Our Music Phases

[Ruckus]

This is a rather broad topic but I figured that everyone to some extent has gone through phases in their lives where one type of music or group dominated their listening habits for certain periods of time with obviously other music interlaced.  

I was wondering what others' listening evolutionary cycles consisted of.

Here's a little snapshot

1991 and before - MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, C&C Music Factory, G 'n R, Def Leppard, Metallica

1992 - Van Halen

1993-1994 - Rush and all things NY Hip Hop

1995-1996 - Pink Floyd

1996-1997 - Jam Bands galore

1998-2000 - Miles Davis and all things Jazz

2001-2004 - Underground Hip Hop

2004-Present - MMJ

Broad strokes here.  Was just curious and I know it's impossible to fit all the things one wants to.

Any takers?

[Leontheslut]

Man, I really miss the Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock days... sigh

[Jaimoe]

This will take some time and I think I forgot exact years and bands for certain phases. Forgive me: I was born in the late 60s for crying out loud.

- One thing I do know is that my first "phase" was the Beatles, which began sometime in the mid '70s when I was just a broth of a lad of six or seven.

- At the same time as my Beatles phase, which is still on-going (as are many others music phases), I added into the mix The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

- I had my mom buy me the first Boston album when it came out in '76.

- I became obsessed with Kiss around '77-79.

- My love of The Who began around 1978 (and it's never stopped).

- I really liked Foreigner too in 1979-'81.

- Around the same time as my ill-advised Foreigner phase, I got into The Yardbirds, Kinks and The Jeff Beck Group. I will always be fans of those bands.

- and Van Halen (1979-1987).

- and The Doors ('82-'88)

- James Marshall Hendrix took over from '82ish until 2009.

- Neil Young in the early '80s and onwards and same with The Grateful Dead

- I bought my first Allman Brothers album in 1988ish (their self-titled first album) and I never looked back.

- I took a flyer on Zappa in 1991-92 (bought Roxy & Elsewhere) and have been a fan ever since.

- John Coltrane, Miles Davis hard-bop phase (still going) began in the early '90s.

- I started liking Phish in the early '90s, but my interest in them dissolved after their last two awful studio albums.

- I always liked Black Sabbath (even the Mob Rules Dio years), but I only started buying their first six albums in the mid 90s.

NOTE: I've been a fan of blues since the early '80s, thanks to Stevie Ray Vaughan and from my move from playing trumpet to guitar.

- cue Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and too many others to count, circa 1990.

- 1993-2000 I was into Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone (still love 'em).


It's getting a bit cloudy now, but I know I liked Pearl Jam's Ten and early Soundgarden in the early '90s.

- I got into Tool and Tom Waits in the late '90s and then Primus.

- A lot of bands I started to listen to at the end of the '90s to the early part of this decade andI do not consider this a phase: The White Stripes (one of my all-time favourites), My Morning Jacket (Well, I hope they aren't a phase band), The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Ramones, The Clash, Television (Top 5 favourite band - I was very late to them), The Replacements and many more.

I'm very hung-over today, so I may need to have my memory jogged a bit. I just relized that I had  Loverboy, Trooper, Triumph, Rush, BTO and April Wine phases (all Canuck bands), but I got them out of my system when I was 15-17, although I still like some of their songs, excluding Loverboy. I was never a huge Floyd fan, but I can't see me ever not liking them.

[Ruckus]

This will take some time and I think I forgot exact years and bands for certain phases. Forgive me: I was born in the late 60s for crying out loud.

- One thing I do know is that my first "phase" was the Beatles, which began sometime in the mid '70s when I was just a broth of a lad of six or seven.

- At the same time as my Beatles phase, which is still on-going (as are many others music phases), I added into the mix The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

- I had my mom buy me the first Boston album when it came out in '76.

- I became obsessed with Kiss around '77-79.

- My love of The Who began around 1978 (and it's never stopped).

- I really liked Foreigner too in 1979-'81.

