The evolution of your musical taste

[Jomb]

In this thread I want people to go back as far as they can remember and say who their favorite band was, then who it changed to after that, and after that, etc. up to the present day. If you are one of those people who who has a hard time coming up with an exact favorite due to listening to way to much music (such as myself), just try to narrow it down as much as possible.

When I was a kid, my favorite band was Iron Maiden. Then Mercyful Fate. Then when I discovered punk it became the Dead Kennedys and the Minutemen. Sorta Frank Zappa at the same time. After that it was Sebadoh briefly. Then Guided By Voices. Then after discovering the album Trout Mask Replica it was Captain Beeheart & His Magic Band. Then I went through a period of discovering so much kick ass music all at once that its very hard to say who my favorite was. Possibly it was Olivia Tremor Control, or Joel Phelps, or The Rock*A*Teens, or The Shadow Ring. For many years now it has been Caroliner Rainbow. Unbelievable band, never heard anything remotely like them.

[Krythor]

Pixies, Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Frank Zappa, Frank Black, Melt-Banana, The Residents, Tom Waits, Neutral Milk Hotel, Slint, Wu-Tang Clan and Robert Wyatt have been big obsessions of mine, in roughly that order.

There are lots of other bands that I've fallen in love with on a much lesser scale but those were the big ones.

[Esuohlim]

Weird Al, They Might Be Giants, Oingo Boingo, Frank Zappa, Phish. These are the only ones I've truly been obsessed with, in order.

[Grislygus]

Grew up on The Tannahill Weavers, The Chieftains, and Enya. Switched to Tom Petty, followed by an awkward "fitting in" stage, after which I discovered a devoted love for bluesy hard rock, stocked up on every Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Leslie West and Tommy Bolin album I could get, and from there I moved into the rest of the heavy metal arena. Currently into Subway to Sally, Apocolyptica, and Jon Jorgenson.

[Rongi]

From age 11 to now

Smash Mouth, Limp Bizkit, Beastie Boys, Beck, Green Day, Radiohead, The Clash, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Ween, Prince, Talking Heads, Primus, Sonic Youth

That is pretty much in order, I think. I only put down the bands that I had a giant boner for and obsessively downloaded just about anything they had, which is also why I only put down bands that have a somewhat extensive discography. I think out of that list most intense gay love I had was for Radiohead ( I think that's the first band I ever really loved, and I am aware of how gay that sounds), Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd. Because I was so obsessed with those three, I cant even really listen to those bands anymore the same way I used to. Although recently, I am getting into Radiohead and the Beastie Boys again.

I still listen to a lot of those bands. Recently I mostly listen to Radiohead and the Beastie Boys

[Guitar Woman]

The first band I can remember listening to was AC/DC, and to this day they are still my favorite!

After that I got really into Bush, Limp Bizkit, System of a Down (which I now consider the worst band of all time) and Papa Roach. After that I bought my first album ever, "Let it Be" by The Beatles and from age 11 to 14 I did not listen to any other band period. After that I started listening to classic rock, and my favorite bands as of late are AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Wolfmother, Alice in Chains, and Black Sabbath. I am also getting into The Misfits, and the other day I horrified myself by seriously considering buying "Life on the Murder Scene" by My Chemical Romance. Shut the fuck up it's not like you don't secretly like shitty music too. >:

[ScruU2wice]

my first mix cd I just found had Greenday, New found Glory and some other pop punk stuff, I'm sure it's comparable to whatever billboard hot 24 cd was out those year.

after that I really got into Streetlight Manifesto, Reel Big Fish, Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

only recently have I really opened my ears up to a lot of music which will be impossible to list but spreads from RX bandits, Islands, RJD2, Aesop Rock, Ween, and countless that I'm forgetting

[JediScum]

When I was really young, I guess I mainly listened to whatever my parents did so there was a lot of 70's pop, disco and country. Though, I was also an avid watcher of "The Monkees" re-runs on TV when I was around 5 or 6.

I think I was in 3rd or 4th grade when MTV hit the airwaves. I'd watch it for hours at a time, soaking up a lot of 80's pop.

In 5th grade, on my birthday, I got to buy my first two albums. Van Halen "1984" and Motley Crue "Shout At The Devil". I started to listen a lot of hard rock and heavy metal, with friends sometimes influencing my tastes. Iron Maiden was my all time favorite but I was also into Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Ronnie James Dio, and a little bit of Rush and AC/DC.

