Multifarious

I totally used Google on this title. I wanted something different and I think I may have found a new favorite word. I thought I would write a blog on music. Most people describe my music as eclectic or just all over the place so I wanted a title that said that.

We have all read that a lot of authors listen to music when they write. I am not sure how they do this because I find myself singing and not writing. Music used to be a passion of mine that I am finding I am reverting too.  As a few of you know I am child number ten out of eleven.  That’s right I have nine older siblings.  What can I say my Momma was slow to figure out where babies came from.  But back to the subject at hand, growing up with all those older siblings I was exposed to a lot of music. My oldest sister who was in charge of babysitting was sixteen when I was born so music was something that was always around. I grew up with the music of the sixties and seventies. My sisters loved everything from rockabilly to surf music. My parents were hard core country fans but my Momma’s secret passion was the music of Big Bands. As I got older my brother’s influence kicked in, mostly in the seventies and then it was all about Kiss and other hard rock bands.

I never really got into music till I was a teen that meant the eighties, yep I was a hair metal junkie. I loved all the bands. We didn’t have the money for a lot of purchases so it was all about the radio. Yes, we did tape our favorite songs from the radio to cassettes (yes you can Google cassette and see what I am talking about). 

My very first concert was The Bay City Rollers, I do still love a Scottish accent. I was maybe seven and my sister Marina was going to get to go see them at the Illinois State Fair. I was devastated because I couldn’t go but my sister Sharon who was taking Marina couldn’t stand the crying so she gave me her ticket.  She made me a little plaid outfit (thank Gods there are no pictures of that) and off I went. I can remember standing in my seat just singing along with all the songs.  It was the best time ever for a seven year old!!!

I never had the opportunity to go to another concert till I was a teen. One of my friends from school was able to get tickets to see Duran Duran in St. Louis. I had never been to St. Louis at that point. OMG it was a shock coming from nowhere Illinois to a city. I couldn’t stop looking at all the buildings and more people than I have ever seen in my life.  Back to the music, I had so much fun it was insane. When we got back to school on Monday we were the popular girls for about five minutes. One of my favorite classes was choir. I probably can’t carry a tune in a bucket but loved to sing. I hated the song choices but whatever. The best part of choir was every Friday, the choir director did his own thing during that hour so he put on a mix tape of classical music. This was my first exposure to the classics and I fell in love with them.

As I became a young adult my music taste shifted to country. I became obsessed with Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Reba McEntire, and all the country artists of the nineties. I am not sure why the shift happened but I loved it. I was on my own somewhat (I shared an apartment with my sister) and I had my own money to spend. One of the happiest days of my life was when I found out that a small little town about 20 minutes south of Springfield was opening an old movie theatre and putting in a stage for country concerts. I saw lots of the big name artists there. In a five year span I probably went to 300 concerts.  When the owners retired the place closed down and my music seemed to fall by the wayside. I started to read even more. Television became my addiction. I seemed to lose interest in most music. There were no bands that inspired me to become a rabid fan. I am not saying that I didn’t listen to it; it just wasn’t a big part of my life any longer.

Then one day I was at work and at the time Target had tv’s playing video’s and music above the entertainment section. I heard something different and yet intriguing to me. It was a pop song that I had never heard. I asked my music man; Andy and he told me it was a new band called Maroon 5. I thought it was just one song that caught my attention but as the weeks went on Target added more songs by Maroon 5. I became addicted to singing them.  I ended up buying the cd. I became a huge fan. I then started to get back into music. I started to buy more cd’s and ended up with a huge collection. I started becoming a pop music girl again till I heard Nickelback. Then I moved on to hard rock again. Lately I have been hearing a lot of country being played so now I am back to being eclectic in my music choices. One of my boys at work, Zach made fun of my music choices and decided I needed to broaden my horizons. He loaded a thumbdrive with tons of alternative/rock songs for me. I am happy to say he has some good taste. One of my other boys, Lance cannot be out done so he is now loading more music for me to try out. I love that these boys feel the need to search out music for me because it is something I probably would not have done on my own. I now know who some of these new artists are before they really have any hits.

I think music says a lot about a person. Mine says I am all over the place and that I am open to all types of music. If I looked through your music collection what would I find and what do you think it would say about you?

Sinfully Sarcastic,

Shmuttmeister