Thursday, February 2, 2012

What Was Your First Album?

Although I don't think I would ever go so far as to claim that "Music iz mi lyf!!1!", music does play some importance in my life - mainly, there's usually something playing in the background whenever I'm doing just about anything, be it writing, studying, or just plain ol' surfing the web. (You may or may not have seen my January 16th post on my latest music tastes.)

(1:56pm Mountain Time; Currently Playing: "Baby One More Time" - Britney Spears. What?)

Now, I think most of us remember our first albums, do we not? I think, however, it's especially important to many people, especially those born since about 1960-70, since music has only recently become easily available thanks to vinyl records, cassette tapes, 8-Tracks, and CDs. Thus, I think most people who ever owned some sort of musical device probably remember their first album, whether it was played with a needle or a series of lasers.

When I was around eight years old or so, I was into some music, most of which came from the radio. I particularly remember Lou Bega's "Mambo Number 5", which quickly became my favorite song. After all, it was catchy, and no eight year old really understands what's really going on in half of these songs anyways.


For whatever reason, my parents decided it was appropriate to buy this album for me. I don't even think I ever listened to the other songs on the album; how many of you can name a song by a one-hit-wonder that wasn't their debut song? (Hell, how many of you also knew that A-Ha only broke up a few years ago?)

The funny thing is that I was growing up around the time that The Backstreet Boys/N'Sync was insanely popular. As an eight year old girl, I thought that boy bands were incredibly silly, even when so many others my age thought that "OHHH EMMM GEEE NICK IS SO HAWWWTT." (Is one of them named Nick? I honestly have no idea.) I also did not care for Britney Spears at the time, when again, so many people did (though not just for her singing, ha).

(2:12 pm Mountain Time, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra has just come up in my library!)

My first real album, though, the one I truly consider to have "owned", is Evanescence's "Fallen". In 2003, when I was just beginning to grow up, I fell in love with the rock-female singer combo. For my twelfth birthday, not only did I receive "Fallen", but I also got my very own portable CD player, which I still have laying around some place, actually. 

(2:17 pm Mountain time; "Last Train to Memphis" - The Band.)

Two years later, for my fourteenth birthday, I found myself the owner of a First Generation Ipod Nano. They had literally just come out that same month, and I adored how small they were. However, it would quickly become apparent that 4 gb of space just wasn't enough for me. Yet at the time, I only listened to Green Day, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, and Evanescence (and similar bands). Space wasn't a large concern for me.

Until, of course, I met Ryan.
Ryan was 21, and he liked cool music. He didn't listen to lame mainstream stuff, but cool stuff, like 90's grunge music (some of which I was already listening to) and Drum and Bass. He was the reason I ever heard of Pendulum, Jefferson Airplane, and the one I am probably indebted to him for, Richard and Linda Thompson.   (2:24 pm Mountain Time: "In Only Seven Days" - Queen).
You see, when I was nearing the completion of "Family History", I was beginning to search my subconscious for another idea for a story. Richard and Linda Thompson's album, "Shoot Out the Lights" was my original inspiration, because somehow, I saw the entire album as a story waiting to be completed. I wanted there to be a movie where that album served as the soundtrack. Somehow, it became my job to do just that. And, after some intricate workings, I came up with a rough plot for "The Night Life."

(NOTE: This portion of this post was entirely unplanned. And I might detail how I arrived at the rough plot sometime, but not now. Mostly because I would have to explain every song and what it meant, and I honestly have no idea where I would begin with that, other than starting at Track #1.)

Coming Soon: A Post on that silly little poll I had about DRMs, and what they mean to different authors.

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