OffT: Yes

OnT: I grew up listening to Motown and many popular artists of the 60s - 80s due to my mom. It was attending public school that I was exposed to rap, which is another genre I enjoy. Cartoons, particularly Looney Toons, helped expose me to "classical" music, which I also love. Mainly I listen to R&B, Soul, Rap, Reggae, and Latin, but I'll listen to just about anything if it pleases my ears. To please my ears, I have to like the beat and the lyrics, which can at times cut out songs that I'd enjoy due to despising the lyrics.

When it's comes to music, I listen to a little bit of everything- from Mozart to Meatloaf. Over the years, music has inspired me to write more (and was the case with this songfic set in the SATAM/Archie universe)
Hey, if Mike P. can use Shameless Plugs so can I, right? Right?!

---LONG POST AHEAD.---

Like Mike, I grew up with parents that listened to oldies music. At first, I was into it. However, it wasn't long before I lost interest completely. I also had little interest in music stations, so that didn't help.

Then, most of what I listened to was from video games. They were catchy, and well done (well, from the games I've played at least). They really irritated my family members whenever they were being played repeatively. This problem didn't help when we got the internet and I discovered vgmusic.com.

Then there was this game series called Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. I started off with THPS2. The gameplayed ruled, and it didn't take me too long to notice the background music, and I took a liking to it. The two most notable tracks were Rage Against the Machine's "Guerilla Radio" and Powerman 5000's "When Worlds Collide." This won't take an actual influence until later.

I didn't have much to listen to outside of the game, so I turned to an internet radio site known as Digitally Imported. Since I thought their techno music was awesome, I started to listen to them on a regular basis. Even to this day, I listen to it from time to time.

At the time, I was trying my hardest to be popular at school, but with little luck. Then I got the idea of listening to what they listened to. This, in turn, got me listening to rap. Artists like Ludacris and 50 Cent were common in my mix CDs. I had to force myself to like most of the songs, though. It didn't help with my popularity, though.

When that was going on, me and an enemy that I've had ever since I've went to that school gradually stop being enemies. Eventually, I became part of the group that he was in. Many people in the group were people I've ignored due to my quest for school supremacy. Then, I've became friends with them again. Then I got a realization that the person I was that year was not me, but an automation that had a lust for fame. Eventually, I threw away all the music CDs that I had and purged the songs from my hard drive.

I started to listen to other internet radio stations, mainly rock stations. There were some bands that I've really took a liking to, and there were some that I absoutely despised. I took a note of the bands I really liked, but I never got around to buy any CDs.

Sometime later, my brother got me a new portable CD player and RATM's Evil Empire CD for Chirstmas (the last chirstmas we've had) due to the fact that my old CD player was crap and that I didn't have much of a music collection anymore. Even later, his friend brought over Linikin Park's Hybrid Theory and Meteora albums, so I copied them. Later, I discovered that my brother had Audioslave's self-titled album, and since they were basically RATM with a different singer, I made myself a copy. It was different than what I've expected, but they were good.

Then activity halted for a bit. I wore both Linkin Park's albums out and got tired of them. Then summer arrived. I've continually got bored, so I've turned the TV to some of DirecTV's Music Choice channels. There, it was similar to my internet radio situation. However, this time, I had money to spend but nothing to spend it on. I've turned my money over to the music that I thought was great. While doing that, I was also making copies of more of my brother's CDs.

Since my taste has been only around for a short time, I'm continuously influenced. My music taste is pretty much if I find a song that sounds good, I check out the album that the song's in. If the price is reasonable and the album is promising, I get the CD. If the songs are really promising, I check out the band's other albums and possibly get them sometime later. As far as copying goes, if it's from a band I like or if one of their songs are good, I copy the CD since it's free.

(yeah, you can tell I'm bored if I managed to tell all of that about my tastes in music. o.o )

I consider myself lucky to be able to enjoy a power metal CD, then switch to folk-rock soon afterwards.

The first time I ever got into music was pop-punk. The Offspring and blink-182 being the first bands i got into (i still love them today). I then slowly tried other music - some i liked, some i hated.

Big turning points in my love of music happened first with Sonic Adventure. My love of Senoue's music got to the point where i help out on his website.

The other's are specific albums. For example, last year it was "Soul Mining" by The The. The mixture of rock, african chanting, pianos and many other instruments helped create the most wonderful 41 and a half minutes i have ever heard. Two songs in particular feel like they were made for me, and for me only. "This is the Day", a tale of bleak optimism where "This is the day your life will surely change" speaks to me. The only instruments are keyboards, percussion, drums and...accordian and a fiddle . The other song is Uncertian Smile. The final 3 and a half minutes of this 7 minute epic is a Jools Holland solo spot, where he plays the most wonderful piano playing i have ever heard. Never will i ever get bored of this. If you have time you can hear them songs on www.thethe.com - i guarentee you will love it

Carrying on with The The, i would've never got into them if it wasn't for "Infected's" album cover. The cover influenced me to listen to them. If i didn't see the cover, i would've never experienced some of the finest music i have ever heard. The fact that the band was called "The The" (how cool is that?!) helped influence me too. I must admit that this is an isolated case.

