5/10/15/20

[murlough23]

Pitchfork has been running an interesting feature called "5-10-15-20", where selected musicians talk about music they liked at age 5, 10, etc. up through whatever their current age is. I haven't heard of most of the folks they've featured, but Carl Newman from The New Pornographers is their latest.

http://pitchfork.com/news/tags/5-10-15-20

[bloop]

This would be an interesting way to write up our own musical histories.  I'll bite.

5:   Michael Jackson - "Beat It"
10: The Monkees - "The Monkees Theme"
15:  John Williams - "The Imperial March"
20:  Smashing Pumpkins - "1979"
25:  Radiohead - "Idioteque"
30:  Sufjan Stevens - "Chicago"

[murlough23]

The earliest years are hard for me. I was not really exposed to popular music, except for what I heard in passing when out in public or in a commercial, etc. And the music I heard at church in my earliest years was pretty boring (though ironically, I love some of those hymns now).

5: Um... the Sesame Street theme song?
10: Um... the Square One TV theme song?
15: "Who's in the House", Carman 
20: "Overjoyed", Jars of Clay
25: "Bring Me to Life", Evanescence
30: "Viva la Vida", Coldplay

[Wildcatblue7]

Let's see what i can do with that...I'm only 21, so my list is truncated.

5: "Just the Two of Us," Bill Withers (I was an advanced kid... )
10: "Testify to Love," Avalon (the jam, duh)
15: moving from "Southtown" by P.O.D. to "Hand of the Dead," Living Sacrifice
20: The Fragile, Nine Inch Nails

[spacebrat311]

5: Star Trek: The Next Generation theme
10: Jesus Freak - by dctalk
15: "Love is the Movement - Switchfoot
20: The National Anthem - Radiohead

I am 22, so that will have to do it.

[Wildcatblue7]

5: Star Trek: The Next Generation theme
10: Jesus Freak - by dctalk
15: "Love is the Movement - Switchfoot
20: The National Anthem - Radiohead

I am 22, so that will have to do it.

Oh dang, "Jesus Freak" is probably a more representative 10 for me as well.  Jammed to that all the time with my cousins.

[plvarona]

Here's my list:

5. "Leaving on a Jet Plane" Peter, Paul & Mary (That's what my Dad listened to.)
10. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" U2
15. "Just Another Day" Jon Secada (This was right in the middle of my "top 40 radio" phase.)
20. "Fade to Grey" Jars of Clay
25. "Say Won't You Say" Jennifer Knapp
30. "Forgiven" Relient K

[Brenden]

5: I don't know, probably Raffi and various children's music.
10: Carman
15: The Beatles, DC Talk, Newsboys
20: Sufjan Stevens, Jeffrey Foucault, Jars Of Clay

[murlough23]

I should have put "Wee Sing tapes" for 5.

I wish I'd turned multiples of 5 in years that were multiples of 5; the results would have been more interesting.

[NinjaRob17]

5: I don't remember anything from when I was 5. Psalty maybe?
10: Man, a lot happens in 5 years. Ian Eskelin, Audio Adrenaline, Imagine This, Steve Taylor, Newsboys, dc Talk...
15: Skillet, All Star United, Five Iron Frenzy, Blindside, The Benjamin Gate...
20: This wasn't that long ago...Starflyer 59, This Day & Age, started exploring classic rock, mainstream ska, The 77's...

[murlough23]

We should split off 5/10/15/20 into its own thread, I think.

If I took the intervening years into consideration rather than just taking a snapshot of one favorite song in a particular year, then I suppose a more complete list of my biggest influences would look more like this (leaving out redundant entries for artists who continued to influence me after the point where I initially discovered them):

Childhood (1-10): Wee Sing tapes, Sesame Street, Square One TV's music videos

Tweens/early teens (10-15): Hosanna/Integrity worship music (Don Moen, Ron Kenoly, etc.), Carman, whatever they performed on the Mickey Mouse Club (Michael Jackson, Amy Grant, U2, lots of early 90's urban pop types)

Late teens (15-17): dc Talk, Out of the Grey, East to West, 4Him, DeGarmo & Key, Steven Curtis Chapman, Newsboys, Eric Champion, Margaret Becker, Steve Taylor

