How did you get into what you currently collect?
Jonny_Paycheck
17,825 Posts
I always find this interesting... obviously, there is the hip-hop--->beats---->funky stuff connection... here's how it goes for me:#1: Beatles/Stones, folk, soft/pop psych which I got from my mom. I am probably least knowledgable about rock because I never got too deep into it, but I had this as a foundation and have been steadily getting more into later-generation stuff like Richard Hell, Modern Lovers, Saints, etc. I still grip some folky stuff if it hits me right.#2: Hip-Hop, started listening around 84-85, I was 7, 8 years old... that eventually led me to start buying funk and soul, looking for samples and stuff I would hear on Rhino comps and such. I don't really collect beats/funk at all but I still have all my hip-hop schitt and continue to add to that aspect of my collection.#3: Jazz: My step-dad got me into jazz, bebop mostly and some free-er stuff. I started hearing jazz samples but was totally into jazz independently of hip-hop and studied jazz guitar for several years. I still collect jazz and have expanded my taste considerably into some spiritual, modal, and (
) free stuff.#4: Oldies: around the end of jr. high, getting into high school, I started listening to a lot of oldies radio, Bloodstone "Natural High", Malo, Heatwave "Always And Forever", Ralfi Pagan "Make It With You", that kind of thing. This got me into sweet soul. Probably the stuff I grip for hardest right now.#5: Reggae: Embarassing or not, i started listening to reggae in college with my political rap dudes and getting stupid high to Black Uhuru and Lee Perry. There was a mixtape I had by this dude "Stepping Razor" in Berkeley or Oakland that had some deeper cuts on it, Dennis Brown, Carlton Livingston, The Viceroys, Congos, etc. That kind of blew it open for me and I started seeking that stuff out. At this point I am into dub somewhat but more after sweet vocals that sound like Jamaican counterparts to the oldies I grew up hearing.
) free stuff.#4: Oldies: around the end of jr. high, getting into high school, I started listening to a lot of oldies radio, Bloodstone "Natural High", Malo, Heatwave "Always And Forever", Ralfi Pagan "Make It With You", that kind of thing. This got me into sweet soul. Probably the stuff I grip for hardest right now.#5: Reggae: Embarassing or not, i started listening to reggae in college with my political rap dudes and getting stupid high to Black Uhuru and Lee Perry. There was a mixtape I had by this dude "Stepping Razor" in Berkeley or Oakland that had some deeper cuts on it, Dennis Brown, Carlton Livingston, The Viceroys, Congos, etc. That kind of blew it open for me and I started seeking that stuff out. At this point I am into dub somewhat but more after sweet vocals that sound like Jamaican counterparts to the oldies I grew up hearing.
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and I'm not embarrassed.
it all started for me through my dad and his love for music. He has crazy stores of seeing Zepplin's first time playing New York, Hendrix, Bobbi Humphreys, Kool and the Gang, Coltrane, and others. He has this kind of personality that allows him to almost always get backstage and has more stories of smoking up with the fairport convention, and average white band. Besides the stores, the music has always been the backdrop to countless parties, get togethers and any reason in particular....I always remember a record playing. I've got so many great records from his collection and always get a little misty when he tells me of the 3 crates he lost in NJ during flood season. I still laugh when I remember him picking me up from high school in 89 blasing NWA, Kid and Play and De La Soul from his car.
K.
soul/disco/modern soul/new-soul: I really don't like hip-hop as much. Not to say there isn't good shit, I just don't find a lot it as "engaging" or whatever.
Latin= I went through a phase of my life (probally mid-late 90's when I was hardcore rap junkie) where I hated Latin music, and thought of it as all "that shit my folks" would blast, but a over the past few years I've been slowly getting into it. Listening to that type of music really takes me back and I almost get deja vu bumping it. It make me feel good as well.
more like
Don't be mad that while I was stealing beer from Minna St Studios you were falling off a skateboard in San Mateo blud.
