I answered a serious of questions recently, one of which was about my favorite music. I have a definite favorite artist, which I will get into in a moment, but it did strike me that I have gone through certain phases. Each phase is pretty much linked by my love of all thing’s synthesizers, but you will see that there are definite little islands that I have landed on along the way.
I grew up in a house where music always seemed to be playing. My dad loved the rock ‘n’ roll sounds of Jerry Lee Lewis, while my mum loved crooners. She would have music blasting while she cooked or cleaned, singing along in a way that would make vampires want to walk into the sun. Music was all around, but it never really passed through me until the first time I heard Cars by Gary Numan on the radio.
The sound of his iconic synth sound made every hair on my body stand on end, and for the first time in my life, music really spoke to me. That led to a quest to find similar sounds, and I landed on the likes of OMD, Depeche Mode, and Ultravox. When I got to see Gary Numan live at the Glasgow Apollo in 1980, my musical future was set.
As I approached my 20s, things took a shift in a number of different ways. I moved to Canada, where I discovered some newer bands. Industrial became my thing, as I adopted the angry young man motif. Skinny Puppy and FrontLine Assembly became my go to, but I also discovered clubbing and developed a love for techno music.
By the time I burned out on partying, I found myself in a mellower state of mind. Vangelis, who I had always loved, became a regular, as did Jarre, Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance), and Liquid Mind. I actually have a very cool story about the latter, but I will save that for another post I have in mind.
Jumping ahead a few years, depression became a thing, followed by divorce and an extended period of misery. Angry music returned full force. Skinny Puppy returned, as did new aggrotech stuff by Hocico, Dawn of Ashes, and others. I found that while the music was ferocious, it would calm me, although the meds may also have had something to do with that.
I am close to 20 years on from that part of my life and am happier now than I have ever been. I have a great wife, I get to write every day, and my musical islands have all merged into one big land mass. I am even toying with ambient music and putting up my own stuff on YouTube.
Why, though, did I choose to write this little note today? It was while listening to the live Gary Numan album called “Perfect Circle.” The title is in reference to his returning to Wembley Arena for a gig decades after prematurely announcing his retirement with a series of shows in the same venue. It does feel at times that my music listening has also come full circle, but I do wonder if there will be new islands to explore in the future.
Love this post. Depeche Mode speaks to my heart. Particularly love industrial. Some of the early-ish, more experimental stuff like Nurse with Wound and Einstürzende Neubauten is great mood music for horror writing, too.
Fun fact — the music that you listen to in your teen years creates the strongest synaptic bonds (that we can tell) and has evidence to support helps with lessening the effects of late-life diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Basically, what we listen to in adolescence shapes us more than we’re consciously aware! Also helps to explain the “full circle” phenomena.