- Around the same time as my ill-advised Foreigner phase, I got into The Yardbirds, Kinks and The Jeff Beck Group. I will always be fans of those bands.

- and Van Halen (1979-1987).

- and The Doors ('82-'88)

- James Marshall Hendrix took over from '82ish until 2009.

- Neil Young in the early '80s and onwards and same with The Grateful Dead

- I bought my first Allman Brothers album in 1988ish (their self-titled first album) and I never looked back.

- I took a flyer on Zappa in 1991-92 (bought Roxy & Elsewhere) and have been a fan ever since.

- John Coltrane, Miles Davis hard-bop phase (still going) began in the early '90s.

- I started liking Phish in the early '90s, but my interest in them dissolved after their last two awful studio albums.

- I always liked Black Sabbath (even the Mob Rules Dio years), but I only started buying their first six albums in the mid 90s.

NOTE: I've been a fan of blues since the early '80s, thanks to Stevie Ray Vaughan and from my move from playing trumpet to guitar.

- cue Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and too many others to count, circa 1990.

- 1993-2000 I was into Funkadelic, Sly and the Family Stone (still love 'em).


It's getting a bit cloudy now, but I know I liked Pearl Jam's Ten and early Soundgarden in the early '90s.

- I got into Tool and Tom Waits in the late '90s and then Primus.

- A lot of bands I started to listen to at the end of the '90s to the early part of this decade andI do not consider this a phase: The White Stripes (one of my all-time favourites), My Morning Jacket (Well, I hope they aren't a phase band), The Soundtrack of Our Lives, The Ramones, The Clash, Television (Top 5 favourite band - I was very late to them), The Replacements and many more.

I'm very hung-over today, so I may need to have my memory jogged a bit. I just relized that I had  Loverboy, Trooper, Triumph, Rush, BTO and April Wine phases (all Canuck bands), but I got them out of my system when I was 15-17, although I still like some of their songs, excluding Loverboy. I was never a huge Floyd fan, but I can't see me ever not liking them.

Whoa!!  Sweet!!  I'll take details too [smiley=beer.gif]

Now you've motivated me to perhaps flesh my years out a little bit more. :)

[Jaimoe]

I wish I could flesh it out some more, but I can't remember all my phases. I did like Journey, Santana and a couple of the eras of Fleetwood Mac.

OHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


I totally forgot about when I discovered the late great underground jazz guitar genius, Lenny Breau. I demand that if you haven't ever heard of him, seek his music out immediately. I've never heard a more gifted guitarist. I've been a fan for a little more than a decade.

[ycartrob]

no way I can match Jaimoe (even though I got this Boston album with the logo on the actual album for my 13th birthday; I think it's at my mom's somewhere, probably worth something):



here goes, off the top of my head

-I have to start with 45's when I was 5; The Beatles (numerous), The Doors (Touch Me), Tommy James and the Shondells (Crimson and Clover), Fire (Arthur Brown), mixed it with random 8-tracks Cat Stevens, Beatles, Dean Martin, Herb Albert, Simon & Garfunkel.

-my sister split when she was 17 (and me 7) so I inherited all her "cool" albums from the 60's- Beatles, Allman Bros, Stones, etc...

-I was a top 40 geek in the early 70's; think of Seasons in the Sun, Shannon, 3 Dog Night, America, American Pie, KC and the Sunshine Band--basically everything from the AM Gold collection.

-My brother was a huge James Taylor fan so I was into that. He was also into The Isley Brothers, P Funk, Stevie Wonder, ELO, Kraftwerk, Tomita, Todd Rundgren and I shared his enthusiasm.

-Jackson, Mississippi had a really cool radio station WZZQ that played Zappa, Neil Young, obscure Pink Floyd, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, National Lampoon Radio Hour.

-I won Queen A Night at the Opera in 6th grade on a radio call in.

-got Springsteen Born to Run for 12th(?) b'day

-first album I bought with own cash was Journey's first (I still remember hearing Wheel in the Sky LOUD).