College (18-21): Jars of Clay, PfR, Iona, Rebecca St. James, Third Day, Cindy Morgan, Caedmon's Call, Plumb, Jennifer Knapp, Skillet, Five Iron Frenzy, Sixpence None the Richer, Michelle Tumes, Burlap to Cashmere, SonicFlood

Bachelor years (22-27): Delirious?, Chasing Furies, Weird Al Yankovic, Earthsuit, Switchfoot, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Linkin Park, Andrew Peterson, Radiohead, Relient K, The Juliana Theory, Barenaked Ladies, Incubus, Over the Rhine, Nickel Creek, Coldplay, Sigur Ros, Evanescence, Steven Delopoulos, Vienna Teng, David Crowder Band, Anberlin, Sleeping at Last, Falling Up, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine

Married years (27-present): Eisley, Mae, Mute Math, Thrice, Future of Forestry, Copeland, Anathallo, Bjork, Deas Vail, Fleet Foxes, House of Heroes, The New Pornographers, Mew, Muse

[ewok20t3]

Childhood (1-10) - Southern Gospel, Lorrie Morgan, Ray Stevens, Vanilla Ice, Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Lawrence, Wynnona Judd, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Soundtrack

Tweens/Early teens (10-15) - R. Kelly, The Tony Rich Project, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, 2Pac, Seal, TLC, Jodeci, 4HIM, John Elefante, Steven Curtis Chapman, CeCe Winans, Michael W. Smith, whatever was on urban and contemporary christian radio.

Late Teens (15-17) - Luna Halo, Sonic Flood, Jars of Clay, Five O'clock People, DC Talk, Stavesacre, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, Bush, Radial Angel, Fono, whatever was playing on christianrock.net

Years I should've been in college (18-21) - P.O.D., Skillet, Pax217, Earthsuit, Lifehouse, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Pillar, Incubus, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fuel, Creed, Seventh Day Slumber, Switchfoot, Chevelle, and most other Modern Rock radio bands

Bachelor years (22-24) - Killswitch Engage, Blindside, Project 86, As I Lay Dying, Underoath, Norma Jean, Atreyu, Living Sacrifice, Dead Poetic, He Is Legend, Avenged Sevenfold, Trivium, The 95 Theses, anything I could find that was heavy. I also began to get into some more artistic and experimental bands compared to what I liked in the past such as Tool, Radiohead, Mute Math, The Accident Experiment, The Cure, Sufjan Stevens

Engaged/Married years (25-Present) - A good amount of emo type bands such as Mae, Copeland, Anberlin, Death Cab For Cutie, Jimmy Eat World, Further Seems Forever, Deas Vail, The New Frontiers. In these years I've also fallen in love with melodic hardcore music such as Life In Your Way, Shai Hulud, Means, Saints Never Surrender, It Prevails, Beloved, Hopesfall, Strongarm, In Irons, Continuance, Dependency, Hundredth, etc. Also, All The Day Holiday, Explosions In The Sky, Hands, The Frozen Ocean, As Cities Burn.

[Wildcatblue7]

I'm going High Fidelity style...there's favorites, and then there's number ones that get a bullet.

Childhood (1-10): Bill Withers (my dad had the greatest hits and I called it "The Daddy Tape"), Mike and the Mechanics, Pat Metheny, Jesus Freak-era dc Talk

Early Teens (10-12--I know, not really "teens," but whateverwhocares): dc Talk ("Supernatural" was my favorite song then), early/mid Avalon, Newsboys, I think I discovered Pax217 around then, Skillet (bullet)

Mid Teens (12-15)--Pax217 (I wore out Engage), P.O.D. (with a bullet...haha), Living Sacrifice ('nother bullet here haha), Skillet, Project 86, blindside, Extol, Killswitch Engage, Dead Poetic, etc.

