best show you’ve ever seen? What was the worst?

Maybe you’ve been to a lot of shows, or maybe just a handful. Either way, it doesn’t take long before you can tell who is going through the motions and mailing in the last stop on a long tour or who is as excited to play for you as you are to be played for by them.

The Pixies, in an afternoon slot at the SummerSonic Festival in Osaka in 2010, was the low point. I’ve never seen a group of people less interested in playing their music or making their fans happy. I guess I can’t really blame them.

Bruce Springsteen in Vancouver in 2014 is the other end of the spectrum. By the third song, “Hungry Heart,” he was crowd surfing, and three hours later, they were turning the house lights on, and he still wanted to keep going.

Every time I’ve seen them, Midnight Oil has blown me away with the raw power and magnetic energy of their live performance.

What is the next show you are going to?

Like planning travel, I think it’s important always to have something on the horizon, whether it’s next week or in the next year. In the weeks leading up to the big day, you can really get into the whole back catalogue and have them on heavy rotation at home all day. But do yourself a favour and stay away from setlist.fm and leave a little something to the element of surprise. There is no reason to have to know what songs they will play and when until they are actually playing them in front of you.

Mine is Tears for Fears at the end of the month and before the end of the year, Depeche Mode.

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?)

You think they will keep touring forever, but they won’t. And there will probably come a time when you are going to shows less frequently too. So get them while they are still hot, or failing that, get them when they play the 30th anniversary of their biggest album or when they are on their third or fourth farewell tour.

Foo Fighters, for me. It looked shaky there for a minute, but they are back with a massive vengeance.

What is the greatest song ever written, hands down?

I have an all-time Top 5, but the song that I stop everything for and close my eyes when it comes on is The Verve's “Bittersweet Symphony”. And argue with me all you want.

What’s yours?

What is your greatest regret, musically?

Sometimes when I hear a great song, I wonder, “How come I didn’t think of that?” The answer is obvious: I don’t write songs or music. But when I see someone perform live, I sometimes wonder, “Could I have done that?” I don’t play any instruments, but the implication is that if I had learned early, could that have been me?

I was in piano lessons until Grade 7, until one day, my mother said, “You don’t have to do that anymore.” My joy was boundless that day until I heard the next sentence, “But you are going to take Band in Grade 8.” There I was with my tenor saxophone wishing I could learn to play guitar or the drums instead.

I guess it’s never too late.

And there you have it. Now it’s your turn. I’d love to read your answers, so tag me if you write one of these!

I really do hope that you like what you have just read. If you want unlimited access to thousands of writers, consider a subscription to Medium. It will set you back $5 a month, and if you use the link below, then I get a slice of that. I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down.