By the time 8th grade rolled around, I bought an album none of my friends knew anything about out of curiousity and was blown away. That was Metallica's "Ride The Lightning". A few months later, I'd pick up Slayer's "Reign In Blood" and have my head crushed again. That is seriously the only album I've heard that scared me. Eighth grade ended and I was listening to Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Helloween, Celtic Frost, Slayer, Kreator and Death.

Ninth grade I moved and was living with my dad. In school, I heard people talking with disdain about "punk rockers". After a few months, I moved back and my old friends had been bitten by the hardcore bug. Soon, I too had a stupid haircut and began skateboarding. I remember Dead Kennedys and The Misfits replacing Iron Maiden as my favorite band. Sophomore year, I went to my first show and saw The Accused, which was totally mindblowing.

The rest of high school, I became fanatical about music, especially after getting my first job. I had no bills so, along with buying comics, I'd buy 4 - 6 new albums every 2 weeks. Once I got a car, I'd go to almost any show or record store I heard about within a 60 or 70 mile radius. My last job in high school was a pizza delivery driver. So I was pretty much paid to listen to Misfits, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Corrosion of Conformity, MOD, SOD, The Meatmen, Big Black, Dayglo Abortions, Butthole Surfers, Voivod, DBC, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Samhain, Killing Joke, Violent Femmes, CRASS, Primus, The Dwarves, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fugazi, Lard, Pailhead, Inspector 12, Not-Us, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Dead Milkmen, Foetus, Fear, GBH, Public Image Limited, Revolting Cocks, No Means No, Subhumans (UK), Sepultura, Testament, GWAR, Operation Ivy, Happy Flowers, Screeching Weasel, and Naked Raygun.

After high school, in 1992, I landed a summer volunteer DJ spot at a local college and started taping a shitload of stuff from their stacks, especially stuff from Alternative Tentacles like Neurosis, The Victim's Family, Alice Donut, The Beatnigs, and The Crucifucks.

Then I moved to Columbus in 1993. While "grunge" was all the rage, I started getting really into Sonic Youth, The Melvins, Ween, They Might Be Giants, Rudimentary Peni, Jesus Lizard, The Didjits, The Residents, Frank Zappa, the Pixies, NOFX, and King Crimson.

In the summer of 94, I moved to San Antonio. The rave scene was getting pretty big, though I never went to a rave. I did start listening to more techno at the time, The Prodigy being the only thing that really stands out (this was 2 years before "Firestarter" hit the air). I still went to the occasional show. I'd made friends with a couple people who turned me on to a whole lot of new stuff and "oldies" I hadn't discovered yet like Roky Erickson, DE-VO, Helios Creed and Chrome, Yello, Throbbing Gristle, Scratch Acid, Big Boys, The Dicks, Pink Filth, Kurt Otto, Moby, Crash Worship, Tangerine Dream, Luscious Jackson, Flipper, Praxis, Bootsy Collins, EBN, and MC 900 Foot Jesus.

Finally, i moved to Austin, the self-proclaimed "live music capital of the world" and lived there for 8 years. It was there that I was exposed to stuff like the Swans, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Mister Bungle and the works of Mike Patton, David Bowie, Sockeye, Tom Waits, Buckethead, Thrones, Bobby Conn, Turbonegro, Meat Beat Manifesto, and probably a bunch of other stuff that I'm forgetting.

I moved back to Illinois in Nov. of 2004. There are absolutely no record stores in this town anymore. I think i've bought 3 CD's in the last 3 years. In 1997, I had about a third of my record collection stolen and eventually had to sell off the rest to make ends meet while in between jobs. So now I listen to cassette tapes or Mp3's of stuff I've copied off of friends or found at the library. And I listen with HATE!!!

[Angryhydralisk]

I basically went from oldies to rap to doom metal and stoner rock....and some more oldies.

[Esuohlim]

Actually it'd be funnier to list my sister's musical taste evolution, which extends from Nirvana to Now That's What I Call Music Volumes 1 through 800

[Jomb]

I'd call that one a devolution ;)

[noob3]

The first CD I remember buying was probably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CD with Vanilla Ice on it, and the MC Hammer CD. The last CD I downloaded was Let Them Eat by Monorchid & The Young Widows CD, but I already those on a diffirent computer so. Whatever.

