Bit late to this party.....
Where to start? Music wasn't really a big deal in my house growing up. My mum insisted I learn piano when I was younger which I really disliked. I did learn to read music so that was a silver lining. A few years later when I was about 12 I discovered we had an old acoustic guitar in a cupboard. My school was offering free afternoon lessons so I asked if I could put some strings on it and try to learn. My mum, having been through the angst of trying to get me to practice piano basically said 'whatever' and left me to it. That was probably for the best because without the pressure I found it a lot more enjoyable.
I wasn't very good, in fact, the only reason I can play at all is sheer bloody mindedness. I had a terrible singing voice and almost no ability to recognise pitch. This has improved over the years, but again only because I worked at it.
The music played in my home growing up was largely classical and opera, with a bit of other stuff sprinkled over it. It wasn't until my peers started listening to music that I really paid any attention. My first early loves were Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Faith no More. The latter has stuck with me, as Mike Patton has grown and explored I've followed him some pretty weird places.
The real revelation for me came in year 7 or 8. I was reading 'Issue One' comics and in particular Zero Assasin. One of the quirks of that comic was that it had a soundtrack listed to play while you read it. This particular comic called for 'Wave of Mutilation' by the Pixies. I had seen Pixies graffitti on the goth kids bags and asked one I kind of knew if I could get a copy of that song. He ended up giving me all of Doolittle and it was an absolute revelation to 13 or 14 year old me. This music was so weird and awesome, yet sounded like a garage band mucking around. Especially the lead guitar.. how was he making that noise??? So I went down a huge musical rabbit hole. I've heard it said that any teen who listens to the Pixies forms a band. I was no exception. That particular project is still going nearly 30 years later.
I became a bit of a musical snob for about 10 years and actually missed the real birth of grunge.. it sounded like a rip off of my favourite band but not as good to me. Funnily enough, years later and soon after his death I saw an interview with Kurt Cobain where he said the pixies were one of his biggest influences. Cue me tracking down as much Nirvana as I could find and learning how to appreciate it... and play it.
It took a while, but a have branched out hugely now and there are many bands/artists I follow pretty closely. Beck, Blur, Gorrillaz, Alice Donut, Arctic Monkeys, Regurgitator.. the alternate rock catalogue is pretty big and ever growing as I go back and look at my influences influences - Husker Du, Bowie, Queen, The Beatles etc etc.
The Pixies have stayed my main squeeze. They actually broke up the year I discovered them.. but when I heard they reformed in 2007 hell nor high water would stop me seeing them. That they are able to recreate their sound live almost flawlessly blows me away every time.. and I've probably seen them 6 or 7 times now.
So that's the extremely condensed version of my musical genisis......
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Originally Posted by OliSam