That album came to me when i have been into music for a long time now, so of course i had been influenced in many directions. I tried almost all kinds of major genres available, but my heart was devoted to rock! I stick to guitar music, be it folk, acoustic, metal, thrash, pop - whatever. I take heart to what my friends reccommend me too. Without them i would've missed out on some forgotten classics. I couldn't imagine myself just listening to chart fodder. Imagine how much music i'dve deprived myself

To me, i am influenced by the following things > Melody, Emotion and Heart.

I say melody, but to be fair that doens't always have to be the case. A lot of songs i enjoy are songs that don't have a particular melody, but are full of layers requiring many listens before it opens up to you. This would include Pink Floyd, Radiohead etc. Emotion can mean anything. If a song can make me happy, sad, disturbed, confused, joyful - whatever, then it's done it's job. If a song has left me dissapointed, indifferent or annoyed, then the song will be forever crap. Finally heart is when i can sense that the artist/band, have put their all into making the song the best they can.

Whether it's for example Pete Seeger singing "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" with just his voice being the only music available, or if it's a heartfelt ballad by Jimmy Eat World, or a song full of hatred: whatever, if they set out to do what they went to do then they've done their job for me.

To finish off i ought to mention the bands that have influenced me to be the person i am today (in no particular order). The The, Jimmy Eat World, Beck, Belle and Sebastian, Black Sabbath, blink-182, Jeff Buckley, Crush 40, Dare, Dream Theater, Eels, The Flaming Lips, David Gray, Hardline, Iron Maiden, The Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, Eric Martin, Mr. Big, Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, The Offspring, Pink Floyd, Pop Will Eat Itself, Whitesnake, REM, Radiohead, Rush, TNT, U2, Van Halen and Weezer.

I apologise if my essay seems disjointed and long winded. I kept adding bits and pieces, stopping and starting all over the place. I hope it makes sense to those who read it

Hmm...*thinks back*

Back when I was young, I didn't really care for music, my mom would play some old 70's/80's pop/classic rock and obviously have to listen to it, artists such as Chris DeBurgh (I love ship to shore), Fleetwood Mac, Rainbow etc. but I liked it. I also played a lot of video games so games like Sparkster: RKA I could chill to with the sound test on for a good hour or two.

I only ever truely got into music when I got my computer about 3 to 4 years ago, when I got acess to the 'net and started downloading songs is when I truely got into music, since I could listen to any song I wanted, I downloaded a song which I had heard on the radio, or I remember having liked and that's how my music collection grew into a vast collection of all years and genres.

At around the same time, one of my friend's invited me along to see a few local rock bands, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This is what began my punk/ska intrest. I tried experimenting with general rock and heavier forms of it, but I just didn't dig it.

I stuck with this for a year or two, before basically I got bored, and decided to expand my musical horizons, and rememering back to my childhood, the one song I always loved to hear was Africa by Toto, so I downloaded it. Eventually, I started downloading more of Toto's music, realising how much I loved the classic rock and deep, thoughtful lyrics in these songs, and how I could relate to them. This is what lead them to be my obssession with them, and them becoming my favourite band. I also heard of a certain band called Rush who did similar music and decided to check them out. And as with Toto, I love 'em. 😀 Classic rock makes me feel fantastic. There's just some sort of magic in there which I really dig.

So in short, Toto truely defined my music taste, Rush extended my love for the genre. Bands such as Savage Garden, REM, New Found Glory, Travis,and U2 give me an insight into other aspects of music I enjoy (Such as indie, punk, ska, classic pop/rock). But they'll never come close to (especially) Toto and Rush.

And that's how my music influences grew from none, to about 40 hours worth. 😀

I grew up on the Beatles and 50s music from my folks, Metallica and Guns N' Roses from my friends. In the 90s, I, like every other child in my class at my elementary school, was into MC Hammer and Sir Mix-A-Lot's song around large posteriors. Later on, I resigned myself to whatever my mom had on the radio (mostly oldies) until I was randomly station surfing and happened on the song One Week, which I credit as singlehandedly pushing me into more modern music (90s-00s). I became a BNL fan, and gradually spread out from there. Now I like about anything except country(not to be confused with bluegrass) and "gangsta rap". I blame Sakaki for getting me into techno music with DDR.

I think the 80's and 90's music had more clout than much of the bland manufactured rubbish these days. Music is a healer - cathartic, powerful, overwhelming, consoling. Not to be used to make greedy fatcats rich - people who know nothing about art but who should be selling fruit and veg instead.

