well, how did i get here?!?

Over the last few years I have started, and seemingly immediately stopped, several music blogs. In every case it seemed it failed due to the fact that I was trying to be something I am not. Sure, I could write ten-thousand words about my favorite artists and why their music has helped me and others when we were in our most darkest times, and blah blah blah, but who has the time to read that? I don’t want to even put time aside to write that.

Nor did I want to become someone who feels the need to rate and rank things. The thought of coming up with a rating system overwhelmed me to no end. Would I use a star rating? Base it off a score from one-to-ten? Will I include decimal points? Would I have to become a contrarian just to make a name for myself? Way too much work to come out the gate with a barrage of hot takes.

No, the reason I fired this blog up may almost have a darker, more serious meaning. You see, as a voracious consumer of music in all it’s forms I have a deep secret that I must get off my chest:

I don’t think I am a good music fan.

I mean, sure, I have several days’ worth of music on my iTunes account and I have boxes and crates of compact discs and records laying around taking valuable basement floor space. The money I have spent on those could have been better served living within a Roth IRA. And the concerts. Good lord, the shows I have been to, you guys. I have a shoebox nearly bursting with ticket stubs, and I wear a size 13 shoe for reference (and often they are a wide size 13 too, if we’re being personally specific).

Part of the reason for my confession is my inherent fear of missing out has gotten the best of me. I simply cannot allow myself to be out of the loop, to not know what’s out there or what everyone else that’s cooler than me is listening to. Perhaps my favorite song is out there already, and I haven’t heard it yet! Often, I have to come up with a lie and say I like that darling new indie band and their new album is unreal, or worse, utter the most painful half truth statement a music fan can say: I haven’t heard them, but I’ve heard OF them (it really is the worst saying). In an effort to cast a wide net to amass an impressive collection, I failed to dive deep with what I already have.

I can’t be the only one, right?

So this is where this blog comes in. This is where I can revisit and reconnect with the artists and the albums that I have meant to listen to. Like, really listen to. Not just that one kinda popular song that was such a jam that I had to go buy the album so I can put it on my shelf (or iPod) to sit and rot. The start this whole thing off with a far bigger bang that needed, I have combed through my collection and picked twenty-six(!) albums from artists from A-to-Z. I will listen with a more careful ear and try to remember exactly why I bought that album and why I never bothered to listen to the whole damned thing.

So enjoy, as I go back and bring these secrets out of the shadows and perhaps it will inspire you to go and find the albums and bands that you may have missed out on. Things that will make you say, hmm, I meant to listen to that.