Some things never change

I remember how my music taste evolved like it was yesterday. At about 5th grade, I was into Metallica, Nirvana and Megadeath. Thankfully I didn't get obsessed with Slayer like today's kids who claim to breath, drink and eat metal. Metal was where it was at for the brothers in my family. It wasn't really the fact that everyone was listening to metal, more of that's what 82 was tuned into. I think it served it's purpose for the time that I got into it. I remember Metallica putting out their new album where they had cut their hair, and released a strange video for Until it Sleeps...I believe. It was disturbing, and I quickly dropped them like a bad habit. I also like Presidents of the United States of America for some reason. I thought they were catchy. I think Lump and Peaches were the only songs I liked. They too, got very boring and I never wanted to listen to them. When I got into Middle School, I started to find a whole new breed of music: Punk and Ska.

Unwritten Law, Pennywise and Rancid come to mind what my middle school years were like. I drew the Blue Roon cover from Unwritten Law. 82 touched it up. The music was fast, and raw. There weren't any god awful guitar solos. Pennywise was perfect for freestyle BMXing, which I started getting into my summer years of Middle School. They had amazing energy, and I loved every moment of it. I remember the kids would look at me like I was weird for not listening to their music. No one like punk or ska in middle school. I believe it was in the 6th grade that I found Less Than Jake with the help of my brother. I became good friends with somea guy who loved Marlyn Manson and Nirvana. He told me Ska was stupid because of the flute solos. I have yet to find a ska band that has a flute player in the outfit OR excessively has too many flute solos. Other bands that I became huge fans of between 96-98 where The Aquabats, Rancid, Operation Ivy, Dance Hall Crashers, Assorted Jellybeans, Voo Doo Glowskulls, The Invaders, Blue Meanies, Sex Pistols, Bouncing Souls, NOFX and a TON others. It certainly didn't hurt having 82 there to influence me into what he loved. I am forever greatful for his guidance.

Looking on the past 4-8 years, my music taste certainly hasn't made a drastic change. I still hate Metaliica, but I don't listen to ska as much...I appreciate the older stuff and some of the new stuff...My heart still gets faster everytime I put on an LTJ album, and I still have the Blue Room picture in some sketchbook from my early years. I hope that I can pass my good music taste to my kids. It doesn't hurt that my future wife also enjoys punk rock.

My "fall to my knees" moment

Like most crazy born-again Christians, I too have a "fall-to-my-knees" moment.

It was when I discovered punk rock.

I'm not all to sure what I thought punk was, but as a teenaged metalhead, I was convinced I didn't like it. I read an interview with Kurt Cobain when I was at the height of my Nirvana obsession when he was saying they weren't metal, they were punk rock. I disagreed. I hated punk, but I liked Nirvana, so they had to be metal.

At the age of 16, I was at that age where one decides what music they'll listed to the remainder of their life. I was such a big Metallica fan that I dreamed of drumming for them, should Lars quit or take a break. I new every drum part from every Metallica song. I watched Headbangers Ball every stinking Saturday night, wondering why Rikki Rachman didn't have long hair.

I got into heavier heavier metal, finding Sepultura and Pantera right before It happened. Headbangers Ball played a Rancid video.



The singer had a mohawk, they had to be punk, but I liked it.

I eventually bought Let's Go and listened to it religiously.



I think the dagger to the heart of my heavy metal days was when the long-awaited Metallica record came out. I wanted desperately to like it, but no matter how often I heard it, it just did not grow on me.

Like most punk rock fans, I found new bands through compilations and from word-of-mouth. I soon found myself a fan of Rancid's labelmates, NOFX, Down By Law, Pennywise, Offspring and Bad Religion.

I've strayed a bit from Rancid, as they've strayed a bit in the past 13 years, but I just listened to "Let's Go" on my iPod while cutting the grass today. I have decided to give their recent output a chance.

Hey There Delilah, please put a cork in it

Unlike the West Coast where my bro lives, "Hey There Delilah" made popular by rich Chicago suburban kids Plain White T's destroyed and desocrated the radio station airwaves with this mind-numbing tune in the Midwest. Specifically in the greater Milwaukee area. It was practically the "song of the summer" for every teenager from June to August. Every time this cry baby ballad came on, it made my heart sink, but not for the ohh this song is beautiful" reaction the rest of the world felt. More like "what did I do to deserve this!"

First of all, the CD the song debuted on came out in 2006. Why in the world is it surfacing in the mainstream now? The fact that this kid who wrote the song sings about a girl that should finish school, and when you are done I'll be rich living off this song and we'll live together forever is pretty pathetic.

I can handle accoustic singles and songs fine, but when you overplay the same single every day, and on every radio station, that's borderline torture. Also, since the band made it big off of this single, are they expected to play this quiet little number at every show?
I can picture it: 1500 teen girls with their MOTORZR cellphones in the air. Half the crowd shooting pictures with the 1.5 megapixel camera, half the crowd calling their boyfriends "HONEY I LOVE YOU! CAN YOU HEAR IT??? ITS SOO WONDERFUL"

Thankfully, they will fade away. When, I don't know. The sooner the better.

Teenagers scare the achy-breaky out of me...

I have a rather large problem with My Chemical Romance's song "Teenagers."

Here, in Modesto, our local Clear-Channel station plays the song every 10 minutes, and being that my wife is rather well-tuned into the pop-culture, I get tortured by the song pretty regularly.

One of my problems is when I don't like a song, I listen to individual parts of that song and disect why I don't like it.

In case you're not sure which song is "Teenagers," it's the crotch-rock-ish song that kinda resembles "Achy-Breaky Heart." The chord structure is pretty similar and the rhyming pattern is very close.

It boggles the mind, how a band of 30-year-olds can try to identify with "teenagers."

It also boggles the mind how the solo part of the song is straight out of the Poison-Bon Jovi-Motley Crue playbook.

And we consider them "punk" by how they dress.

Time to turn off the MCR, world. Two or three years from now, they'll be just a distant memory, like Yellowcard.

Welcome!

Welcome one and all to Bullying the Jukebox: A place where two brothers come together to give their two sense about the music industry. Reviews from CD's and shows will also find a place here. Keep posted for news as well.

Cheers
Mikey