A Brief Unsolicited History of Myself As a Music Listener

I spent the better part of my first decade living in Thunder Bay, and although the eighties have a terrible musical reputation, I had alot of fun listening to the bands that found their way onto Ontario's music video program "Video Hits", with host Samantha Taylor. I remember sitting with my beloved tape deck when the show came on, holding the mic up to the tv to record the video's onto cheap blank tapes. These tapes ended up filled with Glass Tiger, Huey Lewis, Bryan Adams, and Corey Hart for the most part. I also had a few tapes that my father played in our Ford Pickup, Toto and REO Speedwagon. Eventually, I convinced my mother to buy me my first tape one day at a Zellers, which was Huey Lewis and The News-Sports. This was followed by Glass Tiger-The Thin Red Line the next Christmas.

When we moved to the Ottawa area just outside of Arnprior in 1988, I caught onto the rap explosion, listening to bands like Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff, Dream Warriors, Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, etc. You can't blame me either, with the most popular rock acts at the time being Guns and Roses and Def Leppard. At least the Dream Warriors were catchy, and I was too buried in mainstream rural Ontario culture to have heard of the Pixies or Minor Threat at the time. Anyway, it all changed for me, (among many) one night when I sat down to watch Saturday Night Live, (my favorite show). The musical guest was Nirvana, and to say they blew me away is an understatement. Watching Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic destroy their equipment seemed to encapsulate all of the early adolescent frustration I was experiencing at the time, trapped on the side of a highway in the middle of rural nowhere, out of touch with my peers, with pubescent hormones raging and unable to talk to my emotionally bereft father about it. Nirvana became my favorite band easily, and led me to other alternative rock acts like The Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, and eventually Weezer.

When Kurt Cobain died alternative rock just wasn't the same for me, which ushered in a revival of another style of music quickly gaining popularity with the success of Greenday and the Offspring, punk rock. We were quickly taught that these bands weren't "real" punk rock however, (tongue in cheek). Enter Fat Wreck Chord and Epitaph. While punk rock quickly gained more followers, I initially enjoyed bands like NOFX, Gob, Propagandhi, d.b.s., No Use For a Name, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing my first shows. When I saw Greenday it was an arena show, with opening band the Riverdales, and they were a huge influence on me.

When I started playing guitar, and took my first stabs at writing music with friends, we went to see D.O.A., which imprinted on my memory forever as my first "real" punk show. However, I quickly grew bored with the sudden popularity, and starting listening to Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins religiously. This relapse didn't last long however, as punk rock cemented itself as my favorite musical style when I was introduced to Hopeless Records and Recess Records by friends. This was a landslide of great music at once, as I enjoyed bands like Digger, 88 Fingers Louie, Pud, FYP, Funeral Oration, Nobodys, White Kaps, the Crumbs, Berserk, Goatboy, Guttermouth, and other bands. Face to Face and Jugheads Revenge also entered this group.

Fast forward 12-13 years and I still love these bands. Other bands have entered the equation too, however. These days I also love bands like Thrice, Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike, Jimmy Eat World, A Wilhelm Scream, No Trigger, After The Fall, and other post punk and melodic hardcore acts. Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard both have multiple projects going on that are awesome, Andy Dixon is doing some borderline brilliant experimentation with sound, Propagandhi has evolved from poppy political punk into an observational and poetic yet still critical hardcore band, and Gob is still touring Canada multiple times per year.
I also love anti-folk alot, including Paul Baribeau, Kimya Dawson, Moldy Peaches, Daniel Johnston, and Jeffrey Lewis.
Great Lake Swimmers and Attack In Black are also favorites.
While it remains obvious that DIY/Indie is my drink of choice, I still leave time for rock. I still listen to Foo Fighters, and bands like Danko Jones, Pride Tiger, and Hollerado have joined them as some of my favorite rock bands.
I also am a huge fan of desert rock, particularly Queens of the Stone Age and the Eagles of Death Metal.
In addition, (1+1+1=awesome) Them Crooked Vultures are an amazing effort from Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones.

More to come, and special thanks to anyone with enough patience to read this blog.
Kristopher (Dyce)
dycekgb@hotmail.com