-I got into Yes in the late 70's and conned my mom into buying Going for the One on 8-track.

-high school starting diving into The Who (saw them in 1980), Van Halen, Boston, Aerosmith, Bad Company, Zep, Hendrix, REO Speedwagon, Robin Trower, Rush, CSNY, Traffic, Jethro Tull, the Eagles, Steely Dan, Cheap Trick, Jeff Beck, ZZ Top (I saw ZZ Top in 1980 and all i remember (the next day!) was them opening up with Thunderbird  :-/; the opening band was Missouri)

-1st concert was The Day of Rock n' Roll at the Superdome, 1979; Boston, Van Halen, Blue Oyster Cult, Heart, Sammy Haggar, Nazareth. All that rock for $10!!

-Huge Doors fan Sr year high school

-dabbled in heavy Metal in the early 80's (Maiden, Priest, Dio, Ozzy, Sabbath, Rainbow)

-Big REM fan in the mid 80's and Stevie Ray Vaughan. And The Grateful Dead. I also got tunred on to the blues and we used to travel to The Mississippi Delta Blues Festival in Freedom Village and see some of the greats - BB King, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Sam Myers and locals. I was also into Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lightnin' Hopkins.

-played around with The Replacements, Echo and the Bunneymen, The Church, The Cramps, Black Flag, The Lyres in the mid 80's

-late 80's was a mix of all the before with U2 added

-early 90's got into U2 even more along with Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Soundgarden. Also getting into Jazz, exploring the greats, Coltrane, Miles Daves, Thelonius Monk, etc...

-mid 90's (?) dated a couple of women who turned me on to the Pixies and Sonic Youth. Also finally understood The Ramones after a woman strung me along for 3 months. I recall when I finally figured out that it wasn't going to happen, I got in my car, put on The Ramones and I got it; I turned it up to 11 and drove 90 down the highway and I finally got punk rock! I also became obsessed with classical music (Bach, mozart, beethoven, etc...) I can remember thinking, this is better than music...

-95-99 was the biggest "coming out" of musical exploration. I work at a restuarant while in school and the kitchen guys rocked, so I started getting into Bob Mould (etc...) Pavement, Big Star, Neutral Milk Hotel, X, Primus, Nick Drake, Flat Duo Jets, WILCO, Smashing, Pumpkins, Morphine, Radiohead (but I discovered Radiohead thru my brother), deeper into The Pixies/Frank Black and Johnathan Richman and The Replacements

-2000ish- PJ Harvey, Rage Against the Machine, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Beck, Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, Elvis Costello,

-old country around here, Bob Wills, Hank Snow, Patsy Cline, Merle Haggard, Connie Smith, Tex Ritter, etc....

-May 2002 = My Morning Jacket

-and onward The National, Arcade Fire, M Ward, Built to Spill, Andrew Bird, White Stripes, Explosions in the Sky, Daniel Lanois, Sigur Ros, CYHSY, Flaming Lips

- I am heavily into ambient music these days; heavily. Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Stars of the Lid, Matt Borghi, Boast/Rothe, Harold Budd.


I left out a bunch of stuff, but you get the picture. The metal music was the biggest "phase", I listen to that the least these days.

thanks Ruckus, that was fun!  :)

[pawpaw]

Hey, cool thread!!! I'll try this out (Edited 5/19 to fill in some blanks I saw)...

Ruckus, if I remember correctly, you and I are the same age...a lot of my pre-1991 stuff is the same as yours, plus...

Pre-1991: Weird Al (my first musical obsession  ;D), Prince, The Pretenders, The Police

Various other obsessions/interests since that time...

