When it comes to my dedication to tunes I have not grown up. I still have an obsession with groups that I was introduced to as a teen. I’m a big fan of the nineties and very early 2000’s. I love groups from the sixties but have little time for the 70’s and 80’s. There may be a small handful of groups or songs I got into from this era but very few. For me music outside of the 60’s was created from 1989 with the release of music from the grunge groups and Tool. I was glad to see the death of the hairbands of the years leading up to this date. Nirvana killed this for us all. The closest group of this genre that I have feelings for is Gun’s N Roses. They were one of the first groups I ever got into and I was in grade three. Before that I was a Michael Jackson diehard fan. Don’t give me a hard time for this… I was a ten year old!
I have always had a tendency to get fixated on certain things. It was all or nothing. Black and white. No half measures. This hasn’t changed. When I develop an interest in something I don’t do it half-arsed. I throw myself completely into the obsession of whatever it is/was and it can take over. These things can be quite obscure. When it comes to music outside of MJ my energy went into Nirvana, The Doors and Tool.
I was introduced to Nirvana and Kurt Cobain in 1996. It was my first year of high school and I was 13. It was a cassette flogged on the school bus to school and back home by one of the older students. Thanks Macca. Something just grabbed me by it and I became an instant fan. I threw myself into everything the group and Kurt produced. Their albums, all of the B-sides, VHS tapes, books, posters for my bedroom, my clothing, box sets… everything I could get my hands on! An obsession doesn’t do my admiration for Nirvana justice. I can still name all of the songs of each album in order along with the release dates of each single. I know every lyric and I know more about Cobain than is healthy for any human. As a child I idolised Kurt and glamorised his suicide. His death left room for the jigsaw puzzle of his life, musical works and lyrics. As sad and scary as it was I looked up to him and wanted to follow in his footsteps. Thank God I grew up and now see it for what it was, what it is… great music and lyrics by a depressed man who has no bearing over my life today. I’m so glad I grew out of this dark period of my life. I’m sure it was just a teenager thing that slightly spilt over into my early adulthood. Unplugged in New York is still my favorite album of all time. I occasionally listen to them these days but I played their music sooo much that it has become stale, predictable and outdated. Kurt left a mess behind after he took his own life in 1994 too. He left a wife, a baby and millions of impressionable teenagers across the world, some who commited copycat suicides. He had a responsibility and I find it hard to feel any compassion for the man today for not sticking it out. I will always rate Nirvana.
A few years later in year nine when i was 16 I discovered The Doors and Jim Morrison. I took a similar interest in them that I had found in Nirvana. Without repeating myself on the memorabilia I collected, I flew head first into them. Jim Morrison became my new hero. Once again I fell in love with everything I could get my hands onto and Morrison got me into poetry which I still dabble with today. LA Woman was the first album my dad bought when he invested in a CD player in 1995 and I had few CD’s of my own so I got to know this album well. My best mate at the time shared the love for the group and Jim as much as myself so we bonded over this.
My world was then blown apart by Tool. I am a dedicated fan to this day. I have seen them live countless times, I have tattoos, I fell in love with Maynard James Keenan’s side groups who I have also seen live and Tool’s music has been flogged as often as Nirvana and The Doors music combined. I am seeing them at a festival in less than a month. It’s been a few years since I have seen them. I’m getting too old for festivals but it is the only gig they’re doing in Melbourne so I’ll brave the crowd of youngsters and find a comfy seat up the back and watch them from a distance. Tool have a fanbase of older people like myself who will show so I won’t be the only oldy. The band has been together for a lot longer than the young ones who will be crammed in the mosh pit.
Outside of these three groups I have a plethora of groups I love and respect. I am an avid concert goer and have seen most of the major international groups live over the decades. I won’t list them as this blog has become too long as it is.
I have a healthy respect for music and it has helped me through some dark times. It has always been there for me. I don’t want to sound like a child or teen who is immersed in the music scene but I kind of am. I have lost touch with what is going on in todays music and I know every generation says this but the music from my early years was real and has now faded. You only need to listen to Triple J to see how music has become stagnant and unoriginal. Every song sounds the same as the one before it. There are some dinosaur groups that are still keeping real music alive but there will be a time when these groups disappear too. The joys of getting old!
Just before I end this post… back to Triple J. In the late 90’s I was a big fan of the hottest 100. I know almost all of the songs, I voted and every Australia day I would listen to it intensely. It was like a tradition. Now I’m lucky to recognise a single tune and it’s not even held on Australia day anymore. Just another way the times have changed.