I love listening to music in the car, while I make breakfast, when doing yard work, riding my motorcycle. I enjoy concerts. I enjoy musicals.
I enjoy a range of music and I have noticed that my tases have changed some over the years. When I was a kid, I listened mostly to what my parents did: The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Chicago, Neil Diamond, The Moody Blues, and The Who. The thing is I still enjoy all those bands. I think they made a musical impact on my life, and I still love hearing those sounds to this day.
I also listened to “my music” in the 90’s. I listened to whatever was on the radio and for the life of me most I can’t remember and don’t care to. It didn’t impact me. Until I started listening to certain Christian bands. The mid to late 90’s introduced me to Christian bands and types of music. I heard some rock that was amazing, and I was introduced to punk and ska and swing. The Christian bands have stuck with me: Five Iron Frenzy, The Insyderz, Petra, Relient K, Switchfoot, The Echoing Green, Jeni Varnadeau (now known as Alexa James), and MXPX. These are some of the top bands that I still listen to today on a regular basis. They have stuck, they impacted me.
And now there is new music that I listen to that is calmer. I listen to some folk and more light alternative like: Five For Fighting, Jon Foreman (yes from Switchfoot), Jonah Werner, and The ROAMies. These are bands I probably would not have listened to when I was younger because they were too “slow”. I liked loud music, and I still do, but I now have times when all I want is a little down time.
The other type of music I have always loved is soundtracks by – James Horner, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Trevor Jones, and more. There is also the joy of classical music. But included in that now is just instrumental music in general like Lindsey Stirling, the Piano Guys, and the Vitamin String Quartet. Something about just hearing instruments to tell a story.
So, the more I change the more I also stay the same. I don’t listen to MXPX as much as I used to (their acoustic album is good), and there is more Five for Fighting. There is still a lot of Five Iron Frenzy and more Switchfoot.
The thing is it all brings me joy. Which I suppose is the point of listening to music for me.