A Glimpse of My Music Library

     Last week's entry was about my book list and reading plans; how better to follow up a hobby of mine with music? What genre of music do I listen to? I don't have a specific answer to that question, anything except country after the mid-90's, rap, and modern pop. Yuck. What I usually listen to is metal, laugh if you must, but it's true. Metal, classic rock, and alternative rock are the only sub-genres I'll listen to on the radio ever. I also listen to a lot of J-pop since Chris and I listen to his flash drive in the car. Does he speak Japanese? No, but he does enjoy listening to the music. Do I like it? Honestly I do, but I feel like I would enjoy it more if I understood what I was listening to. The melodies and arrangements are more pleasant to listen to than half the stuff on the radio, so I don't mind it. I do look up translations of the songs though; it's not like I'm blindly listening to something that may or may not conflict with my morals.
     However, my favorite things ever to listen to are 50's pop and rock, and 90's pop/rock.  Maybe I'm an old soul? My mom always told me that when I was younger, but I never believed her. I don't know why this is my favorite decade of music (since I don't think you can accurately say the "fifties" is your favorite genre). In the fifties there was pop, rock, and country like today. In my opinion it's like you're discrediting the music since you can't distinguish the different genres from each other in the fact that you call it all the same thing, making you sound ignorant I guess.

Album art from her upcoming album, Aims.
*Artwork from viennateng.bandcamp.com

     The last week I've had Sam Cooke, The Supremes, and Leslie Gore stuck in my head. I would walk around the lobby at work cleaning while humming "Wonderful World" for days, and after that it was "You Can't Hurry Love."  Crazy, I know. The looks I get from people when I tell them I like fifties music say, "Uh why do you like that stuff?" I answer nicely, but in my head I'm all, "Hurr gurr gurr what kind of music do you listen to anyway? Like Jay-Z or whoever is popular this week?!" The only other person who likes this kind of music is one of my closest friends, Jackson! We go back and forth on SongPop on the 50's playlist together, which is really fun.
     I feel like I could add more to this since it seems pretty short. What really got me into the fifties? I've always liked old songs; I grew up listening to classic rock with my dad while we were in the car listening to the radio, and when I was in high school I went through an 80's phase. I'm overjoyed that I managed to pull myself out of it, and I'm much more comfortable with where I am now. Do I know the names of all the songs and albums like many music buffs? Not even close. I can hardly name two albums out of all the people I listen to, but I don't think that hinders me from enjoying a specific genre or musician.
     Another artist I listen to is Vienna Teng, who is a folk singer-songwriter, like most folk artists tend to be, or I could be stereotyping. I've been meaning to listen to related artists, but I haven't yet. I probably should sometime today or tomorrow since I only work four days this week. It could be fun venturing out in the music world and finding some more stuff. Now I'm off to find pretty pictures to stick in here so you're not stuck looking at word after word. A picture break between paragraphs is nice sometimes; bye!