My First Post

From as far back as I can remember, there has been music in my life, and I can remember that I have always wanted to be a part of it in some way. I can remember listening to the radio and playing records and tapes for hours on end. I remember my friends trying to get me to come outside when all I wanted to do was listen to music and sing. I remember sitting with my brother and his friends while they played their guitars. I remember watching every awards show on TV and listening to the weekly top 40 hit list to see who had the number 1 song that week. I remember watching American Bandstand, not to see what the dancers were wearing or to see who was dating who, but to see and hear the musical acts that were performing. I loved shows like Solid Gold, The Donny & Marie (Osmond) Show, Midnight Special, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Sonny & Cher, The Captain & Tenille, Dean Martin....anything that was a variety show or was musical.

Everyone in my family was musical in some way or just loved music. My dad used to listen to the local country stations and took us to a couple of shows. I remember going to see people like Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash. My mom loved performers like The Platters, Nat King Cole, Patsy Cline, Patti Page, Brenda Lee, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, and Doris Day. My brother, on the other hand, was and still is a metalhead. He loves groups like Kiss, Dokken, Ratt, Poison, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and AC/DC. So I grew up around all kinds of music and I like some of all of it. My husband is into Motown and R&B, like the Spinners and the Temptations, and also into the comedy songs and parody songs of people like Weird Al, Rodney Carrington and Ray Stevens, and now that my son is a young adult (he's 25), I am hearing a lot of the new stuff that is on the radio. As with all the other types of music, some of it I like and some I don't. I have a cousin that sings, another one that sings in a band and plays guitar, and one of my uncles used to sing and was able to play harmonica and piano by ear. It's almost as if being musical was born in my blood.

There are things about some of the music I've heard over the years that really bothers me. I don't like it when songs seem to promote things like drug use or brutality. I never cared for the heavy metal songs where someone is just literally screaming and the band is playing the same four chords over and over for six solid minutes. (Don't throw tomatoes, there are some heavy metal songs I really like. Jaime's Crying by Van Halen is one of my favorites, and I love Beth and a few others by Kiss.) As a singer, I like to hear the lyrics of the song so I can join in. I also don't think the "n" word has any place in any kind of conversation. It was used originally to belittle and degrade people and even though it is used in casual conversation these days, it still has that connotation to it. I just don't like the word--never have, never will. But I don't believe in censorship. I would never say that someone else can't say what they want in their songs. I always have the option of not buying that artist's recordings if I don't like what I hear.

I think there are some really fantastic artists, groups and musicians out there, and tons of great music. They are writing new stuff and renewing the old stuff and most of it is fantastic. You just have to keep your ears and your mind open.