Metallica, Cypress Hill, GNR, Dr. Dre (1991-1993)

Dinosaur Jr., Primus, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Beastie Boys (The first bands I really got into, through the radio and then further digging...around the time that I really started to LOVE music...1992-ish-1994)

Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors (My first "classic rock" obsessions...1993 onward for Zep and Jimi...The Doors died off pretty quickly)

LOTS of local and national punk and ska bands: Operation Ivy, Swingin Utters, 7 Seconds, Face to Face, New Bomb Turks, Skankin Pickle, Supersuckers, Tilt, Filibuster (Started going to a lot of all-ages punk/ska shows in Sacramento, getting into the skate scene...1994-1995)

Grateful Dead (Went to my first show the last day of my Sophmore year of High School in 1994...still love 'em)

Phish (First show in '95...haven't listened to 'em much in the past 6 or 7 years, but I'll be checking the setlists this summer, fer sure)

DMB (First show in'95, lots great times including a few Dave and Tim shows...not much interest in them since '00 or so)

Mother Hips (First show in '95 'r so. Still love 'em, they're my rock heros)

Radiohead (1995-present)

Wu-Tang Clan, Tribe, Del, Hieroglyphics, Gang Starr...Hip Hop (1996-2000-ish)

Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins, Jimmy Smith (and of course Miles and Coltrane...1996 to present)

Jam Bands, Reggae (1996-2001, lots of shows, toured when I could, lots of festivals, high as hell  ;D. Still listen to a lot of reggae/rocksteady/dub at home and work.)

Wilco, Van Morrison (1999 to present)

Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, David Bowie (2000-ish to present)

Gram Parsons (2001-2003)

Calexico, Alejandro Escovedo, Old 97s (2001-Present)

James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Otis, Aretha, James Carr, Stevie Wonder, Al Green - Classic Soul and R&B (Started getting into it through a KICK ASS radio show in the Bay Area, and investigating from there...2002 to present)

My Morning Jacket (2003 to present)

Derrick Carter, Mark Farina, Charlotte The Baroness, DJ Kitty (Some of my favorite House DJs...I love to dance...went out a lot 2004-2006)

Lots of other minor obsessions over the past decade...

[Jaimoe]

Tracy just jogged my memory a bit:

I had a big Van Morrison phase in the late '80s to early '90s.

I also had a rather large Nick Drake phase, which started around 6 years ago when he went through a rediscovery because or the Volkswagon car commercial.

I rather liked the North Mississippi Allstars when they first burst onto the scene, but bailed when I heard their progressively bad second, third and forth albums.

Phases I've never had or will EVER have: Genesis, Depeche Mode, kraut rock, The Smiths/Cure/Morrissey/Roxy Music/New Order, REM (respect, but don't like), disco, oldies, nu-metal, modern R&B, free jazz (pretentious self-indulgent unlistenable bullshit), dance music, techno, modern/commerical country, The Tea Party/Our Lady Peace/Diana Krall/Nelly Furtado/Nickelback/Celine Dion (all horrendous Canadian artists).

I can go on... and on... and on, but I think you get the picture.  

[ycartrob]

Phases I've never had or will EVER have: Genesis

I dunno man, Duke is a pretty amazing album (credit that to my brother also). I have definently gone through a couple of Duke phases in my life. It's a theme album, ya know... ::)

[Jaimoe]

Phases I've never had or will EVER have: Genesis

I dunno man, Duke is a pretty amazing album (credit that to my brother also). I have definently gone through a couple of Duke phases in my life. It's a theme album, ya know... ::)

I just hate their sound, even the Garbriel years. I think it has a lot to do with the overwrought keyboard-driven sound of Tony Banks. I don't even like Gabriel solo stuff.

[capt. scotty]

I will try to go the slightly less detailed route...

94 (4th grade): Green Day and Warren G (Dookie and Regulate...G Funk Era are the only albums I actually owned on cassette that I can remember).

95-96 (5th-6th grade): Most of the 90's rock that had been around for a few years or just starting now (Nirvana, STP, Soundgarden, Bush, Live, Pumpkins, Cake, Offspring, Silverchair, a few others) and got a Hendrix GH, The Ultimate Experience.