I find it remarkable that in most of the old photgraphs I see of Perry he is always the center of attention (though Max looks a little preoccupied witht he buzz in taht photo).
K.
You can say a lot things but I never ever ever ever ever ever rode a skateboard. Don't get my suburban upbringing twisted.
Actually whil you where stealing I was probally buying 30 Daze and a Plane ticket, while massaging my weiner to indy-rap records at Amoeba.
I literally "LOL'D" , bludzors.
HIP HOP - I'll try to cop certain records I slept on or didnt have the $$$ for at the time. Mostly "goldenagecrap". Or wax that didnt show up in NYC when it dropped. Shit iz in my blood.
FUNK - Finishing off certain artists' catalogs or just coppin' something randomly.
There is no pattern. Of course I'm influenced by the breaks, which was my foundation to FUNK. Sample era curiosity.
REGGAE - I dont really cop alot of wax in this genre. When I gigged, I would grab the popular joints. Or cop some loversrock for the home. I heard it growin up in The Bronx, but It wasnt until college that I caught the bug. Cue hackysack pic.
SOUL/R&B - No pattern. But the 80's thang has been there for a minute. I grew up on that shit, so now I'm just connecting the dots/filling the holes. No ayo.
CHILDREN RECORDS - Just tryin to relive my childhood. No M.J.
ROCK - What's Rock?
In the end, I'm no serious collectro.
My earliest memories are rehersals in our lounge. Anyways, he had a sweet Rock collection that covered all the obvious bases and mum was into the Beatles and what Dad called hippy music.
until i was 11 all i listened to was his collection: Sabbath, The Who,Led Zep, The Stones,Thin Lizzy Etc but he also had Electric Prunes and some stoner rock as well so i kinda knew there was something else out there, plus Reggae is a fucking religion in New Zealand so i knew that i liked that as well.
then i came home from school one day and heard Rockit. then AEIOU, then my best friend Simon's sister worked in a video store (1st one in NZ) and we saw this movie called beat street. next day we went to school and got our asses kicked for saying metal sucked.
So began a tradition of getting my ass handed to me weekly by older kids because i was into 'rapcrap' and that was 'fag shit'.
i also managed to dress like a complete twat as this was NZ in the 80's and my point of referance was limited to say the least.
anyways, cut a long story short, Public Enemy came along, all the guys that kicked my ass were now into hiphop and i was their new best friend as i had more tapes than anyone.
i started kicking out pause button tapes with me scratching on my dads panasonic hifi, i had no idea what a mixer was, i thought in order to imitate the sounds i heard i had to thrash the fuck out of dads records and break his pride and joy. which lead to a serious beating.
then began the "hip-hop--->beats---->funky stuff connection"
and a lifetime of hoarding pieces of plastic.
Ha! i just read over what i have written and i realised i spent most of my childhood getting my ass kicked, maybe thats why im such a bitter fucker now.
Dre's 'The Chronic' dropped in '92, and I was digging shit like Grand Puba, The Pharcyde, and Gang Starr.
In 1994 I bought a tape of Parliament's 'Mothership Connection' in Chicago. That changed everything.
Then I detoured into Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, and Don Nix.
Around 1999 I got heavy into American and British folk because I started playing the guitar. I got listening to Jackson C. Frank, and Nick Drake.
That got me into country folk blues, like Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake and other stuff like Dino Valente and Karen Dalton.
I was still into the British folk like Wizz Jones, John Pearse, and Davy Graham, and it was actually through Davy Graham's version of Bobby Timmons' "Moanin'" that got me seriously into jazz beyond the obligatory "Miles/Coltrane" stuff.
Through Bobby Timmons I got into Art Blakey and into Lee Morgan and into Freddie Hubbard and so on and so on.
I now find myself listening to pretty much jazz only, although I had some Chet Atkins on a moment ago...
