I think sometimes people figure because I’m a musician that I must be hip to what’s new in music. I’m not. I don’t listen to the radio much, I don’t read any music blogs, and I don’t subscribe to any podcasts. I don’t know anything.
I’m still absorbing the music of Eddie Cochrane, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Stax and Motown, singer-songwriters from the 60s and 70s, and tons of other stuff, but nothing much new.
Of course there are exceptions, Radiohead and Arcade Fire are often playing in my iTunes. But Black Keys, MGMT, TV On The Radio, and all the rest hardly get a note in edgewise. It’s not that I don’t like them, I’m sure they’re brilliant. I’m just stuck listening to classics. I think maybe soon I’ll feel that I’ve absorbed the old music enough and switch into listening to some new bands, I’ll come back here and ask for recommendations when I do.
But for now Nina Simone is singing To Love Somebody on the stereo, and damn it just feels good.
Love,
SJ
PS. I also love a bunch of bands that aren’t cool at all, and I couldn’t care less what people might say about them. You can erase Phil Collins, Chicago, Elton John AND Billy Joel from my iPod, but I’ll be able to sing their songs from memory until the day I die.