Musical Genres I Prefer (and why)

 

There are many musical genres I appreciate and/or LOVE. 

In this post I am going to list them in order of importance (to me). I will also explain to you WHY I like it.

#01. Rock. (+Southern Rock, +Americana, +Indie Rock, +Alternative Rock, +Punk, +Blues Rock) I was immediately drawn to rock from a young age because my brothers would play their music for me. The Beatles, Eagles, Pink Floyd, Joe Cocker (John), Neil Diamond (Randy), T-Rex, etc. I was exposed to all types. Later in high school I was drawn to Heartland Rock (Springsteen, Mellencamp, Petty, Seger), AOR (Journey, Foreigner, Survivor), and Southern Rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot, Molly Hatchet, 38 Special, etc.). I was drawn to Hard Rock through a particular 8-Track tape called "Ridin' High" by Moxy. I was drawn in to Southern Rock through ZZ Top (thanks MTV) which led me to Lynyrd Skynyrd and then to Molly Hatchett and Blackfoot. I was drawn to AOR though Journey. Steve Forrester played Journey for me, and I was hooked. I found Heartland Rock, and singer-songwriter stuff (Springsteen, Mellencamp) through MTV (Thanks MTV). That led me to Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Tom Waits, etc. Americana is basically Steve Earle who I saw on MTV (thanks MTV). MTV had a HUGE influence on my musical taste early on. This led me to The Bottle Rockets, Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, etc. I heard about a type of rock called "Lo-Fi" so I looked it up in a book. The book suggested Guided By Voices was the archetypical lo-fi rock band. I saw them on HBO Reverb in 2001. Something clicked in me. I became and fan that night, and I still am to this day. 25 years now. Bruce  Springsteen has always been my favorite, though he has become a laughing stock nowadays because of his stupid woke political views. Sad. Nevertheless, his 1975-1985 period is great! Also, my dad had some rock related stuff in his massive record collection. I found old Buddy Holly records (which I REALLY got into as a child), and Tony Joe White, and Johnny Cash... Elvis... There was a lot of stuff.

#02. Country. (+Alt Country, +Texas Country) My father turned me on to country from the time I was a wee lad. Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Buck Owens (Thanks Hee-Haw), and Hank Williams. Heard "Country Boy Can Survive" on the radio and was drawn to Hank Jr. Heard "Devil Went Down To Georgia" on the radio and got into Charlie Daniels. That led me to bands like The Marshall Tucker band and the Outlaws, which connected back up with Southern Rock. Jason and the Scorchers was in there too. My dad had all kinds of country records in his massive record collection. I explored these with great vigor.

#03. Blues. Discovered it after getting into ZZ Top. Realized that ZZ Top is hugely influenced by traditional blues (like John Lee Hooker). After I saw the movie "Crossroads" in 1986, I got into the Delta blues, BIG TIME. This led me to Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters (and many others). I explored the Chess record label. Through the Blues Brothers movie (which came out in 1980) I discovered Stax/Volt, Mussel Shoals, etc. In the later 80's and early 90's, this led me into Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Booker T & The MG's, etc. My dad had a Son House record in his collection. I dug on that after seeing that "Crossroads" movie. Later discovered Skip James, and Johnny Shines (me and Dad even saw him live, amazingly), and other blues legends. Found out about the Alligator Record label in about 1990 or so, and my blues love affair hit high gear! Hound-Dog Taylor... 'nuff said.

#04. Folk. I got into folk (and folk-rock) by getting into Bob Dylan. Also Springsteen's Nebraska album really launched me toward folk as well. I really got into that stripped-down three-chords-and-the-truth ethos. My dad had lots of folk records in his expansive and wide-ranging collection. Johnny Cash represented this too. I also found a guy named John Gorka who I liked a lot. He kind of lost steam... but his first half-dozen albums or so are brilliant.

#05. Reggae. I heard Bob Marley on TV and was hooked. This led me to artists like Peter Tosh (limited), and Jimmy Cliff (VERY limited). There was also a minor Springsteen component too. He had some slight reggae dabbling (most notably "Trapped"). Which caught my attention. But it was mostly a Bob Marley thing. I like early ska, and Rocksteady (precursor's to Reggae). Some of that sounds really cool.

#06. Jazz. In my youth, I never really got into Jazz per se. But I really liked some of it (Vince Guaraldi... Peanuts... Jazz). Later I kind of warmed up to it more thanks to Tom Waits' earlier stuff. To this day, I like the white shirt and tie, horn-rim glasses era of Jazz. Like the 60's era. There was also a samba/jazz guitarist named Bola Sete whose album I was exposed to thanks to my Dad's EXTREMELY eclectic record collection. I thought it sounded pretty cool. Turns out he worked with Vince Guaraldi so you see how this stuff begins to inter-connect.

#07. Classical. When I saw the movie "Amadeus" around 1985 or so, I really got into Classical music hard core. I came to a realization that these dudes were the "rock stars" of their day. I found it incredible that they found a way to preserve their music even without recording devices. They "wrote" music down on Paper. Like you and I write words. That's fascinating to me. Some of the earliest stuff preserved like this is from 1724. Mind boggling! By the way, as a kid I found Beethoven records in my Dad's records. I REALLY got into it. As a kid! He had a lot of classical stuff and opera in his records. Some opera is very mo

All of the different music I was exposed to as a youth and as I grew up went a long way toward making me the musical person I am today. When I was 12 or so, I started trying to play the guitar. 

To this day I write music constantly. But my personal music making is for another day and another post.

You will notice one main genre that is not present here. Rap/Hip-Hop. I think Rap/Hip-Hop could be good. I have appreciated SOME (very limited) rap/hip-hop in the past. So yeah, it has potential. But as a musical form it runs contrary to music in general, in my opinion. There is limited to zero instrumentation. It is devoid of melody and tune (mostly). I often say it is "music" for people who don't understand music. Most importantly though, the lyrics promote vile hedonism, narcissism, anti-authoritarian behavior, anti-Law, anti-traditional family values, and greed. There is also a strong element of racism, divisiveness, and promotion of thuggery. Who needs it!!! No thanks!