2) hip hop beats
3) bboy classics
4) drugs
5) market influencers and trend setters
1) pop radio as a kid, hated the beastie boys when I lived in NJ as a tyke
2) from pop to rock/punk/indie
3) from indie to early 90's british scene and downtempo
4) from downtempo to hip hop, beats, breaks, and samples...leading to soul/funk/jazz/reggae
Currently:
5) "soft rock," folk, femme, psych, new age, and especially private terd boners, and young jeezyish "recent rap"
2. Pac-Man. Would drop big quarters at my local video arcade on Saturday mornings. Copped my first LP
3. SkateRock. Early Thrasher videos put me up on The Faction, Drunk Injuns, Agent Orange, D.I., etc.
4.Seattle 1985. Moved from Central CA to Seatown. More time to listen to music (raining 24X7) than skateboard. Str8 Edge scene had me checking NYC Hardcore Youth of Today, Bold, Gorilla Biscuits, Side By Side, as well as standards from the DC area. The NYC connection led me to check By All Means Necessary and I begin to love rap. Then Grunge hits while I'm in High School and I get to see it all from close up.
5. Record Store. After college, 1 year as record clerk in used store opens all remaining floodgates to music nerdery including reggae, soul, Jazz and other weirdness. There is no going back.
I guess this is how I got to where I am, "talking" to other record nerds through a computer on a beautifully sunny Saturday morning, listening to Kazumi Watanabe Mermaid Blvd.
is that pregnant space in your post where you went from letting dj shadow decide what you like to letting anthony pearson decide what you like?
Haha, right on S****, I got totally bored of funk 45s and needed something new to collect! If only it were that simple. Don't worry, I still listen to Gravediggaz, PiL, Can, snoozy Ahmad Jamal LPs and all that other fun stuff you guys slang at Good Records NYC.
No more Bird LPs for you. I will holler if I find raer Throbbing Gristle though.
BEWARE, I LIVE
Funny shit. I just pulled this tape along w/ patternfall wars out of my storage closet. Might have to dig out the walkman and pretend I'm back @ community college.
why do people always talk about "When Josh did this and that...." when speaking about DJ Shadow. Are you all close friends of his and hang out in his home and cream your jeans together with ill breaks?
i've just always been baffled about this one.
If I had a friend who happened to be a well known DJ, i would absolutely refer to him by his more common birth-given name- Josh would be an excellent example- but if I strictly knew someone's music and had never met them- I would most likely refer to them by their artist name.
just wondering here.
i see people talking about Josh all the time as if they just got back from a pub date.
carry on.
U took the words out of my mouth. I think its just..................
Soul: doo-wop and early R&B came from my aunt barbara who used to listen to all that stuff. she used to buy me tapes from the store and bring them over our house. all through the late 80s and 90s i listened to the more modern soul of the times. everything from new edition, perfect gentlemen, mint condition, TTT, BBD, etc. i got into 60s and 70s soul in 90 but started buying up LPs in 92. digging got big with me and in 97 or so i met nathan OM and got hipped to 45s.
Gospel: really in the mid to late 90s i kept finding gospel records at this thrift in san leandro and began to really enjoy the music. now i have about 10 boxes of it.
Rock: my whole entire family is rockers. whether they toured with bands around the world, played in music just locally, produced and engineered rock bands from LA to Seattle, my family has been rock oriented since the beginning. i was the oddball for listening to just black music. so i like rock music... a lot.
J
Dude, that adds another layer to the already complex and surly dynamic that is J Torro.
but I hate rock music. Maybe some stoned-out psych shit is cool or some "blue-eyed soul" that fucks up the Karoake but overall not a fan.
jazz-my mom was always into jazz, she passed it on to me.
rock-i got my rock tastes from my dad. from him showing me his old concert tickets to groups like pink floyd, zeppelin, spooky tooth, nektar, brian auger. i believe i got this from my dad.
soul/funk-this stems from hip hop. i started buying soul/funk for samples and breaks and to make beats, then i started to love it
elementary school - i was really into electro and break dancing when i was in elementary school but really wasnt much of a music dude until later
junior high - Classic Rock / Metal - when i hit teenager status out came the zep, sabbath, metallica slayer et al...
punk - from metal i got really into punk ala dead kennedies, bad brains COC , misfits et al...
