AUDIO-BIOGRAPHY

A few weeks back I finished reading Geoffrey O’Brien’s Sonata for Jukebox upon the recommendation of an old friend. (Read a review here.) It was a great read, an examination of how one person’s life was affected by music, and how his appreciation of music was affected by his life. I’m not 3% as eloquent as O’Brien, but the theme deserves further exploration. In fact, I think it would make a great blog meme. So, in that spirit, here’s a few questions and my answers to them, along with some resources to help you in your own audio-biographical explorations.

1. What was the #1 song on the day . . .

. . .you were born?

“Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves” by Cher.

. . . you started school?

“Boogie Oogie Oogie,” A Taste of Honey.

. . . you became a teenager?

“Caribbean Queen,” Billy Ocean.

. . . you graduated high school?

“Hold On,” Wilson Phillips.

(Look up #1 hits by date here.)

2. Do you know all the songs you’ve listed above? What are your opinions of any or all of them?

Yes, I know them all. I don’t like any of them. “Hold On” is probably the worst, a complete non-entity of a song. “Boogie Oogie Oogie” is the least annoying, but that’s not saying much. A Taste of Honey won the Best New Artist Grammy that year, and it had the predictable effect of killing their careers. (Take a look here if you don’t believe me. That could also double as a “where are they now?” list.)

3. What was the first song you ever danced with a member of your preferred gender to? Did you like that song?

“It’s Just A Matter of Time” by Randy Travis. He’s one of the few country artists I can listen to on a regular basis. But I really don’t like that song much.

4. List three or four songs you associate with particular periods or moments of your life and the periods or moments you associate with them. Do you like the songs? If so, is it because you think they’re great songs, or because you assocaite them with a pleasant period in your life?

R.E.M.’s “The Flowers of Guatemala” is a song I connect with a couple important things in my life: a great summer at music camp when I discovered a talent for writing songs (and experienced my first reciprocated crush), the (later) joy of figuring out how to play the guitar part by ear, and the overall wonderful experience of listening to Life’s Rich Pageant, the album it came from. Is it a great song? No, it’s a melodic rewrite of “Leaving On A Jet Plane” with a bridge and a “Play Guitar Today!” solo tacked on. And lyrically it’s the equivalent of William Carlos Williams’ “To A Poor Old Woman“–just a simple observation of the ubiquity of Flora amanita (a poisonous mushroom, not a flower at all) in Central America. But I still like it for its emotional connections.

Tears for Fears’ “Sowing the Seeds of Love” always takes me back to my senior year in high school–it was a pretty big song that fall. I was never overly fond of TfF, but that song connected with me. It’s probably a big reason why I’m now as fond of psychedelic pop as I am–since that song was positively soaked in it.

My wife and I danced to John Mellencamp’s “Ain’t Even Done With The Night” on our first date. I liked that song long before then, even though the sax solo forever fixes it in 1980.

5. What was the first concert you ever paid money to see? What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?

The first: Maynard Ferguson at Buena Vista College in 1985. The best: Huffamoose at First Avenue in Minneapolis, 1997. (Why those guys aren’t millionaires is beyond me.)

6. What are your three favorite and least favorite styles or genres of music?

Favorites: Bossa Nova, Sunshine Pop, Alternative Country-Rock.

Least favorites: Urban Cowboy, Southern Rock, Glam Rock.

(Look up musical styles at Allmusic.com. You can use their music maps, or just do what I did: search for a few artists you love or loathe, and see what styles keep cropping up.)

7. A genie grants you one wish: you can have any artist, living or dead, give you a command performance of one song. Who would you choose, and what would they perform?

Antonio Carlos Jobim, who would perform his song “Triste.” Then I’d beg him to tell me how he came up with the wonderfully twisted chord progression.