Sobota 24 Sty 2009, 7:12
Michael Jackson was the first great artist I ever heard and was my first major influence.
The Beginning: (1996-2000)
This was the first time I really started to enjoy music and when I heard Everybody (Backstreets Back) by the Backstreet Boys on an Aussie music show Video Hits, about the same time as Freestyler and One Step Closer were popular, I was immediately addicted to Pop music.
Their album Backstreet's Back definitely became one my favourites at that time along with, Aussie group, Human Nature's album Telling Everybody and they both continue to impress me even today.
Ricky Martin's The Cup Of Life was a track I listened to every weekend before I played Soccer during this time.
I also listened to the Batman Forever soundtrack album a fair bit during this time with tracks Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me & Kiss From A Rose becoming favourites of mine and suggesting that I would enjoy a wide range of music in the future.
My sister listened to music from the Spice Girls & Britney Spears a lot at that time and I had a lot of exposure so it would have influenced me somewhat.
In my senior year of Primary School, 2000, I started to get much wider exposure to music. My friends were listening to artists that would now be categorised as nu metal such as Korn and their song Freak on a Leash soon became a favourite of mine. Limp Bizkit was also popular amongst my friends and their album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot dog Flavored Water became an album that I listened to a lot.
Will Smith was also popular at that time and it was because of his song Men In Black that I purchased his single Will 2K, the first CD that I ever bought.
At that time I also had access to exclusive 'Air Play' CD's that exposed me to popular new music at the time, specifically The Real Slim Shady which instantly became one of my favourites. This was the first time I had heard Eminem but soon after that I heard another one of his tracks called The Way I Am and from then I was instantly hooked to rap.
It was at that time when I created a custom album that I constantly listened to and knew every song word for word, the track list was: Lay Low, WW III, Nuthin' But A "G" Thang, Forgot About Dre, California Love, Bad Boy For Life, Who Am I (What's My Name)?, The Next Episode, bang Bang, All About U, Fuck You, What's The Difference, You Can Do It, Party Up In Here, Still D.R.E., Changes & Hello.
High School: (2001-2005)
During the first 3 years of High School, 2001-2003, I was going through some tough times in my life and Eminem became an artist that I loved. His album The Marshall Mathers LP became an album that I basically listened to every day during that period. Soon after that, Eminem formed a group called D12 and they released their debut album called Devil's Night, which I was immediately addicted to. Following that he went solo again and released The Eminem Show, the last album of his that I really liked as he changed his style.
This also marked another change in my musical interests during years 2004-2005. Aussie Hip Hop group Hilltop Hoods released their album The Calling, which took me a while to get into but soon couldn’t get enough of.
During this time I also had my first real taste of Dance music as songs from A Night at the Roxbury such as What Is Love (7" mix) & Where Do You Go (Ocean Drive mix) along with Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) (Basic Radio) became very appealing to me.
I also listened to Electronic tracks Clubbed To Death & Cry Little Sister (I Need U Now) to focus with when I was studying at this time, along with a lot of Nobuo Uematsu because of my obsession with the game Final Fantasy VIII and because it was calming to study with.
In mid-2005 I also became addicted to Blink-182 mainly because of I Miss You, then a few songs from their album Enema of the State became favourites of mine as well as songs Stay Together For The Kids, Dammit & more recently Feeling This. Also a couple of tracks from Simple Plan as punk rock found it's way into my taste.
Linkin Park then soon became a big favourite of mine as I listened to albums Hybrid Theory, Meteora & Reanimation a lot.
At the end of 2005, I was organinsing my 18th and was going through house tracks to play, and created the first custom house album. I then fell in love with Heaven, Da Funk, Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song) & Silence because of it. Soon enough other tracks such as Miracle, Sorcerary, Bodyrock & Dancing In The Dark became high on my favourites list.
Songs Let me Love You, Obsesion (No Es Amor) (Featuring Baby Bash), Lonely, Into You (Featuring Ashanti) & All My Life then made me fall in love with rnb and after hearing Twork It Out I immediately knew that I had to hear more from the genre.
