Music evolution

Yes, I’m a Metalhead. But you’re terribly mistaken if you think all I listen to is Metal.

I appreciate good music. And Metal happens to be a large part of that… Yeah, I know that’s highly subjective

Rock is good. After all… Metal was conceived by Rock and Blues… I actually like all genres of rock… but I’ve got a penchant for the heavier beats…

Our taste in music sort of evolves as we grow up… Here’s quick peek into how I came to be a Metalhead

When I was just knee high I used to listen to the stuff my parents listened to. The likes of Jim Reeves, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Elvis and The Beetles… to name a few. (I still remember those rare occasions when my dad was in the country, when I used to stand on his feet and we’d dance to the slower tracks).

Then… I discovered that if I turned the dial on the radio I could tune into other stations! Stations that would play slightly (but only slightly) more modern tracks… I gradually became a fan of Boy George and The Culture Club, Tiffany, New Kids on the Block, Phil Collins.

Not much later, they began to show music videos on Tv… I became familiar with bands such as Mr. Big… and a host of other “weird hair” bands, the names of which I just can’t seem to recall at the moment!

And then… What I have termed “The Dark Ages” of my music preferences came to pass… My pejorative bubblegum pop phase… It’s pitiable to think that I went from listening to rock music by Billy Joel, Sting and the Police, Van Halen, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits, Aerosmith, Journey, The Scorpions, Foreigner and Def Leppard… to…. the BackStreet Boys…

Oh come on! You listened to them too!!!

Well, there I was in my preteens, singing till I was breathless to Quit Playing Games and As Long As You Love Me… (I’m cringing in abashment as I type this). Of course there were the other bands as well… Take That, Five, No Mercy, Westlife and Boy Zone…

I was too much of a BSB fan to even consider listening to Nsync when they entered the pop music scene. As for Britney Spears… well quite honestly…I never really liked her songs.

(Come to think of it… I wasn’t a fan of any of the all girl pop-bands/ artists at the time…)

Eventually, I began drifting away from bubblegum pop… (Hallelujah!) I needed something that was a little less superficial…

And I was introduced to TNL RN! I moseyed into the world of Alternative Rock and Punk Rock. My new favs were Lifehouse, Nickleback, Staind, Creed, Puddle of Mud, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan and Green Day.

It was then that I heard… Linkin Park. I think it’s safe to say that most heshers of my generation had their first sip of intoxicating metal with LP. Of course… LP had been mud slung quite a bit for being Nu metal… as other bands of that genre. The turntables gave Metal a Hip Hop-py smack that headbangers found absolutely revolting. They weren’t ready to embrace the music of their rivals let alone allow it to contaminate the sacrosanct water of Metaldom. And their latest album, Minutes to Midnight…*shudder*, that was… let’s not even go there…sigh

Anyhow, they deserve some credit, if it weren’t for them I might not have become a Metalhead.

But I digress, getting back to the topic, one of my besties at the time was into metal and when I told her about LP, she pointed me in the direction of Heavy Metal. She got me a few System of a Down and Lamb of God tracks, and there was no turning back.

That was almost a decade back. Since then I’ve discovered gobs of metal bands and become a huge fan of Iron Maiden, and well… I’ve never wavered in my preference to metal.

To be fair, I have listened to Hip hop, Rap, RnB and other genres of music but they never really appealed to me. And as for the old stuff, well they’re classics, I’ll always like them.

So to all of you who seem to think that all I’ve ever known is metal, I probably know alot more about music than you do.