"Music is What Feeling Sounds Like"- I am Thankful Day 28

It is hard for me to even describe how thankful I am for music. (I can already guarantee this is going to be like my longest post ever so you may want to just give up now.)

I think the thing I love the most about music is that it can make, change or amplify any mood. The title of this blog post says it all; "Music is what feeling sounds like."
I mean how can you not get excited when you hear House of Pain shouting JUMP!!! JUMP!!!! JUMP!!!! How can you hold back the tears when you hear someone sing Amazing Grace? How can you not release all your rage when Linkin Park belts out One Step Closer? How can you not want to dance around the room when Justin Timberlake is telling you he brought Sexy Back? And I am pretty sure Bob Marley has the power to put anyone in a mellow mood (drug free of course).

The music that is played on the radio right now drives me soooo crazy. My teenage son told me I need to realize that music isn't about talent anymore but about production and image and it just about broke my heart. You can't even tell who is singing because they all sound the exact same. Then they get invited to sing live on American Idol or at some awards show and unless they lip sing you realize that they honestly can't sing. I hope this phase of over production and auto-tune doesn't last forever. I have seen some of my favorite artists become "popular" and put out albums that I don't even recognize. SAD! But I will leave these ramblings for another post.

Okay back to my gratitude for music. I love to listen to orchestras. I can never get enough of the classical station. I especially love string quartets. There is a group called The Vitamin String Quartet- they do string tributes to popular artists. I always listen to them when I grocery shop. I love anything with a cello solo. There is something about the cello that just makes me feel good.

I love Soundtracks. A good soundtrack can make or break a movie for me. I love it when a certain song reminds me of a scene from a movie. And the total music nerd that I am- I make soundtracks for my favorite books and honestly I think my Twilight Soundtrack is seriously comparable with the one they put in the movie (I actually like mine better).

I love musicals. I could listen to the music from The Newsies a hundred thousand times and never get sick of it. I hate to admit it but I even enjoy the High School Musical soundtracks LOL.

I love ringtones and ringbacks.

I love genius on Itunes.

I love American Idol.

I completely adore my Ipod.

I love mix CDs and playlists. I love giving them to people. I love coming up with silly titles for my CDs. I took a road trip to Ohio once and I made myself like 20 CDs. They had names like Rest Stop, Road Kill, Are We There Yet? and Over the Hills and Through the Woods.

I love lyrics. I love music that tells about something real and makes you feel it. If you have ever listened to an artist like Matisyahu or Blue October you will know what I mean. I wish I could express myself half as well.

I love that there is a song for every situation. I love it when I hear a song I can totally relate to what they are talking about. This example might seem kind of strange but there is a song by Mathew Good that says "That trailer trash pedigree is calling..it rats you out when you're down on all fours" Yeah I totally know what that feels like.

I love it when punk bands redo songs from hip/hop or R&B artists. Bowling for Soup's remake of Fergie's London Bridge is pretty fantastic.
I love it when I make someone listen to one of my favorite obscure undiscovered indie bands and they love them just as much as I do. I love it when I find a new obscure undiscovered indie band to listen to. (suggestions?)
I love Eminem, there is something real about him that is endearing to me. Too bad there are only like four of his songs that are clean enough for me to listen to.

I love concerts.

I love it when the choreographers on So You Think You Can Dance use one of my favorite songs for a dance or when because of a dance that is performed on the show a song becomes my favorite.

I love Reggae, the Blues and crazy sit down singer song writers. I love grunge and rowdy British Indie Rock and anything unplugged. I love Folk Rock, Punk Rock, Alternative Rock and Classic Rock. I love pretty much anything from the 80's- one of my favorite stations on Pandora is called Aqua-Net Radio. I wish I had an ounce of musical talent but alas I do not. Maybe someday I will take piano lessons or something lol.

Well if you made this far and you are still reading you are pretty amazing.
In closing I would just like to quote one of my favorite songs;
"Yeah whatever....rock out"

I am Thankful Day 13

As many of you know I have a problem. A BIG one. I am addicted to music. Specifically BUYING music. I have 19 gigs of music in my Itunes Library. I miss BMG in ways you cannot imagine. My Cd's are alphabetized and in cases under my bed and I can't believe I am going to admit this here in PUBLIC but many of you probably already know this so here it goes.........in 2008..... I spent.............ack.....it hurts to say it.......ummmm yeah I spent six hundred dollars (can't this writing get any smaller?) on music.

