Le premier

Recently I began working at my school's community radio station, CHUO. I say "work" in that I contribute my time there, though I technically don't get paid money (the experience and music awesomeness is enough for me!). So, the other day as I sat with my big, plush headphones on and pressed play on the next album in the stack, I began thinking about why I love music so much and how exactly I came to listen to music that's generally a little under the radar. This is what I came up with:

5 things I have to thank for my taste in music

1- My parents: They're not "things", obviously, but my parents are the ultimate reason I like the kind of music I like. My dad listens to Simon & Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot, and random classic rock. My mom is 100% 80's and raised me on Madonna and Duran Duran. She's also the reason I sing. Not only did I start listening to music from pretty much the moment I was born, they got me to like and appreciate everything, genre-wise.

2- The O.C.: Maybe I was a cliché 13 year old who loved the So Cal prime time soap opera, but if Seth Cohen's favourite band hadn't been Death Cab, who knows if they would have ended up being my favourite band for the last 7 years of my life. And their soundtracks owned too.

3- Going to Catholic school with snobs: Pretty self explanatory. I hated their music, so I listened to "punk", which was incredibly lame, but got my interest going for other rock music.

4- Mr. Uchida: Again, he's a person not a thing, but my high school music teacher was totally the coolest guy around with a crazy amount of music knowledge. He let us sing pop and rock songs in vocal music class and told me about half the awesome music I know (ex. Tokyo Police Club, Ben Folds, Damien Rice, Kate Nash, and my fave composer, J. S. Bach).

5- The internets: It's crazy how much you can learn with 5 minutes on the right website. You tube is pretty sweet. So is stereogum.com.

As I write this I have finished up my lunch of slightly dried-out leftovers and am coming to the end of my break between classes. Maybe this wasn't exactly the most productive use of my time, but at least I did something other than stare at the column in front of me.
Adios.

SONG OF THE DAY: Undertow by Warpaint