Welcome to the first installment of the Terzi Music Experiment. This may seem pretty ridiculous to most readers, so let's have a little sit-down right now so that I can give you a little bit of background.
I've always loved music, but for (basically) the first 30 years of my life I've kept a fairly tight leash around the music that I've listened to. The majority of the tunes that I've enjoyed for the past three decades were created between 1955 and 1979, in a word: Oldies.
There were, of course, a couple of years of pop-music excursions, and introductions to other styles of music along the way. I have been in jazz and concert bands as a percussionist and was exposed to latin jazz, latin, swing, big band, as well as convert pieces like Russian Christmas Music, the Planets, etc. I've been involved in Colonial-period martial music during my stints in Fife and Drum corps (click here for more information on this style), also as a percussionist. And there were a few years in the early 90s and late 90s/early 2000s where I listened to pop music.
But the comforting music for me were the oldies. When I couldn't find a scene during my teens, I gave up looking and wrapped myself in the tunes that I knew. When hair-bands and early hip-hop didn't do it for me, I ran back to Chuck Berry and Bill Hayley (which incidentally is why I missed all of grunge, with the exception of 2 or three songs, all of which I was actually exposed to by Weird Al Yancovich). When I fell away from late-90s pop by the boy bands and seemingly exploitative "latin invasion", I ran back to the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
Now it's 2011. It's a new year, and I know there is a lot of good music out there that I haven't experienced. So, as of the 1st of the year, I've given up listening to Oldies. I've deleted the pre-sets in my car, and have replaced them with pop and, yes... even a country station. I've currently looking for suggestions for albums to listen to, but they have to follow these rules:
- Please list a ALBUM, and not just one song.
- The album has to be recorded/released between 1980 and the present.
- The artist could have been recording before 1980, but the album has to be 1980 or after.
- ALL genres are welcome.
I'm going to add ALL suggested albums to my new grooveshark.com playlist, then make my way through them, one by one. After I've gotten a good feel for the tunes on the album, I'll post my thoughts here. Simple.
I'm in now way a music expert. But I've been exposed to a lot of different styles, and I know what I like and why I like it. And it's from that perspective that I'll be critiquing the new stuff. Take it or leave it, I don't really care. This is my journey, and you're free to walk with me for a while if you'd like. (Incidentally, I really dislike Journey.)
So, check back often. Check out the blog, and give me your thoughts/comments/feedback. This should be a fun trip.
For those of you who would like to hear what I've been digging on for the last 30 years, click on the link below. It will send you to my personal oldies playlist.
