Musicality

Music. I like it. I like most of it. I can listen to just about anything. Yes even country music. I recall having a little AM radio when I was a kid in California, listening to whatever station it could pick up. You kids these days probably don't even know what AM radio is. We didn't have these fancy Ipod's or booming car stereos when I was a kid. It was the early 70's and disco was coming on strong, but I still always had an affinity for the rock and roll. I found myself torn between the two styles of music. I say torn because as disco gained it's stranglehold on the airwaves you started seeing tee shirts that said disco sucks. A tee shirt told me that disco sucked so I guess disco sucked. But I liked it. I was a closet disco fan. At this point not knowing what being in the closet meant I would take my radio into the closet whenever a disco song came on and I would listen to it in there. It's a wonder that I am not gay from spending so much time in the closet and listening to disco music. (Not that there's anything wrong with it....love you Ryan!)
The point of all this is that I developed a taste for different music genres. I listened to whatever was pleasing to my ears, and I listened to everything. I eventually began piano lessons and had to learn the classics, Beethoven, Bach and the likes. I gained an appreciation for these master pieces and what it took to master playing them. In junior high I began learning to play the trombone and I was initiated into the world of jazz music. Our high school jazz band was spectacular and we took first place in two different national competitions.
The 80's came and with it came alternative music. I fell in love with what in my opinion is one of the greatest musical geniuses of my time, Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo. I mostly wanted to listen to it because they had such a cool name. It just rolls off the tongue. Oingo Boingo. Once I heard them I was hooked for life. The 80's were an interesting time for music, but I went along with it, listening, absorbing, and at the same time learning to play music gave me a greater appreciation for what the musicians were trying to do with the sounds. I had a buddy who turned me onto Rush. My muse B-dog is probably getting a shiver as I write this because he just doesn't like Rush. We have agreed to disagree about this band. I like them for the intricacy and complexity of their rhythms. Because I was learning to play jazz music I was really into the theory behind the music. My fellow band geeks and I had fun trying to pick out the time signatures and phrasings of some of these songs.
The 90's brought on a new era for me and I discovered a new band that I absolutely love and that is the Bare Naked Ladies (BNL). This is another band that I just had to listen to because of the name. Now musically they aren't anything special, but lyrically they bring something to the table because the make me laugh. Their music is smart to me. To this day I think that they are my favorite band to see in concert because of the show they put on and I always come away laughing at some of the stuff that they have done on stage.
The whole reason I decided to write this piece was inspired by something I saw on the music television yesterday. It is rare these days when a music television station actually plays music videos, what a novel concept huh? That is another blog for another day. The point is that yesterday morning I caught VH1 playing vidoes and one happened to be on that caught my attention. The music wasn't bad, it was actually as I said before "pleasing to my ears". I watched and noticed that it was 5 men dancing and singing. Now I realize that boy bands have been around for a very long time. I don't credit Boyz2Men or N'Sync for this musical style, but they certainly ushered in a huge tsunami of boy bands that were popular in the 90's, one of which was New Kids on the Block. So I'm watching the VH1 and see Marky Mark's brother dancing and singing and think to myself, "no, it can't be". Sho 'nuff the name of the band and title of the song comes onto the screen and it was none other than the New Kids on the Block. I just laughed out loud, literally. Seriously? You guys are old. You're certainly not kids. Sure I get the whole reunion thing....hell I'm still holding out for Oingo Boingo to get back together for their second coming. Zepplin did it, the Police did it and they hated each other, you can too Danny, I'm beggin you!
But come on "Kids", you probably need to re-think this whole name thing. I'm just sayin. So I liked the tune. I'm not going to run out and buy the album, but I won't change the station if it comes on again. After all I like music, it's good for you. It's Good for Your Soul....come on Danny, Steve, somebody please make it happen!