[Eyelobe]

The first cassette I bought was Huey Lewis and the News - Sports. I eventually discovered AC/DC, GnR, Maiden, etc...then went through a punk rock phase, an indie rock phase, a blues phase...I have now reconciled all my disparate influences and listen to and play whatever the fuck moves me at the time - including good old Huey Lewis again.

[Trash]

From crappy finnish joke rap to every genre in extreme metal and (hardcore and some traditional) punk.

[Naught]

I did not listen to anything aside from video game music or movie soundtracks until I was 12. At that point I started listening to Weird Al and Eiffel 65. Drastic improvement, eh? In seventh grade my friends and I decided to listen to whatever the kiddies thought was "cool," which just so happened to be comprised of Eminem, Limp Bizkit, and various mainstream rap. I ditched all that in eighth grade for the stereotypical angry white boy music selection. My favorite bands at the time were Linkin Park, System of a Down, AFI, and Disturbed, and I also enjoyed Alien Ant Farm and Gorillaz. It was at that point that I started discovering electronic music, though, with the help of the internet. Middle school ended there. Thank heavens.

The transition to high school kept middle school's status quo. Over the course of my freshman year, however, I started moving away from the aforementioned bands and got more and more into electronic music, predominantly trance. By the later portion of that year, trance was pretty much all I listened to. This kept up halfway through my sophomore year, when (again, with the help of the internet) I discovered various European metal bands that perked my interest. By the end of my sophomore year I was listening to electronic, metal, and nothing much else. During junior year I decided to try my hand at classical and found that I loved it, so that joined my listening ranks.

Finally, during my senior year of high school, I decided to become much more open-minded and went scouring through genres upon genres of music, from the obscure to the well-known, clogging my hard drive with hundreds of bands. The difference was that I made a note not to torrent my music, and I still don't get any satisfaction from simply grabbing an archived discography and having loads of albums left unlistened to. I take care in getting music on an individual song or album basis, and my playlist is constantly in careful rotation whenever I'm not in the mood for something in particular, to ensure that I'm completely familiar with everything I have.

My music library has since expanded to the point where nowadays, when somebody asks me what kind of music I like, I just simply respond, "I don't listen to music." Seriously. It's easier than trying to explain.

[Cfr5]

But you just explained.

[Naught]

What I listen to now comprehensively? Far, far from it.

But yeah, good point. What I just said doesn't make for a nice, simple, one-sentence answer verbally, though.

[Fathom Zero]

I jump around in phases and I hardly ever go back to any one genre.

There are some bands I've voluntarily listened to so much that I hate them and can't listen to them ever again, like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

[noob3]

Instead of "I don't listen to music," which is a lie, why can't you say "I listen to everything." Quit being such a pompous jerk!

[JediScum]

The record labels Alternative Tentacles and Ipecac have a SHITLOAD of mp3 samples on their websites, if anyone is looking to try something new on. Both of these labels are quite diverse in their musical stylings, so its not like you'll be exposed to a lot of the same stuff.

Henry Rollins also does a radio show called "Harmony In My Head" that has downloadable episodes dating back to 2004. He plays a lot less punk rock than you would think.

[bigtimecow]

oh man

will smith, slipknot, system of a down, deftones, poison the well, american nightmare, converge, daughters, some girls

between will smith and poison the well is very hazy because it was a while ago, but i know i've defiantely had a lot of changes in taste. like just recently i've realized that the choice of a vocalist of a band can really affect my liking. like, the vocalist of some girls is really abrasive and having throaty. like his voice is giving out. they're music is very simple, so i imagine that if any other vocalist was in the band it wouldn't work as well.

and i used to have this thing about how like, music wasn't good unless it was technical and off-time and dumb shit like that. but what's wrong with a good, powerful 4/4 beat?

:love

[AlliSabbah]

Waysted Angel in my early teens.

The Cramps from High School to Current Day.

I've yet to evolve at all. :(

[Naught]

Instead of "I don't listen to music," which is a lie, why can't you say "I listen to everything." Quit being such a pompous jerk!
That's a lie, too. There are some things I hate horribly.