96-98 (6th-8th grade): Metallica, Pantera, and Rage Against the Machine mostly, but a lot of other recent metal stuff, some of the previous mentioned bands still, other bands that were coming out around this time, and some bands that didnt fit with everything else like Sublime, 311, and Bob Marley

98-99 (8th and 9th grade): Some rap/rock stuff, mostly (hed) PE, Incubus, Deftones, Snot, System of A Down and Cold. A little Kid Rock  8-). Began starting to listen to more classic rock during these years as well, namely Zeppelin, Beatles, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the Doors.

00-04 (10th-freshman year): Dominated by Phish and Ben Harper, and then a lot of other jam bands/similar music to lesser degrees (Grateful Dead, Moe., Beck, Umphrey's Mcgee, Keller Williams, Galactic, Les Claypool, Gomez, Medeski Martin & Wood, Robert Randolph, G Love). A lot of stuff that just brought the FUNK too.

04-06: Once Phish was "done" after their last festival, I pretty much quit listening to them and started listening to a lot more music that I hadnt really before, namely jazz and blues (and Coltrane and Muddy Waters especially). I began to just try to find music I liked without regard for the genre, etc. Got my first MMJ (ISM) in 04.

06-present: Mostly 90's and underground hip hop, and MMJ. Still listen to basically everything I started listening to over the last 10 years as well.

[Ruckus]

 :) :) :)

This is awesome guys.  Glad y'all took the time to post.  I know I don't go as far back as Jaimoe and Tracy but it's a fun trip down memory lane as you connect certain music with a year or specific time.

Waiting for DB's phases.  Oh wait, I think he'll just post a link to an All Music Guide. ;)

[dragonboy]

Waiting for DB's phases.  Oh wait, I think he'll just post a link to an All Music Guide. ;)

;D ;D ;D

Excellent thread! I loved reading those, will definitely post later...compiling my Hip-Hop Top20 has worn me out  ;)

[FACE]

my first two CDs that I ever bought were purchased in 1997 when I was 6 years old: Natalie Imbruglia's LEFT IN THE MIDDLE and Marcy Playground's self titled album.

I only listened to TORN and SEX AND CANDY. I remember my grandma overhearing them when I was playing them on my boombox in my room and her saying "WHAT DID THEY JUST SAY? SEX AND WHAT?!?"

Before that it was Now 1 and 2

Then, I went into my ska-punk pop-punk phase which included The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, The Offspring etc.

Finally, my oldest cousin saved me from this - and he knew I was very easily influenced by him, so it worked - with Belle and Sebastian, DNTEL, the Exploding Hearts... and from there, my ears had opened.

Fuck.

[Ruckus]

- John Coltrane, Miles Davis hard-bop phase (still going) began in the early '90s.

That is absolutely my favorite Miles Quintet.  Have you listened to the entire live at the Plugged Nickel in Chi? (7 discs)  :o :o :o

[Ruckus]

- John Coltrane, Miles Davis hard-bop phase (still going) began in the early '90s.

That is absolutely my favorite Miles Quintet.  Have you listened to the entire live at the Plugged Nickel in Chi? (7 discs)  :o :o :o

(Sidetracked)

Holy Shit!  I just searched this on Amazon and the set starts at 160 bucks used.  I got this in college at the local record store used for 39 bucks.  Hmmm......

[Jaimoe]

- John Coltrane, Miles Davis hard-bop phase (still going) began in the early '90s.

That is absolutely my favorite Miles Quintet.  Have you listened to the entire live at the Plugged Nickel in Chi? (7 discs)  :o :o :o

I've heard none of it, but I've heard of it. I'd love to hear it. I actually like Trane better than Miles, but together they were magical.

[Ruckus]

- John Coltrane, Miles Davis hard-bop phase (still going) began in the early '90s.

That is absolutely my favorite Miles Quintet.  Have you listened to the entire live at the Plugged Nickel in Chi? (7 discs)  :o :o :o

I've heard none of it, but I've heard of it. I'd love to hear it. I actually like Trane better than Miles, but together they were magical.

