Hybrid Theory

I've always had a fairly open mind when it comes to music.  I've never really focused in on any one genre, and there aren't many artists/bands that I regularly follow.  My only real dislike is country music, and that stems more from overexposure at my first job than anything else - there have been several country songs since then that I've enjoyed, at one point or another.  My original thought was to do this post kind of like a timeline, touching on what I listened to and enjoyed through recent years, but I think I'm going to go with a more traditional list instead, and just give some background information for each entry.  This should be fun, and with any luck, I'll rediscover some music that I like, and had forgotten about.  Ready?  Let's go.

First on my list of favorites is Eminem.  ... I know, it's a potentially debatable lead, but that's what I'm going with.  I get a lot of double-takes on the rare occasion that I talk about my music tastes to people, because... well, I guess, because I don't look like the kind of person who'd listen to rap?  An interesting point, though, is that I don't generally listen to a lot of rap in general - just Eminem.  There are a few non-Eminem songs that I've heard and enjoy, but rap as a genre isn't my thing, so much.  ... An interesting nugget of information is that I had absolutely no idea who Eminem even was until 2001.  Even then, I didn't listen to him or anything until late 2002.  My sister (or my brother-in-law, not sure which) bought his then-newest album, The Eminem Show, and they let me listen to it... and somehow, for some reason, it resonated with me.  I had previously dismissed rap as, essentially, people saying nothing but "I kill people, have lots of money and women, and I'm more badass than you".  Granted, my exposure to rap at that point was fairly limited, but it all sounded alike to me.  Eminem sounded... different.  I could listen to his songs and actually understand what he was saying - more than that, I could relate to a lot of it.  Sure, there were some songs like that on The Eminem Show, but that wasn't the entirety of the album.  There were also songs like Cleanin' Out My Closet, Sing For The Moment, and Hailie's Song (which features Eminem actually trying to sing, instead of rap, and mocking himself for the attempt).  For whatever reason, after this album, I was hooked.  I haven't listened to all of his old stuff, but that's something I intend to do when I have a few free days with no plans.  I did buy his most recent album (Recovery), even though someone had burned me a copy of it, because I wanted to support him.  Of the 17 songs on the album, I'm not crazy about two of them.  I think that's the best like/dislike ratio I have for any particular album, though I won't swear to that.  One of the items on my bucket list is to see him in concert.  ... I'd like to meet him, but I have no idea what I'd even say.  Maybe just "thank you", for everything he's provided the music industry with.  I'm really not sure how that'd go.  For whatever reason, however it happened, Eminem's at the top of my "favorite music" list.

Number two on my list of favorite music-related things is Linkin Park.  I debated for a while about whether to put them first, but they've become a bit less prominent in my listening tastes lately, and so Eminem beat them out for first mention.  As stated above, it's rare that I'll follow any particular group, but  they're the major exception to that rule.  I've purchased every album they've ever released, and they were the highlight of one concert I attended (out of two, total).  I feel like it became almost "uncool" to like Linkin Park at some point, because... well, I really don't know why, exactly.  I know that a lot of their fans were unhappy with their latest album release (A Thousand Suns), but for the most part, I really enjoyed it.  It was different, yes, but change isn't always a bad thing -- one of the songs on the album contains the line "... 'Cause once you got the theory of how the thing works, everybody wants the next thing to be just like the first...".  I've liked that line from the first time I heard it, because I think it's absolutely true.  Change, in the music industry, seems to be something that's criticized first and thought about afterwards.  I don't have a lot of experience in different examples of this happening to other groups, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was common.  If I scroll long enough through my list, I can almost always find a Linkin Park song to fit my current mood, and that's why they get second mention in my list.

Realistically, I think I need to make a mention of Nine Inch Nails here, because they're one of only two other bands that I can claim to have followed for any real length of time.  I went through a "phase" of liking the group in the early 2000's, and it lasted for several years.  Every Friday, when I worked at a bookstore, I'd be in the stockroom for several hours doing shipment, and every Friday, I would blast NIN for as long as it took my to finish unpacking everything.  The (conservative) staff complained for a while, but eventually just took it in stride.  I haven't followed them for a while (are they still even doing music?), but they were a big enough part of my music history that I feel they're owed a mention.  The one song of theirs that has always been one of my favorites is "We're In This Together".  ... I couldn't honestly tell you why.  It doesn't seem like anything special, really.  Potentially less screaming and craziness than other NIN songs, but... I dunno.  That one's a bit hard to explain.

I'm not going to devote a lot of room to the final group that I followed for a noteworthy length of time; partially because they're a group that likely no one has ever heard of, and partially because they're not a major part of my listening habits any longer (and I'm not trying to reverse that).  I didn't really have a "emo goth" phase (unless you count the one night I let people dress me up and take me out to a club, which... I don't), but I did listen to a band called The Cruxshadows for a long time.  Their songs were interesting to me, because a lot of them served semi-inspirational purposes, and also revolved around different topics that I found interesting (Troy, Egyptian gods, etc).  I bought (and still own) most of their CD's, but I stopped listening to them, and I haven't followed them for a while.  Still, they were a semi-significant part of my musical history, so I don't think I could do them the disservice of not even mentioning them.

Honorable mention for groups goes to Paramore and Rise Against.  I haven't purchased an album for either of the two, but there are a good number of songs that I enjoy by both groups.  I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail about either of them (mostly because I know Paramore will be discussed, extensively, in later posts), but they both deserve to be mentioned for awesomeness.  Kelsey gets a public nod here, also, for getting me into Paramore.

To wrap this entry up, I'll focus on a couple of composers that I particularly like.  The first of these is Koji Kondo.  He's best known for composing the soundtracks of two series - Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.  I'd label the Mario theme as one of the most easily recognized video game themes in existence, and we have him to thank for that.  Not long after Zelda: Ocarina of Time came out in 1998, the soundtrack was released, and it quickly found a semi-permanent home in my CD player (... ah, CD players...).  The music was so well-done, so perfectly placed, that I could close my eyes and see the game world around me as I listened to the music.  He's done plenty of other work besides these two series, but I feel that these are his most notable accomplishments (to me, at least).

The second composer is Yasunori Mitsuda, who's done... well, a hell of a lot of soundtracks, but most importantly to me, the soundtrack for Chrono Trigger.  Anyone who knows anything about me knows my relationship with that game, and the soundtrack is a large part of it.  The music from Chrono Trigger is one of the best soundtracks that I've heard, and it's one that never gets old for me.  ... I really don't know what to say beyond that.

I think that's enough for this post.  It's interesting that my top three choices were rock/rap... I suppose I do have a slight lean in that direction.  There's more variety in my music, but I do feel it's notable that my list turned out how it did... so, this post helped me figure out something about my own tastes in music.  Isn't that awesome?  I'm really eager to see what the other posters will share for this week.  Thanks for reading.