Late Teens (16-18)--He is Legend (still one of the best shows I've ever seen), The Who (BULLETED), Steely Dan, The Police, Nightwish, Living Sacrifice still, Project 86 (at this point, BULLET), um...AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, classic rock in general

College (subdivided):
Freshman year--same as late teens, with Pat Metheny back into heavy rotation, + A Perfect Circle (absolutely wore out Thirteenth Step), The Cranberries, Pete Townshend
Sophomore year--The Who . . . like all second semester; other than that, most of freshman year ditto'd + Sting
Junior year--Lacuna Coil, Steely Dan, He is Legend, NINE INCH NAILS (bulleted with a freaking AK-47), Metheny incarnations, Imogen Heap, Within Temptation
Senior year--(now) He is Legend, Nine Inch still, Katatonia (bulleted), Wale, Kid Cudi, Girl Talk, Shiny Toy Guns, Gnarls Barkley, Michael Jackson

[ewok20t3]

I'm going High Fidelity style...there's favorites, and then there's number ones that get a bullet.

Childhood (1-10): Bill Withers (my dad had the greatest hits and I called it "The Daddy Tape"), Mike and the Mechanics, Pat Metheny, Jesus Freak-era dc Talk

Early Teens (10-12--I know, not really "teens," but whateverwhocares): dc Talk ("Supernatural" was my favorite song then), early/mid Avalon, Newsboys, I think I discovered Pax217 around then, Skillet (bullet)

Mid Teens (12-15)--Pax217 (I wore out Engage), P.O.D. (with a bullet...haha), Living Sacrifice ('nother bullet here haha), Skillet, Project 86, blindside, Extol, Killswitch Engage, Dead Poetic, etc.

Late Teens (16-18)--He is Legend (still one of the best shows I've ever seen), The Who (BULLETED), Steely Dan, The Police, Nightwish, Living Sacrifice still, Project 86 (at this point, BULLET), um...AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, classic rock in general

College (subdivided):
Freshman year--same as late teens, with Pat Metheny back into heavy rotation, + A Perfect Circle (absolutely wore out Thirteenth Step), The Cranberries, Pete Townshend
Sophomore year--The Who . . . like all second semester; other than that, most of freshman year ditto'd + Sting
Junior year--Lacuna Coil, Steely Dan, He is Legend, NINE INCH NAILS (bulleted with a freaking AK-47), Metheny incarnations, Imogen Heap, Within Temptation
Senior year--(now) He is Legend, Nine Inch still, Katatonia (bulleted), Wale, Kid Cudi, Girl Talk, Shiny Toy Guns, Gnarls Barkley

After reading yours, I've got to go back and edit mine! I forgot Pax217 and Skillet!

[Ian]

5: Phil Keaggy
10: Newsboys
15: Mute Math
20: Radiohead

[plvarona]

Here's my expanded list, with the categories representing shifts in my musical taste.

Childhood (through 7): The Beatles, Irish Rovers, Everly Brothers, Peter Paul and Mary, pretty much anything my Dad liked.

Grade School (8 - 14): Pretty much anything that was played on popular radio.  My favorites included U2, Phil Collins/Genesis, John Mellencamp, Richard Marx, Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, Sting/The Police, Van Halen, Boyz II Men, Billy Joel, Amy Grant, Journey, Heart, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Bruce Hornsby.

High School (15-18): I was starting to get a taste for alternative music, but my tastes were still primarily pop.  My favorites included R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Blues Traveler, Jon Secada, Collective Soul, Dream Theater, Eric Clapton, Melissa Etheridge, Meat Loaf, Seal, Blessid Union of Souls, Pink Floyd.

College (19-22): I was still primarily listening to Mainstream modern rock, but I was starting to get a taste for Christian music.  My favorites included Jars of Clay, dc Talk, Newsboys, PfR, The Wallflowers, No Doubt, Amanda Marshall, Goo Goo Dolls, Barenaked Ladies, Dakota Moon, All Star United, Michael W. Smith, Burlap to Cashmere, Sonicflood.

Early Grad School (23-25): By now I was primarily listening to Christian music, but would listen to Mainstream music on occasion.  My favorites included Switchfoot, Jennifer Knapp, Andrew Peterson, Shaun Groves, Caedmon's Call, Derek Webb, Nichole Nordeman, Steven Curtis Chapman, Steven Delopoulos, Relient K, Sixpence None The Richer, Third Day, Anberlin, Jill Paquette, Bebo Norman, Rachael Lampa, The Waiting, Smalltown Poets, downhere, Edwin McCain, The Jayhawks, Shawn Mullins.

