My Musical History

(by Reagan Bockhold)

NOTE: Thanks to Scott for the idea.

I love music. I really do. Given the choice between watching TV and listening to the radio, I will almost always go for the radio. My own CD collection is limited only by the amount of money in the bank. (Compliation CD's are my friends, folks.) My favorite TV show is American Idol...There have (believe it or not) been many quality contestants: Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, Kimberley Locke, Bo Bice, Carrie Underwood...Unfortunately, those who got contracts with the Idol record company didn't have their talents used to the best of their abilities. For instance, Kelly Clarkson's first CD only had one good song on it (Miss Independent). However, her most recent CD (which was not produced by Idol) has at least three hits on it, and a fourth one is gaining on the charts. But that's neither here nor there.....

On with my history!

CLASSIC ROCK (1978-1986): That is the earliest music I listened to, circa the late 70's and early 80's. Or shall I say, heard. Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, the Bee Gees, Chicago, CCR, etc. My mother acquired a tape with old hits from the 1950's and 1960's. My younger sister loved it. Me? Not so much. My older brother and sister enjoyed rock music, so naturally that's what we listened to.

KIDDIE POP (1985-87): My sister and I obtained our first tape deck Christmas of 1985. We also got two tapes: The Nutcracker Suite and Wee Sing and Play. We learned many new kids songs from around the world with the Wee Sing tape. We also enjoyed the Nutcracker tape. Later on, we would check out tapes from the library. One I remember was a tape of songs in American History. There was also a Christian Mother Goose tape. One Christmas, we got a tape with some Christmas songs on it, and we played it quite a bit.

BUBBLEGUM POP (1987-90): The moment I had any kind of say-so as to what music to listen to, I started on what is better termed as Bubblegum Pop. Ya know...Janet Jackson (pre-wardrobe malfunction), Paula Abdul (To this day, Forever Your Girl is my favorite song from that era...), Tiffany, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Gibson...My official first band crush was on New Kids On The Block. I had several shirts, buttons, books, posters...My favorite was Jordan. Unfortunately, a rumor spread about them in my elementary school. Let's just say it was totally unfounded. But at any rate, they promptly became uncool.

THE BLACK HOLE (1991-94): I don't remember very many songs from this era, and even fewer that I enjoyed. I remember I was a fan of Color Me Badd. (Now I cringe whenever I hear a song from them...Change of heart, maybe?) Later on, most of my classmates would sing to "Bat in a Cage" or dreck like that. I praise God that even back in those days, I had the good sense not to deal with music like that. It seemed for awhile that the more nonsensical or hate-centered a song was, the cooler it was (e.g. I Hate Everything About You, "I'm moving to the country, I'm gonna eat me a lot of peaches...", the MmmMmm song, etc.)

CHRISTIAN POP (1994-96): This was my first exposure to the Newsboys, Audio Adrenalin, DC Talk, etc. I had several tapes of these artists (because I still didn't have a CD player yet). I also had several tapes of musicians that would do youth rallies at my church and at church camp.

RETURN TO BUBBLEGUM POP (1996-97): Hanson. The Spice Girls. The Cardigans (whaaaa?). Enough said. Well, not quite. My friends back then had a thing about the "If Ya Wanna Be My Lover" song by the Spice Girls. It was amusing. Okay, now enough said.

PARTY MIX HITS (1997-99): This was the music that was played at every party known to man. "My Pony," "Come On (Ride The Train)", "Tubthumping"...you could hear this stuff on any college campus or any fraternity house in the country. Ah, those were the days.

After about 2000 or so, my music tastes became much more eclectic. As in, I didn't listen to any genre of music exclusively. So it is today.

Conclusion: I listen to what I enjoy. Period. I have a few artists that I enjoy (I like Maroon 5, LifeHouse, and others), but mostly I enjoy individual songs that have meaning to me.