Right on man! I share the same outlook. That's one of the greatest parts of music is the fact that it is an artistic roadmap that never truly ends, and there is always some new discovery around the next bend. The journey is amazing, and it's cool to think about your life in a musical sense.. where did it start? Where did one band lead you to discover another? Was it a recommendation, a label mate, an influence? Discovery is a beautiful thing!
Hear, hear. Well and truly spoken. Heck, I remember back way before the internet where the only zines you could find (at least where I lived) were either all mainstream music or total hardcore punk oriented (like
Maximum Rock and Roll--and don't get me wrong: I loved a lot of straight up punk and hardcore, and the first bands I was in were pretty loudfastrules hardcore, but I was always looking to expand...) the only way I could find out about cool new music was either by word of mouth or from hanging out at the one cool record shop in my little midwestern city and looking at how weird the band names and album covers were!
Seriously--that is exactly how I got onto Echo & The Bunnymen, for example. Picked up their first album, thought the name sounded wacky, dug the cover, song titles looked interesting...
bam. I found my way to Throbbing Gristle and The Residents the exact same way. In fact, funny mini-story: I came across a 7" ep (
"Babyfingers") by The Residents. I didn't know anything about them, but the cover got me hooked. The label didn't say what speed to play it on--45rpm or 33rpm. I got it home, listened to it both ways and I STILL couldn't be sure which speed it was supposed to be played on because I'd never heard any other music of theirs and it was so strange sounding to my ears that it sounded good at both speeds!
(It wasn't until I heard more Residents stuff that I realized "Oh..okay..")
Sorry...just rambling, but yes...that sense of discovery. I kind of think kids today are robbed of that because everything is so instantaneously at your fingertips (or in your eardrums.) But at the same time, the power that comes from instant global connectedness...I can literally write and record a song today, post it in a number of places, and disseminate it worldwide all within hours. That is creative power I never would have dreamed possible pre-digital days.
The downside to that is that there is SO MUCH music available. Although I'd argue there is a larger ratio of crap music-to-cool music than ever before.
Dude.. that is amaaaazing! You lived in Chicago at a great time in regards to music (Wax Trax's catalog was crucial in my formative years).
I hung out at Wax Trax Records all the time. For some reason I went through a big KMFDM period...I also got to know Al Jourgenson from Ministry fairly well. Not to call up and go out, but he used to practice at a space where a band I was in practiced and we all kind of befriended him. Cool guy.
You are so right about Albini being no nonsense, the guy is like a physicist basically, a true precise master at everything he does. He even has a food blog, and is an exceptional experimental cook. He has even cooking down to a science for gods sake!
No way! I had no idea. What a renaissance man! I gotta check that food blog out. That cracks me up. But it makes sense too kind of, right? Ha!
Thanks for sharring your story with us!
Oh, I'm a bad motormouth. I feel like a tool namedropping "brush with greatness" encounters I've had. I've just been really fortunate to have been in bands that got to open for some name bands and I managed (in my younger days) to be tangentially related to "the biz" in small ways like working at radio stations and booking agencies so I had the good luck to meet and rap with quite a few heroes. Plus, I've moved all over the nation in my life...