Late Grad School/Post-Graduation (26+): This is the current phase in my musical evolution, as I would best describe my taste as intelligent music with well-thought-out instrumentation.  Favorites include Sleeping at Last, Deas Vail, House of Heroes, Mae, Sara Groves, Mute Math, Kevin Max, Sufjan Stevens, Cool Hand Luke, Aaron Sprinkle, Over The Rhine, David Crowder Band, Eisley, Edison Glass, Justin McRoberts, The Myriad, John Reuben, Thrice, Patty Griffin, Seabird, The Listening, Future of Forestry.

[murlough23]

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony

Haha. I had a friend who was into hip-hop and would always be playing the latest rap singles for me, which resulted in me having "First of the Month" stuck in my head the first day of college, when I moved into my dorm. Later that same day or week, my roommate was going through one of the longest Beastie Boys tracks in the world to try to find the spot where it said, "It's a TRIP! It's got a funky beat, and I can BUG OUT to it!", just to prove to me that dc Talk had ripped off that sample.

[ewok20t3]

Haha. I had a friend who was into hip-hop and would always be playing the latest rap singles for me, which resulted in me having "First of the Month" stuck in my head the first day of college, when I moved into my dorm. Later that same day or week, my roommate was going through one of the longest Beastie Boys tracks in the world to try to find the spot where it said, "It's a TRIP! It's got a funky beat, and I can BUG OUT to it!", just to prove to me that dc Talk had ripped off that sample.

Haha, that's pretty funny!

I was obviously really into rap when I was in middle school. I'm not gonna lie, though, I still think "1st of Tha Month" is a darn good song!

[murlough23]

Haha, that's pretty funny!

I was obviously really into rap when I was in middle school. I'm not gonna lie, though, I still think "1st of Tha Month" is a darn good song!

Darn, I knew I was spelling it wrong by spelling it right.

I probably had it stuck in my head because we had to get up at like the crack of dawn to get all my stuff moved in, so I had the words "wake up, wake up" looping through my head.

For those who haven't seen the CD covers I've made for my personal soundtrack project, they provide a pretty good analysis of the music that was most important to me as far back as 1994 (late high school).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32798&id=1048993457&l=8aa1bbdade

[ewok20t3]

For those who haven't seen the CD covers I've made for my personal soundtrack project, they provide a pretty good analysis of the music that was most important to me as far back as 1994 (late high school).

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32798&id=1048993457&l=8aa1bbdade

Extremely impressive that you've kept up with your personal soundtracks for so long. I've tried to do a monthly or bi-monthly one and I'll do it for 3 or 4 months and then stop, only to start again a year or so later.

[murlough23]

Extremely impressive that you've kept up with your personal soundtracks for so long. I've tried to do a monthly or bi-monthly one and I'll do it for 3 or 4 months and then stop, only to start again a year or so later.

For most folks who attempt this sort of thing, yearly is probably more than enough. I'm just OCD about it.

I actually started the project in '96 or so, and went back to '94 and did those retroactively, since that was the year I really got into music. It was all done on mixtapes at the time, which was extremely time consuming. I finally started burning CDs instead in 2001, and then in 2005/2006 when I finally managed to scrounge up all the mp3s and/or buy certain albums on used CD that I previously had on cassette, I went back and redid the older ones as CDs since I knew the tapes were unlikely to survive much longer. There was some revisionism to my history - I added songs that I had overlooked at the time due to them being "secular music", but that I could now see were representative of my life at the time and brought back strong memories. I vowed not to take anything out, though I did rearrange a few things for consistency's sake. (Making mix tapes with live songs on them really sucks, 'cause you can't fade in or out.) I wanted to take out a few embarrassing entries from early on, like that one Carman song, but decided those things should stay there for posterity.

For a while I was going through and blogging the reasons why each song was on each mix... but that started taking FOREVER. I'm trying to figure out a way to condense it and making it less tedious to write and to read.

[eatenbytehworms]

by multiples of 3:

3: Barney
6: Pokemon Theme Song
9: Chopin "Fantasie Impromptu"
12: I lived in silence
15: Beethoven "Sonata no.32 in C minor op.111" [the greatest work of music ever]
18: Simon & Garfunkel "The Boxer"

[Ian]

6: Pokemon Theme Song

i used to sing this in the shower when i was a kid, lol