Music and Me, or is it, Music and I...

As my friends know, I'm a huge fan of music. As far back as I can remember I've loved music. I guess I was about two years old when I first heard Michael Jackson and Billy Joel. My mom would take me to work with here and I would sing Billie Jean and The Longest Time to the girls at the store she worked at.

Alvin and the Chipmunks was an early influence on me. I know that sounds silly, but if you think about it, it's right on. They would do covers of the current pop hits and that's pretty much how I got exposed to mainstream rock and roll.

My dad was a musician. He was in a band with Brian Haner (Jeff Dunham's "guitar guy".) I remember being very young and my mom would take me to hear him play. I think my earliest memory of him playing was at a place called, "The Rusty Pelican". To this day I remember him playing, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).

All the music I remember as a little kid, was music my mom would play on the radio as she was taking me places. Phil Collins, The Go-Gos, Prince, Elton John, David Bowie, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Journey, Billy Idol, The Bangles, and Duran Duran were all the music I grew up on at the time. I miss the 80s.

Fast forward to the school talent show in 1990. My fifth grade teacher made us sing, "Imagine" by John Lennon. I recall that I didn't know that John Lennon was allowed to sing music by himself. That's how innocent I was back then. About a year later, my friend Nick kind of showed me what real rock was and he introduced me to Nirvana, Pearl Jam and INXS. There was a girl in my class who went the other way of music and told me how cool Jim Morrison was.

The early 90s was a wired time in music for me. I was listening to Top 40 radio. That was pretty much what everybody was listening to anyway. I was listening to crap like Ace of Base, Sheryl Crow, and Boys II Men just to be "cool". On the other hand, I liked R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Lenny Kravitz because that's what I was really into.

By the time I got into 8th grade, I was getting into Classic Rock. Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix,The Police, Santana, and Led Zeppelin were my heroes. Also around this time, I'd hang out with my uncles a lot. My uncle Joe played a lot of Aerosmith and Billy Idol in his car. My uncle Eric played a lot of Van Halen when I was around him.

In high school, I fell in love with The Beatles. For a few months, The Beatles were ALL I listened to. Before the days of downloading music, I would sit at home and tape every Beatles song that would come on the radio.

In my junior and senior years of high school, I got into the music of the 80s. There was so much more good stuff out there than what I remembered as a kid. I was listening to, "Richard Blade's Flashback Lunch". He showcased a lot of the cool 80s bands that I really didn't get into earlier in life. Artists and Bands like Elvis Costello and the Attractions, U2, Oingo Boingo, Guns N' Roses, Beastie Boys, Adam Ant, Depeche Mode were all bands that I got into at that time that I am still fans of now. Not just because of Richard Blade, but also because of the friends I was hanging out with at the time.

I took a History of Rock Music class at Cerritos College in 2001. That's when music exploded for me. I was getting exposed to all different realms of music. Not just because of the class, but because of the friends I'd hang out with. I would hang out with my friends and that's all we did. We'd hang out and listen or talk about music. Between the class and my friends, I'd get into Punk, Glam, Metal, Rap, New Wave, Blues, and pretty much everything in between.

At this time, I established myself as this encyclopedia of musical information. I remember talking with my friend Mario for a long time about how cool of a song Locamotive Breath is. People would call me up, not see what I was up to, or to see if I wanted to hang out, but to ask me what the name of this song was or who performed the song. Sometimes it still happens.

It's weird how my favorite artists will change. When I was a kid, Michael Jackson and BIlly Joel were my favorite artists. In high school, The Beatles were my favorite band. In the 2000s, The Clash , U2 and David Bowie were my  favorites. It all changes. If you ask me now, I don't know who my favorite band  or artist is. It's that hard to choose. Sometimes, I still say David Bowie is my favorite. Then I'll think about it again and say that, "No, The Who are my favorite". Last week, Cake was my favorite. Only because that's what I mostly listened to. Out of the bands that are around today, I can easily say that the Foo Fighters are my favorite band.

So, That's probably the longest blog I've ever typed. Whew!