Funk - i dont know if people remember FUNK METAL but it was a big buzzword around this time (89 -91) and i guess it got me into funkadelic and the commodores and shit like that...
High School - the summer before i started high school i went to London ... i remember buying a kerrang and therein was a review of the then new Dinosaur Jr record which they labelled "freeform noise" i was intrigued enough to buy the lp when i got back and this led to a break from metal and the entry of Sonic Youth, Fugazi, MBV et al.
there was also an issue of guitar player magazine that came out around this time (89 - 90) with mcartney on the cover that had an interview with Dr Know and Pete Cosey in it... this was a mind blower.. and led to my first experiences with Miles Davis. Coincidently there was also a kinda cool late night jazz show on cbc(?) at the time Night Moves.. and the chilli peppers were on this... and miles davis was on it... so miles was in my sites... i got agartha and proceeded to have my supple young brain BLOWN.
a posse of us used to skip class and chill inthe AV room of the art deptarment.. blasting MBV loveless, big black songs about fucking and mahavishnu orchestra.. what can i say we were pretty fucked up.
this period was also the start of my bogus straight edge phase (fuck you ian mackaye)
started my first serious band as well
College pt 1- music got really shite around this point.. all my fave bands from high school started sucking around then, ie dinosaur and sonic youth.. but i was in new bands at the time and this corrsponded with shit like Helmet, the Swirlies, sebadoh, polvo, drop nineteens.. and of course pavement who proved to be a huge inflence on us at the time.
I was pretty heavy into the pretentious straight edge indy rocker asshole persona at this stage as well.. alot of snobbery and general dumbassness.. i dont think id ever even heard the clash or television as we refused to listen to anything recorded prior to 1980.
college pt 2 - art school
after quitting my band i was pretty much burned on the whole indy thing.. started getting weeded and mad liquored... and i guess as a reaction went through a MAJOR classics phase wherein i got massively into the beatles, clash, elvis costello the jam et al, basically al lthe shit we weren't "aloud" to listen to when we were indy rock dumbasses.
this was also the period of the chemical borthers, raves, dj shadown.. man i hated that shit with a passion.. i was too busy chillin with a spliff listening to pet sounds.
Away From Home - after college i moved with my wife to indiana while she went to grad school. i was still pretty bummed about current rock music, and stuck in a big rut.. luckily i got a job at a record store.. the owner beign a big jazz and psych fan so i proceeded to have my mind blown on the daily by matreya sai satya kali, zurfus, west coast pop art experimental band ... good times.. also got heavily into dub and kraut aroudn this era
my buddy got me into exotica and library around this time as well as soundtrack type shit and we started djing together.
back to canada - we moved back to canada and by this point i was totally done wih rock music of all types.. i'd od'd on rock in the states layign in bands and being surronded by only rockers. all i listened to at this point was j dilla (rip) dub shitty warp stuff and what not.. started learning how to program and make music on my computer...
continual djing got me more and more open to house, disco ( which id always loved but was embarressed to admit) and back into electo and what have you..
these days im pretty much open to anything
Believe it or not, my first album was Michael Jackson's Bad on vinyl. My faily and I had recently seen the music video on television, so when we were at some department store my parents purchased the album for me.
My first CD was the soundtrack to the movie Amadeus. My mother never allowed my to buy a CD if it had a parental advisory or even one swear word. This was in the late eighties, if I remember correctly. My dad had just gotten a compact disc player for his birthday and needed some CDs to listen to. Our family piled into the car and drove to Best Buy where we bought the aforementioned CD in addition to some -- I think -- Neil Young and Elton John. I didn't listen to those two all that much, instead picking out the piano from "Piano Concerto In D Minor, K.466: 2nd Movement (Romanza)" and playing that on the Young Chang upright. While I don't have any classical albums I listen to, I have mountains of cello music, if you wanna consider that a music collection.
