Since a kid, music has always been something important to me. A lot of different people and experiences have shaped my music taste, or exposure. What comes to mind immediately is my friends, a (very specific) music class in 2nd grade, and lastly my family. Specifically, my dad. At a very young age I was exposed to lots of different music from my dad. I remember taking his MP3 player and putting headphones in and listening for hours. Through that (and our various car rides) I discovered a lot of different sounds. Some of it being things he was currently listening to but a lot of it being things that he grew up on.
When I talked to my dad it was actually a really interesting conversation. I thought back to these conversations that we have had about music in the past and hearing these same stories as a 20-year-old as opposed to a young kid makes for a very different but very cool understanding.
That understanding really came when I talked to my dad about who he was listening to at my age. It was lots of stuff. My dad grew up about 40 minutes from Detroit so around my age he was going to A LOT of concerts. (Makes me jealous). He saw big artists at the time such as Blink-182, Kid Rock, and more. Hearing these concert stories and these experiences of him listening to these artists while I listened to the same music was a very eye-opening thing to me. One artist that stood out particularly was Blink-182. I was in the 5th grade the first time I heard a Blink-182 song, and I fell in love with their music. One album/song stood out to and that was Dammit from the album Dude Ranch. I was 11 at the time (and didn't relate to a single lyric) but I absolutely loved the tune and words used. The line "I guess this is growing up" makes much more sense now as a 20-year-old as opposed to 11 ha-ha. Anyways, I am still a big fan of the band and this song specifically. I'll never forget the memory of watching the music video with my dad.
One other song that has always stood out to me is a song I heard on the MP3 player. I remember looking out my window of our house in Texas and thinking I knew what it was like to be a cowboy. As a kid (and still now) I have always been a fan of wearing hats. My dad wore them a lot and it is just something I picked up so the first time I heard this song it resonated. That song is This Cowboys Hat by Chris LeDoux. Now as an adult I still enjoy the song and have actually had two really cool memories listening to it. The first being my friend Nathan teaching me how to play poker and putting that song on. I was so surprised because I thought I was the only person who had ever heard it. That is something I will always remember! The other was over the late summer. I worked at the Spartan burgers stadium this season and had the privilege of working promotions, so I spent most of the games on the sideline. One of the walk-up songs was this song, and I loved singing along.
I enjoyed having these conversations with my dad again as a now adult. It was a cool experience listening to him and understanding on another level what he was talking about. His music taste has largely shaped mine and that is something I will forever be grateful/thankful for.
Great post, Hunter. Your interview with your dad was great. He seems to have great taste in music. Blink-182 is such a nostalgic staple, lol. I really like your second song choice, "This Cowboys Hat." I have heard that song in the past, though I totally forgot about it, so it was great to rediscover it!
ReplyDeleteHi Hunter, great job this week! Its great that you are able to experience your dads stories as an adult, i'm sure that was very special for you! Your dad has great music taste as well!
ReplyDeleteHi Hunter ! I loved reading your blog. The connection you have with your father and the fact that he influenced your music's taste is amazing !
ReplyDeleteHi Hunter, I enjoyed the story about you and your dad its really sweet. I've never really listened to that kind of music, its never really been my favorite but the two songs you chose were kinda of good so thank you for introducing me to them
ReplyDeleteHey Hunter! I love the connection you made with your dad through music. I think it speaks to how unifying music can be to people. I also think it is cool that you like the same kind of music as your dad when he was your age; it's like you're following in his footsteps! I love the bond that you two have through song and I also love the bands mentioned in this post.
ReplyDeleteHunter, we both have a similar ways of getting into music being our dad and listening to music in the car. I wish my dad was cool enough to listen to blink 182 when I was growing up but he instead liked a bunch of older rock. I didn't know what blink 182 was until I reached highschool when my music started to vary more from the stuff my dad played, so its super cool (and Im jealous) that you got to be introduced so early to them!
ReplyDeleteHey Hunter! I enjoyed your dad's music taste. Blink-182 is something my dad and I will sometimes listen to while on a long car drive heading to a swim meet. I'm happy that you and your dad also have a great bond with one another, and I'm glad it is shaping you as it did for your dad. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Hunter, I loved reading about your interview with your dad. I think it’s so cool that you and your dad share that connection with liking similar artists.
ReplyDeleteHeya Hunter! I think it's awesome that you can connect with your father in such a way, and I can definitely understand why you'd be jealous about the concerts, I myself have wanted to attend some myself from time to time. I can also agree that growing up makes both music and conversation feel different. I remember having such conversations myself with my father, but he never quite went into detail as much when I was younger as he does with me now that I'm older. But that's just the beauty of getting older isn't it?
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