[Zomboid]

When I was a kid, I found my dad's cassette collection which had a lot of KISS, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and a few others. I got into KISS more than the others at that point, and I kinda just listened to whatever pop shit everyone else was listening to until I got a bit older. Then it kinda went like this:

Radiohead--AC/DC--Slayer--System of a Down--AC/DC again--Iron Maiden--Metallica-All that Remains-Mastodon

but Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Metallica are still my favorite bands :O

[Sacks]

Elvis, KISS, Green Day, The Aquabats, and then everything just kind of exploded.

[Blackjack]

Mid 90's - Britpoppy things like Oasis, Supergrass and Mansun

Late 90's - Ska Punky things like NOFX, Less Than Jake, Pennywise and Mad Caddies

Early 00's - 80s Thrash-Metally things like Metal-lica, Megadeth and Slayer

Mid 00's - 80's synthpoppy and electro things like Human League and Ladytron mixed with 50's Rock n Roll things like Little Richard and Johhny Cash. Also cheesy pop in from all the decades.

Current - Dancey-Trancey things like Matt Darey, Armin Van Buuren, Deadmau5 along with breaksy-bassy things like Pendulum, Optical and Squarepusher. Also horrific electro-house and indie things like Justice, Klaxons and more Ladytron

Also reflects various 'scenes' I've been a part of ie:

Mid 90s - Trendy
Late 90s - punk DJ
Early 00s - Roadie and punk/metal DJ
Mid 00s - Goth/Burlesque scene and full on cheesy DJ
Now - Clubby scene on a part of my DJing and VJing. But I tend to indulge in a bit of everything when I can - still love punk bands and jumping around to ska, still love air guitaring like a lunatic, still love dressing up and dancing with attractive ladies in corsets and suspenders (them, not me!)

[Tadao]

This thread makes me old.

Harry Chapin and Gordon Lightfoot
Linda Rondstat and Olivia Newton John
Foghat, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix
Grateful Dead, Cat Stevens, Pink Floyd
Bahaus, Fishbone, Bungle
Zappa, King Krimson, Brian Eno
Chemical Bros, Crystal Method, Aphex Twin
Aesop Rock, Jay Z (old),
Nothing anymore.

[Wild Wallace]

I used to love Top 40 shit but now I like Indie, Alternative Rock, and Ska.

[terrva]

First stuff i remember popping in my tape player over and over again was Deep Purple and AC/DC. From there i went through the usual Metallicas and Iron Maidens and Megadeths to Motörhead (which is still one of my favourite bands of all time).

Then i heard about this mystical genre from beyond the seas called Hip Hop. I listened to that for some time (i still like old school hip hop and rap, like N.W.A., Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy).

And then became the electronic music. It started with that crappy mainstream trance and techno, oh and let's not forget *shudder* eurodance *shudder*. Much later i started listening to hardcore and all of its subgenres. I also like industrial, noise and drum'n'bass pretty much. Electronic music is still to this day a type of music i haven't really dug into, but like a lot.

At nearly the same time as i was getting tired with mainstream electronic music, i was itroduced to death metal and grindcore, when my friend gave me Death's album Human, which is still my favorite album of all time. Now i have so extensive list of death metal and grindcore bands i love, that i'm only going to give you the cream of the crop: Bloodbath (swedish supergroup), Nile (goddamn, they are good!), The Berzerker (you can't hate electronic music if you like The Berzerker), Nasum (pretty much the best grindcore band ever) and (this should have been the first) Death, which is my favorite band ever.

So there.

[dirtyxblondexdame]

wow this is a good one! starting from about 13 (that's the earliest i can remember), i'll go down the line...........

Green Day
Billy Joel (still one of my all time favs!)
Bloodhound Gang
311
Nine Inch Nails
Rob Zombie
then i had this big gap between like 18 and 25 where i just stopped caring about music. weird.
so now...............
Faith No More
Peeping Tom
Clutch
Priestess (latest discovery, they fucking rock)
Amy Winehouse (when i'm sad about boys lol)
Lily Allen
Metallica
Mr. Bungle
GnR
and a bunch more but i'm too tired to think :(

[Vanhelm13]

Back in the day I was all about the Elvis
Then I got into ACDC, then the Ramones, then Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Megadeth, etc.
It all went to hell from there. (metaphorically and literally, I guess.)
Now it's all metal, except slipknot-type-stuff and the crazy "rape your bleeding corpse with my axe" death-gore. (Read: cannibal corpse sucks)
I'm a huge fan of viking, folk, black, and stoner metal.
So I'd say my current favourite bands are:
Esniferum, Eluveitie, Satyricon, Early Man, and High On Fire

And Iron Maiden. No one will ever achieve their greatness.