During late elementary school, my dad would usually drive me to school. We'd listen to the metal station or the classic rock station. I started listening to bands like Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots (I was able to convince my mother to let me keep this one, despite having a swear word), all of those 80s butt-rock bands, all of those 70s butt-rock bands, and, especially, Led Zeppelin, my dad's favorite band. I don't collect any of this stuff because I got burnt out on it.
I predominately stayed with rock music until my sophomore year in high, when my family moved to Madison, WI, the place where I developed the most. I started to listen to hip-hop, hiding the CDs under the arm cushion of my couch so my mom wouldn't find them. I wouldn't call listening to hip-hop a reaction to my parents' musical censorship, but it was certainly thrilling listening to them even at low volumes, finger poised over the mute button in case they came down the stairs. I say "thrilling" because I never had a conncetion to hip-hop like some of you guys did when you were growing up. I don't collect much hip-hop because it's not a part of who I am or the attitude I have towards life: I can't identify with it anymore (and I'm sure some of you would say I never could, and you're probably correct). If I do collect hip-hop, it's the party rap from the late 70s/early- to mid-80s.
My punk stage was delayed considerably. My entry to the music was through emo bands like The Promise Ring, Braid, Rites of Spring, The Get Up Kids, and on and on and on. I was working on an assembly line during the summer before college, making an enormous $8 an hour, which was quite a bit for a high-schooler. Guess where all of my money went? Right to The Exclusive Company, my local music store. I bought 200+ punk albums over the course of that summer. I was desperately trying to develop a tortured-yet-sensitive identity before I went off to college, thinking this would score me loads of pussy when I got there. It didn't. Not even my purple Fender bass worked on them (a word of advise to The_Mack: If you're trying to score some pussy, buy a guitar and sell your Pumas to Plato's Closet) I should have heeded the advise of my sorta-ex-girlfriend during senior year of high school: "Drop the punk rock." In a way, though, I was ahead of the curve. I was one of the few punk rock guys in the dorms during my freshman year, but every time I walk into freshman housing nowadays, they're everywhere.
During my first couple years in college, I repped the punk rock image hard, starting with tame bands like NoFX, Face to Face, basically the roster to Fat Wreck Chords, and moving into the deep shit like Jawbreaker, Naked Raygun, Fugazi, Shellac, and the many other 80s punk bands. My roommate at the time was a punker for life, played drums and guitar in a punk rock band, was a skater... you get the idea. This culminated in my first concert, which was Rancid at First Avenue. We were tripping off of this for awhile. Then our friend handed us a copy of Sorry Ma, Forgot to take out the Trash and that was like a singularity in both of our musical developments. We quickly downloaded the other albums, which was the thing to do at the time, and put them all in the Winamp playlist. We listened to The 'Mats constantly.
He then moved on to Leo Kottke.
I heard The Unseen, which was the starting point for my record-collecting obsession. DON'T SNICKER, ASSHOLES.
I retreated back into hip-hop, really being thorough this time through. I got into the samplers: Black Moon, ATCQ, De La Soul, Lord Finesse Funky Technician (my favorite "modern" hip-hop album), KMD, etc.
Then I went through a HUGE jazz phase. This one didn't rival the Roman-like excess of my punk rock summer, but it came close. Instead of a bass guitar, I bought a Fender Rhodes with my life's savings. This was the instrument I practiced on for my Jazz Piano class in college.
You could mark all of my musical stages as being overly eager and going too fast through them. I've exhausted every form of music I get into, in part because I don't ever identify with the music.
Nowadays I've connected with my parents again, and my musical preference shows it, not necessarily because my parents listen to this kind of music, but because the temperament my parents have given me are what I think the music I listen to is all about. I listen to disco and soul. This is the music I identify with. I'm a lot like my mother, who's always in a cheerful mood and wants to travel back in time to play bass for Sly and the Family Stone, so disco and soul are the types of music I can project my cheerful spirit on. I like to dance to them and sing to them. I like the feeling of complete joy the music gives me. Do I really need to explain soul music to anyone on this website?