Uni Life: (2006-2008)
At the start of 2006, feeling free from school, I began to search for more music and I fell in love with a couple of albums during this time. Usher's 8701 was one that I could not get enough of and still rate as one of the best rnb albums ever. The other was The Black Album from Jay-Z, which is arguably the best hip hop album to date. Both of these albums have probably influenced who I am today more than any other.
I also found a lot of music through my use of Myspce at this time, discovering T.I. before he was signed as an Amped Up remix of his song What You Know became a favourite of mine. Lesser known artis Jon Young also became an artist I began to listen to a lot because of his track City I Luv along with T-Pain whose song im in love with a stripper was featured on my profile for practically that whole year.
Mid way through that year I suddenly became a big fan of Nelly and purchased his albums Country Grammar, Nellyville, Sweat & Suit.
Dance tracks Call On Me, Something About You (Live Element Club Mix Radio Edit) & Star to Fall (radio edit) were also big favourites for me that year.
In 2007 I was recovering from a breakup early during the year and a few love related songs found their way to my heart, Angel, When You Say Nothing At All, Almost Here & How To Save A Life most specifically.
During the year I had to start concentrating more on my Uni work to improve my grades, Coldplay helped with this as I found that listening to their album, Parachutes, helped me to focus better when studying and soon enough I really started to enjoy their music. Something happened during this time and I started to really enjoy forms of Alternative Rock. In addition to Coldplay I started to like The Verve's Urban Hymns, specifically their track Bittersweet Symphony, along with a few songs from James Blunt's Back To Bedlam, James Morrison's You Give Me Something & an acoustic version of Teddy Geiger's For You I Will (Confidence) all becoming favourites of mine. Dance tracks All This Love & I See Girls also became favourites.
I also got more into Kanye West during this year and purchased Graduation with great satisfaction. It was a time when I first heard Ne-Yo's Sexy Love and it wasn't long before I fell in love with the track.
During that year, my top 3 tracks were #1: Ways Of The World, #2: I Got 5 on It & #3: Not Give a Fuck.
2008 was again another revolutionary time for me regarding music as I discovered more sources to find music. For the first few months I was using Urban music sights to get new music, Nasri was probably the best new artist that I found followed closely by Lil Eddie.
Early in the year Dance tracks Pretty Green Eyes (Hixxy, Styles & Breeze Mix) & Do You Know (I Go Crazy) were big for me.
I became addicted to Ne-Yo during this time and I was listening to his album In My Own Words more than anything else. Lloyd's Caddillac Love & Leona Lewis' Better In Time were a couple other Urban songs that did get my attention though.
I was also introduced to a range of new songs by friend & artist Cat Wall, whose cover of Oasis' track Wonderwall proved to me that she knew a lot about great music. Konstantine was the first track I was introduced to. That and For Me This Is Heaven then became two songs that I absolutely adored, along with Boston, which I later discovered thanks to her.
I then got a Last.Fm account and greatly broadened my ability to find new music, allowing me to Find more songs from Something Corporate as I instantly fell in love with basically all of their songs as they got me through some tough times. Through that I started to also listen to Jack's Mannequin and discovered that Andrew McMahon was the man behind both bands. He then became my equal favourite musician, along with Mr. Shaffer Chimere Smith AKA Ne-Yo.
To help me to study during this year I was listening to a lot of post-rock, mainly Explosions in the Sky & Mogwai along with Hitman composer Jesper Kyd & tracks Hoppipolla, Fair & Silver Wings.
Walking By helped me let go of somebody & Still Fighting It helped me see my life in a different perspective both late in the year but influenced me greatly.
My top tracks by the end of 2008 were #1 Cavanaugh Park, #2 A Gift Of Thistle & #3 Into The Airwaves.
Having seen my first ever live performance late in year 2008 by rnb artist Montell Jordan, I am scheduled to see jack's Mannequin live at the Adelaide Soundwave Festival this Feburary and I can't wait!!
Beyond that, who knows where 2009 will now take me..