My Weird Taste in Music......


Someone once looked at my CD binder a few years ago and told me I had weird taste in music. I remember getting laughed at by Ebony (can''t remember her last name but yeah, she was black) in 8th grade for having a tape of Gun's N Roses in a cassette holder on band field trip. Everyone laughed because I guess it was funny for a "black" kid to have rock music in 1990. I was kinda embarrassed when it happened. I didn't know I was only supposed to listen Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em or Ice, Ice, Baby.

My ears were always attracted to different music. I had a good friend at the time named Jeremy who was infatuated with Def Leppard. I would come over and he'd have all these Hair Bands plastered all over his wall and Pour Some Sugar on Me playing at least twice an hour. "Dude, I love this song!!!!" he would say. No shit?! Poison, White Snake, what the hell?!?! The names were so cool!! How could I not want to listen to this? So I gave these bands a chance and what the hell!?!? I did like it!


My friend Tyrone was a big Ice Cube fan. We would just walk to the gym rapping the lyrics to AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. It was ok to dance to Hip Hop back then so our little clique would just listen to rap and have a good time. Hip Hop was a part of my life but admittedly, not as much as other kids. I didn't know the lyrics word for word of Run DMC or LL Cool J...well maybe LL. I think it was because my group of friends were so diverse and of course I had a Filipino mother who loved filipino music.

I was being constantly bombarded sonically by Jeremy's Hair Bands, Tyrone's (friend) Ice Cube, my father's 60's and 70's R & B, my mothers Imelda Papin (filipino singer), and Mr. Benard's (band teacher) sheet music. No wonder I like all this crap!!! But it wasn't cool at the time to be as musically diverse. I remember Aaliyah talking about how much she loved Nine Inch Nails and Jay Z and Kanye West both admit to liking alternative and rock music. They had to have liked these genres when they were younger, right? Did they have to hide their likes in fear of being capped in the hood? I would like to think so.

So what about these days you ask? Well, I learned to play the guitar not to long ago so now it's on to a whole new group of artists and bands. I see myself almost like a vine that grows and wraps itself around something for a while before growing more and grabbing something else. My wife seems to think I get obsessive over different artists. Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Jack Johnson and now Amos Lee. Maybe a little bit. But I like what I like and I don't think it's weird or uncool anymore. I kind drive down the road, pull up next to another car at a light, with my windows down and be just as comfortable playing Phil Collins as I would Nas. I'm too old to be cool. So what if a "black" guy owns an N'Sync or a Metallica. It's not weird or stupid or uncool. It's just me being diversified and I love it.

Hallelujah Hollaback!!!