Not sure if I read it right the Plugged Nickel Sessions didn't have Trane.  It was with Shorter, Herbie, Carter and Tony.  It's just that Miles' Hard Bop phase was my favorite

[ManNamedTruth]

1994 - middle school days - Green Day was my favorite band and Nirvana followed closely.

1996 - really into grunge/alternative rock still - Soundgarden, AIC, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. Started to get into punk bands that had some mainstream visibility - Ramones, Rancid, Bad Religion, Offspring.

summer of 1997 - Getting more into punk and started to dismiss alternative rock (I now regret selling most of those CD's the upcoming years) Operation Ivy was probably the first more underground type CD I ever bought.

1997 - 2001 bbill should know where I'm coming from. Dominated by mostly by pop punk, also liked some hardcore and some punk/ska  - mostly bands on Lookout Records - Screeching Weasel, The Queers, Op Ivy, NOFX, Avail, Mr. T Experience, Mad Caddies, Swingin' Utters, Teen Idols, Bouncing Souls, Dillinger Four, The Clash, Bad Religion, Ramones. Screeching Weasel was my favorite band - I wore Chuck Taylor's and a black leather jacket. During this time the nu metal bands (was that what they were calling it?) were huge but i resisted pretty well, the first Limp Bizkit CD was my only purchase.

2000 - 2002 still mostly listening to punk. i was going to school for art right when emo was getting big. i didn't like much of it but did start listening to Weezer, Hot Water Music, Radiohead, The Weakerthans, Alkaline Trio, Nerf Herder, At The Drive-In, The Rentals, Modest Mouse.

2003 - felt limited by punk and knew i was missing out on a lot of music, i think Radiohead was a big factor in this new thinking. also had been hanging out with a more hippier crowd for a couple years now - The Beatles, Bob Marley, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, DMB, Phish, 311, Tom Petty, Beck etc. 311 was my favorite band for a couple years.

2005 - present - Z was my first MMJ purchase after the band blew my mind twice on Conan (saw the OBH performance and was impressed, but never got around to getting ISM, then saw them do Anytime and figured it was about time) and it didn't take long to get into their other albums. shortly after I started coming here to this forum to share my thoughts on the band. It was nice to see people here that liked some of what I had already been listening to leading up to MMJ - The Band, Zeppelin, the Stones, Dylan, Radiohead, etc.... I was really clueless when it came to indie rock and other similar bands to MMJ so i paid close attention to the other music section of the forum - The New Pornographers, Flaming Lips, Tom Waits, Built To Spill, The Shins etc... were some of my first explorations.


Edit - forgot about hip hop! 2002 or so -  Outkast Stankonia was my first hip hop CD ever. that was followed by The Roots, J5, Beastie Boys, Blackaliscious

[pawpaw]

1997 - 2001 bbill should know where I'm coming from. Dominated by mostly by pop punk, also liked some hardcore and some punk/ska  - mostly bands on Lookout Records - Screeching Weasel, The Queers, Op Ivy, NOFX, Avail, Mr. T Experience, Mad Caddies, Swingin' Utters, Teen Idols, Bouncing Souls, Dillinger Four, The Clash, Bad Religion, Ramones. Screeching Weasel was my favorite band - I wore Chuck Taylor's and a black leather jacket.

I definitely know where you're coming from, true. Punk was a big part of my music education when I was in High School. There were several venues in Sacramento that would have all-ages punk shows, so it was the first music scene that I was able to be a part of...the shows were frequent, accessible and cheap  ;D. I used to skate and snowboard a lot back then too, so the music was all over the videos we used to watch. There used to be a warehouse in West Sac that had an awesome skate park, and would host larger punk acts touring through the area.

I still listen to some of the punk stuff I've held on to every once in a while...I had a Fugazi and Clash marathon the other weekend while I was painting.

Oh yeah, Screeching Weasel is rad.