mush

You know, I didn't use to like rock music. It's funny when I think about it, so much music I never used to like that I really appreciate now. When I was nine I heard Pet Shop Boys for the first time - I still remember that orange cd-cover (oh my god, a cd!). It was in school on a Friday during the "happy hour". I remember later that year when I went to a friend's house and we listened to the radio. (I never really did that at home.) In seventh grade my best friend was completely hooked to music - pretty much any kind, but mostly rock - and bought loads of cds every week. I didn't agree with her taste at all and mostly listened to chewing gum-pop where she listened to rock or punk or ska. At this time another one of my friends was really into hard rock and punk. The harder and angrier the better. We spent an amazing amount of time together and she got the idea in her head that she was gonna teach me to like it. So she played Metallica and Iron Maiden and Dia Psalma and so much else that I can't even remember half of it. She played it when we played games, when we had dinner, when we were about to go to sleep. (Hrm, does seem a bit like brainwashing doesn't it?) It took her a while, but I learned to like it. A lot. 1999 something happened that forever changed my view in music. Britney Spears. I was a fan of Spice Girls 1996, but Britney was something more. Of course, I was a girl and I still liked chewing gum-pop so I'm fairly sure that has something to do with it. No one was really surprised. I was a really big fan of her first two albums - cute lyrics and nice tunes. I'm a Slave for You changed my opinion and I stopped listening to her songs. I just couldn't take how different it was.
When I started working in 2005 I got a new friend who was completely addicted to music. He was into that like I was into books and we spent our evening shifts with music, music and more music. It was on one of those shifts - an evening shift in the summer - that he played Muse's Unintended for me. Four and a half years and two concerts later I still love that band. Although I didn't like everything he played it did teach me that there's a lot more to a song than just the melody and the lyrics. The melody is the first thing you hear, the lyrics are usually the second thing you notice but what about that sound in the beginning? Or that noise in the middle? It's a bit funny now because I listen to songs and think "it's not all that to be honest, but it's got a nice sound". I suppose I got a bit far away from that chewing gum-pop-listening girl I used to be, because whenever I tell people that the concert with Britney Spears July 11th 2009 was the second best concert I've ever been to they look at me and ask "you like Britney Spears?!". The first? Robbie Williams on July 2nd 2006. Yes, Muse is number 3.