My Musical Journey

Disclaimer: Non-music lovers may find this a bit (heaven forbid!) boring.

I think I have a middleground taste in music--maybe bordering on the alternative or obscure, but not too much. I really consider myself as a product of 80s music though my teen years happened in the 90s. It's just that I didn't like 90s music that much.

My older brothers however, entered their teens in the 80s. And since, their stereo would blast out songs that were popular then (they'd buy a new casette tape every week), I loved those tunes as if I could relate to them.

ELEMENTARY MUSIC
Between the popularity battle between Spandau Ballet and Tony Hadley's velvet-smooth voice. After all, I heard my kuya said that Simon Le Bon admitted in an interview that his vocal stylings are products of synthesizers.

Once, when I was mouthing Hall and Oates' Out of Touch, my high school busmate was so amazed and challenged me to a Name that Tune contest. So we waited for the next song, and as the first few chords were struck, I immediately blurted out, "Pale Shelter!" My opponent looked at me in admiration and asked me who sang it. I looked at her as if she were from Mars and answered, "Tears for Fears, siyempre." She asked me how I knew those songs and I told her about my brothers who played these tunes almost everyday in their room. To show off, I even sang parts of the song (I didn't know all the lyrics) but I knew I made up some of them, just as long as "they sounded like" the real words. After all, I was only 8 years old.

My brothers bought all kinds of music--Kool and the Gang, The Cure, Dire Straits, The Commodores, Stray Cats, etc. There was a lot more; I wish I can remember them all.

GROWING UP
Highschool came and it was the 90s. Though I listened to Paula Abdul, Go West, The Candyman (all of which don't top my musical favorites now), I disliked Snap, Roxette, Rick Price, and the like. Okay, so I had my share of fanatical crushing on The New Kids on the Block. But hey, I was only 14 and it was part of the maturity process.

I turned to my kuya for musical enlightenment and found myself falling in love with New Wave. Those were still 80s songs, but somehow when I was 8, I seemed to have ignored this genre. The songs sounded familiar, and in my re-discovery, they sounded mysteriously divine. The lyrics were so poetic yet sung in a detached way. Listening to them made me feel I was cool.

My favorites were This is the day by The The, The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen, Happy People by Yazoo, Big Country by Big Country, Wrong Heaven by Eggstone. For Christmas, I asked for casette tapes (CDs weren't in yet; besides, I didn't have a CD player) and my kuya gave me the best of The Smiths, The Police, and China Crisis.

I dug into their drawer of 80s casettes (most of them were warped) and I fell in love with The Style Council. Until now, my favorite song is You're the Best Thing. From time to time, I listened to NU but I think the most memorable song I listened to was Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes.

I started keeping a notebook of lyrics. On weekends, I'd tune ito LS the whole day, with my blank tape (my old Menudo tape I recycled) in the recorder, poised to dub a serendipitous song. When I'm lucky enough to record a song I like, I transcribe the lyrics, pushing the pause and play buttons on the player (didn't care about wear and tear). My notebook is still somewhere at the back of my closet and contains lyrics of Bong Gabriel's Awit para sa Iyo, Howard Jones' No one is to Blame, XTC's Peter Pumpkin.

Across the University

I was only a college freshman when Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cranberries, Enigma, etc.) but I think my first two years in college was marked by OPM music.

Thanks to Jim Agustin, our Filipino lit teacher, I discovered Buklod, and Joey Ayala (beyond the Karaniwang Tao fame). That was the height of Mayric's and Club Dredd. On the summer after freshman year, I returned to my blank tape-recording phase, but this time, I was tuned in to LA 105.9. I spent my days listening to Philippine Violators, Datu's Tribe (Praning was the best! It always topped the weekly countdown.), Tame the Tikbalang, Rizal Underground, and Yano.

I can't remember much about the second half of my college years, but my car stereo was always playing the 1896 album (siesyatnebonsotneicostolim by Sugar Hiccup) and an Eraserheads song.

NOW WHAT?

I really have no idea what I'm into these days. Music has become so diverse that it doesn't really follow any one trend anymore (which is good). I think I stopped learning music for a while then when I entered my second job, I discovered Moonpools and Catterpillars, Screaming Cheetah Willies, Pineforest Crunch, The Cardigans, K's Choice, and Bran Van 3000. These bands' songs had nice intros which we stealthily used as scoring for our stories. But the company doesn't do that anymore, promise.

Right now, I'd settle for a soothing Dave Matthews song, or even one from John Mayer, Jason Mraz or Incubus, which are all very mainstream. Locally, I like Urbandub. And if I want a trip back to the 80s (where it all started) with a modern feel, I listen to The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. :)