I grew up with 70s, 80s and 90s music. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's memorising song lyrics.

I went through a stage of country-western with Shania Twain, and then moved from Britney Spears to Pink.

I'm also quite fond of Sonic Team music.

Grew up listening to Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Handel, etc, from my father, as well as Deep Purple and Jethro Tull, my mother listened to a lot of broadway and Doris Day, Patsy Cline, etc. I can still sing a number of show tunes with enough feeling that strangers question my sexuality.

Anyways, then I studied music theory and saxophone, and really branched out into Jazz, funk, ska, etc. And living in redneckville USA I can listen to country just as easily as any other genre except "gangsta rap".

Anyways, techno as a legitimate artform has influenced me to re-evaluate the minimalist movement of the romantic era. It is very nearly the same form just different noises. Yoko Kano has given me new faith in the continued evolution of the classical forms of music (orchestral, jazz), as well as modern forms (techno, industrial, etc).

Jimro

Well, I dunno well it was just I grew up in a time where the 1980's and 1990's came up, oh the 1990's....I remember that time..... well somewhere in 1999 ,as we moved , I started to collect CD's, and in a row of a few months I got a mixer, two CD-Player(s) and an Amplifier and two good loudspeakers. Well, now I have around 400 CD's and LP's

I have been listening to a disturbingly large amount of Jpop since an early age. It didn't have much of an effect on me.

*grin*

I'm only 14, Nirvana's Nevermind came out some time around my birth (maybe a few years one way), but my Dad listen's to pretty much anything with guitars in. He played Nirvana albums a lot through out my early years, so I learnt to love Nirvana, my Dad's about to hit 50 sometime and he still likes the music he used to.

I have to thank GorillAZ for getting in to music properly, I loved Clint Eastwood, so I'd watch Q or Kerrang for ages waiting for Clint Eastwood to come up, and I listened to the other bands that came up while waiting just for the GorillAZ, so I heard more heavy metal, grunge ect.

So I've almost always been listening to rock/metal/grunge ect all my life and I love it! ^.-

Oh, here we go. Everyone already knows what a music geek and critic I am. Now I get to voice my evolution through music.

I mainly grew up around my father listening to 70s and 80s metal bands; metal of all kinds, from glam to death. Although I enjoyed listening to it, I was not heavily involved in it.

I started really getting into music around the year 1998... my first favorite band? The Baha Men. I loved them... no idea why, just did. Then, regretfully, I heard my older sister listening to Good Charlotte in about 2000 or 2001, and started liking them. I moved on to liking a bunch of crap of the same type, such as Simple Plan and New Found Glory.

In about 2002, my friend lent me a burned CD of different bands. These bands included the likes of Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, etc. My love for metal was reborn! However, that would soon come to an end, for in the year 2003, I developed a taste for... punk rock. From the Sex Pistols to NOFX... I was a straight-up punk rocker, yo. Now I hate it.

Later, in 2004, I developed a taste for 80s pop, such as Duran Duran and goth-pop kings, The Cure. Now, I've become a stingy music critic who analyzes everything about a song before I enjoy it.

Hooray.

as far as i am concerned, music is music. i listen to, basically, anything other than country, which sucks, and rap, which is just talking with a beat.

anyway, listening to alot of music, i found that alot of music CAN influence people, but doesn't ALWAYS influence people.

As a kid, I was mostly raised on Christian music. My friend, whom I admired at the time, went through a phase when he liked oldies alot, so I listened to them in the late '90s. In the early '00s, I listened to mostly Christian and mainstream rock (Linkin Park, *gag*). Oh yeah, and Weird Al.

Hey, come on. He was funny when I was in 7th grade.

In late '03, I started listening to a radio show (Love Line! w00t) on an alt rock station in my area. Late at night, I heard a song called "Girls and Boys." Yes, boys and girls. I fell for the Good Charlotte act.

In about summer '04, when I realized they were crap, I started listening to mainstream rock/metal. Basically, Nickelback, Creed, Korn, Slipknot and other music of that ilk. I had substituted one brand of @#%$ rock for another. Around the same time, I started listening to stuff like NOFX, Rancid, Pennywise, and Bad Religion. Alternative rock, too.

I became less interested in mainstream rock and more into punk and alt as the year progressed. In fact, it was my favorite genre until the beginning of summer. Around March, I became infatuated with Nirvana and grunge, which has died down somewhat.

It wasn't until a few weeks ago when I started seriously disliking mainstream rock. I've even started to lose interest in punk, because the punk scene is just as stupid, immature and hypocritical as the emo scene.

Right know I'm dabbling in '70s and '80s rock/hair metal like Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc. and modern incarnations of it like Velvet Revolver. I wonder if my newfound love of old rock was inspired by Back to the Future and old SNL skits of Wayne's World? =P