Jodie Foster's Army

I like Spotify. It's free and plays all the music I like. I, however, am not a huge fan of how it posts on my Facebook page what I have been listening to.

I never really listened to what I would call "pop music." I'm sure the kids are calling it something different. I think back to when I started to learn about music as a kid. I suppose I did like some popular music and remember getting albums for Christmas that most other kids got but then I remember being 11 maybe and really liking The Boomtown Rats. This was not what I would call a popular band at the time. This moved on to bands like Bauhaus, The Smiths, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees... etc. I also liked some Ska bands, some Reggae, a fair amount of punk rock. I think most of these bands are considered "pop music" now but they were not at the time. The more underground music, dress, and activities are all pretty routinely accepted today. Tattoos and piercings are no big deal. Purple or blue hair are no big deal. All black wardrobes covered in safety pins are no big deal. And The Cure is a pretty popular band (albiet considered a "classic" band, which means they are old.) In 1987 my dad would yell for me to turn the music down and he would insult Robert Smith by saying he sounded like Julia Childs trying to sing. And I would get mad at my dad and slam my bedroom door.

In 1987 people would scream mean things out the car window at you as you walked home from The Vandals concert with your multi-colored hair, creepers, black circles around your eyes...
we considered ourselves weirdos and we aligned with other weirdos.

               Anything with skeletons was considered cool. My punkrock dog is cool.

Even as I got older I think my musical taste stayed a bit more left of center (yes, Nirvana and Soundgarden became huge but they weren't in 1989 when I first started listening to them and going to the concerts.) As time has gone on though, I started liking this thing I call pop music more and more. I really like Rihanna. It started out as a workout thing but soon became just hanging out at the house. At first I hid it but now I am fine with it. I like a lot of different kinds of music and I'm not ashamed.

Except...

I kinda like that new Taylor Swift song about never, ever getting back together and I'm embarassed when Facebook rats me out. I blame my "lack of pop music as a child" for this.

Happy December all. Only one month left in 2012!