[Jeff The Ninja]

When i was a kid. It was whatever my mom listened to, which was country. Which i must say has had a great impact on what I listen to today. Then i was listening to Country mixed with classic rock (the Eagles, The Travelling Wilburys, Elvis Presley, the Beatles...ect). From there, i discovered at the age of nine, what is still my favourite genre of music, Hard Rock. Starting with KISS then STYX (Saw them a few months ago, good show) then AC/DC. At age 10, I was confused, i went from Hard Rock to Disco, to whatever my sister was listening to (Boy Bands and the Spice Girls) then back to Hard Rock, then to Soft Rock, then country, then country rock, then to Heavy Metal (King Diamond). And it has been a mixture of that up until grade 9. When being a high school freshman, i met my greatest musical influence, a creepy dude with an endless collection of creepy music named Jessie Sieben. He was and still is my hero for getting kicked out of every school assembly by screaming "GOD IS DEAD" (i go to a catholic high school despite not being catholic). He introduced me to the Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Rodan, Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and other Alt/punk/grunge bands that I never heard of. In turn, i got him into videogames, so it was win/win.

Lately, ive been listening to Iron Maiden, every Hair band i can get my hands on, Def Leppard (STYX opened for them, and STYX put on a better show) TOOL, The Smashing Pumpkins, the Pixies, Pink Floyd and Tenacious D (a very dangerous amount of Tenacious D i might add).

So thats it.

[Spruce Moose]

Up until I was like, 16, I had no inkling of what music I like. Because I had no radio of my own, no cds, and my parents controlled the car radio(which was 50s/60s pop, which really didn't agree with me). Now I could've taken initiative and asked for some sort of music playing device for Christmas or something, but it never occurred to me because my whole life, I'd never experienced it. I never even knew it was worth experiencing. My brothers picked up a Boyz II Men and a Rembrandt CD, and Mariah Carey, and that was alright to me, I suppose, but I wasn't terribly into it, and it paled so much in comparison to things like video games that I continued thinking that music, especially modern music, wasn't anything worth my money. I was kind of in to classical from all the lessons they crammed into me in elementary school, I guess.

And then I heard all these bands in Tony awk's Pro Skater 1 and even more imporatntly THPS2. And it blew my mind. And then I got an alarm clock radio one Christmas out of nowhere. And I found a classic rock station. And it blew my mind. And then started to get an interst in music, music I liked, msuic outside my parents iron clad control over the radio(when you can't drive, you don't have much leverage over that radio). So I got a CD player the following Christmas, picked up the albums of bands I'd heard on the classic rock station or whatever video game with licensed music, and I finally developed my own taste.

Which, as it stands now, is punk rock and classic rock(including many of the bands already mentioned in this thread). Millencolin and The Ramones are probably my top bands, but I really enjoy They Might Be Giants for some reason. They don't quite fit in genre wise, but I like them.

[WhiteRat]

I got into the Beastie Boys at the release of Ill Communication and still consider them my favorite artists. Got into Soundgarden and 311 and once I hit high school I pretty much listened to nothing but rap, mostly Three 6 Mafia. I still listen to a decent amount of rap today but I mainly listen to electronic as well as a lot of 80's pop/new wave.

I will listen to anything besides country.

[Cedar]

im really into shoegaze atm

[Cedar]

I'd call that one a devolution ;)
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7639/devodk6.jpg

[Pip]

I was in 6th grade when I first discovered music...back then it was all about Greenday, Smash Mouth, and Blink 182. After that I got into some classic rock through bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Van Halen. From there, my first wave of metal obsession began and I took a liking to Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Slayer and Megadeth. When that ended, I discovered marijuanna and got into bands like The Beatles, The Doors, Pink Floyd and Jefferson Airplane. When I realized that marijuanna sucks, I got back into metal with bands like Venom, Exodus, and Heathen. From there, I grew a fondness for alternative, alt. metal and grunge so I was into bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Helmet, Dinosaur Jr. and stuff. After this phase, I got into metal once more with a favoring of Mercyful Fate, Kreator, and Death.

Then at the beggining of my junior year of high school I fell in love with my current music of choice...horror rock. So now I listen to alot of horror punk, psychobilly, surf rock, rockabilly and Doo Wop