I told you it was a BIG problem! Well in 2009 I made a commitment to make a HUGE reduction in the amount of money I spent. I avoid the music sections at Walmart and Target, I avoid Itunes on Tuesdays when all the new Cd's come out and I keep a notebook with lists of all the music I would like to own so on the rare occasion I decide to reward myself I know exactly what I want. The list now has over 200 albums on it but hey at least I didn't buy them. I am not saying I was perfect this year but I did drastically decrease the amount I spent. As of today I have spent 121 dollars on music with no plans to spend any more soon. I am putting Wolfmother's new CD on my Christmas wishlist though.
So you are probably wondering what I am thankful for right?

PANDORA!!!! It is my new drug of choice. I can open Pandora and listen to music all the live long day without paying a dime. It is AMAZING!!!

I have created at least 20 stations. My favorites right now are my Matisyahu, Pink Floyd, Matt Nathanson and Hometown Glory by Adele stations.
If you haven't ever used Pandora I highly recommend it.
I promise there will be a day that I express my thankfulness for music in general. But it will have to be a day when I have LOTS of time.

15 Most Influential albums

I posted this on my facebook but wanted to blog it too. I just realized I have two number 14s. Oops

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically, they shaped your world.

I chose mine from the last 17 years or so.

1.Pink Floyd- The Wall (Travis had this on cassette and we would listen to it over and over and over and over again listening to it brings back all the memories of falling in love with him)
2. Bob Marley- Legend (this Cd reminds me of my mom- it is also a perfect CD to listen to in the carpool line while waiting to pick up kids)
3. Nirvana- Unplugged in New York (I remember when I saw this on MTV- wow- I would put this album near the top of the best of all time list)
4. Hard-Fi- Stars of CCTV (Hard-Fi is one of my favorite bands)
5. Guns N Roses- Appetite for Destruction (Never gets old)
6. The Subways- Youth For Eternity (Billy Lund is beautiful)
7. Matisyahu- Youth (Another album that would be on my best of all time list)
8. Credence Clearwater Revival- Chronicles (I think Travis and I listened to this CD non stop for at least a year or two)
9. Led Zeppelin- III (just slightly edged out over Zeppelin II as my favorite Zeppelin album)
10. Linkin Park- Hybrid Theory (brilliant)
11. Matchbox Twenty- Mad Season (I can still sing all the words to every song- I listened to it that much)
12. The Doors- Greatest Hits (another album that reminds me of the early days with Travis. I have so many memories associated with this album)
13.Wolfmother- Wolfmother (so sad they broke up- most brilliant live show I have ever seen)
14. Fleetwood Mac- Rumours (Travis and I def had a classic rock thing going on there for awhile- this album also reminds me of my childhood)
14. Stephen Marley- Mind Control (I am so addicted to this album- I have it acoustic too it's beyond amazing)
15. Van Morrison- Moon Dance (And It Stoned Me is one of my all time favorite songs)
(I know it says 15 but I can't narrow it down)
16. The Who- 20th Century Masters; The Who- Best of The Who (The Who are fantastic- I love listening to Travis sing along with Pinball Wizard- I can totally picture it in my mind when I think about it)
17. Yellowcard- Yellowcard (I am a sucker for rock music with violins)
18. The White Stripes- White Blood Cells (Before I got my ipod I went through at least three of this CD)
19. Steve Miller Band- Greatest Hits 74-78 (so many amazing songs- one of the first CD's Travis and I bought together)
20. Blue October- Foiled (18th Floor Balcony is probably my all time favorite song- there is a part where his voice and the violins are going in unison ((4:12)) wow)
21. Joss Stone- The Soul Sessions (The first time i heard Joss I was blown away- she has shifted directions and I don't really care for her new stuff as much but her first CD is soooo fantastic- she does a remake of The White Stripes Fell in Love with A Girl ((hers is fell in love with a boy)) that I LOVE)
22. After Midnight Project- After Midnight Project- (I am FINALLY going to see them live this month!!!!!! I cannot wait- If you haven't heard them you totally need to check them out they are my favorite)
23 America- History (Another one Travis and I listened to non-stop)
24. Jimi Hendrix- Electric Lady Land (I lost this CD and it is sorely missed- I keep meaning to rebuy it)
25. Grateful Dead- American Beauty (Box of Rain was my ringback for like a year. The whole album is wonderful)
26. Alice In Chains- Nothing Safe- Best of Alice in Chains (Layne Staley had such an original voice- so sad that he lost his life to addiction- Alice In Chains remains one of my favorite bands)



I should do one for the first 17 years of my life as well. That will be my next post.