It's (New) Music to My Ears

I am discovering new music.  At least I think it’s new; if it’s not brand new, it is at least new to me.

I have spent the last 10 or more years listening to classic rock.  I love classic rock and find that I appreciate a lot of artists and songs more now than when I was first listening to them back in the 70’s and 80’s.  AC/DC, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Van Halen, Ozzie Osbourne all sound better to me now than they did back then.  Not everything is more appealing now, though - I can’t say that ZZ Top and the Grateful Dead have improved as I age, and I still don’t see the point of the Rolling Stones.

Even while I love my classic rock, I have wondered what the new music is all about.  I tried to listening to a classic rock/new rock station and, while I liked the music, I couldn’t stand the sophomoric show hosts, so went back to my regular classic rock station. 

When I wasn’t listening to the radio I was listening to CDs that we’ve accumulated over the years.  It’s not all classic rock – we actually have a fairly decent collection of music that includes rock, folk, Celtic, jazz, alternative, blues, country and bluegrass, classical and things we can’t even classify.   Rarely, however, did we add new artists unless we heard them elsewhere and noted who they were and then made a point to buy a CD.  Newer finds were Harry Manx and Adele.

Because he listened to our fairly decent range of music, it turns out that our son enjoys listening to all kinds of music (country and bluegrass excepted – it drives him crazy when I put on the Dixie Chicks or Allison Krause).  He actually liked what we played when we sat quietly reading the paper, or blasted from the car stereo when we were on a road trip.

He started adding his music into the mix.  At first it was kid pop like Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls.  We listened with him and added his CDs to our collection.  He added Oxygen to our stash of CDs on one road trip and we listened to them as we drove through five or six states and provinces to get back home.  After a camping trip with some friends, he brought home Staggered Crossing, and it too went onto the shelf with the rest of our CDs.  We listened and liked it reasonably well, and it occasionally makes it onto the disc player.

And then our son brought home two CDs that had me changing the station I listen to at work.  Hey, Rosetta! and Mumford and Sons made their way onto our CD player last time our son was home.  What fantastic music!  Mumford and Sons particularly spoke to me, and I couldn’t help comparing them to Hothouse Flowers – not because their music is similar, but because of the intensity of the lyrics and their energy.

When I returned to work the following week, I decided to see where I could find more music like Hey, Rosetta! and Mumford and Sons, and was turned on to the adult alternative station on the internet radio station I regularly stream.  I discovered even more great music – Florence and the Machine, Kings of Leon, Decemberists, Amos Lee, Snow Patrol …lots of artists who were new to me and who produced wonderful music.

Our CD collection now includes many of my new finds.  I listen to the alternative station all the time when I’m at work and I listen to classic rock only on the drive to and from work.  I still enjoy it, but I enjoy much more the new artists I’m discovering.