Writing a blog post every day is pretty tough.  It's not so much in coming up with material as it also hinges on availability.  However, despite how difficult a task it is, that is the exact reason I chose it as a goal.  I figured, I could start writing every day, get a certain groove, see what works, and perhaps dwindle it down if need be.  If I start off strong I'll finish off stronger, or something like that, but at least the commitment is better than nothing.  But to keep this up I'm thinking I'm going to have to start writing tomorrow's blog post the night before.  That said, I'll probably be skipping another day to get more into that groove, but at least I'm trying.

I found it coincidental that Wes Molebash (you should check his stuff out) wrote a blog today about his Evolution of Musical Tastes considering I had this exact conversation with Josie yesterday.  Seeing as I might as well continue the trend, I've decided to recount my own musical tastes over the years and how they've changed.

The earliest I can remember listening to music I was all about Michael Jackson.  I'm pretty sure my first cassette tapes were the Thriller Album and the History Album which I played almost non-stop.  My mother would rent his music video tapes at blockbuster and I would watch it over and over again.  There was even a time that I fall asleep to his music, and though I knew nothing about MJ, I remember thinking that the moonwalk was cool enough for me to like him.

Elementary school saw me more into pop music, whatever was popular at the time.  That included Spice Girls and Hanson, the latter of which got me the attention of girls, though I only knew the one song at the time.  You know the one.  I believe for christmas one year my mom bought me a pair of radio headphones (if there's an official name I don't care to remember it) and my older cousin helped me find the local rock station; which at that time was playing anything from Destiny's Child "Waterfall" to "Sex and Candy" by Marcy's Playground.  I didn't really care much for it, but I do remember listening so I suppose it's worth mentioning.

Middle school found a weird mixture of music tastes.  I would later fall back into my pop roots with N'Sync and Backstreet Boys, fueled by my love of singing when I became part of the top choir classes in my school that continued well until I graduated.  On the christian front I went back and forth from the early DC Talk "Free At Last" album and whatever P.O.D. was playing at the time.  Newsboys were played a lot in youth when I started going, but I never owned anything by them till they had a hits album, even though I've been to their concerts when they played at Six Flags Astroworld in Houston.  But alongside those tastes I was also getting into rap artists thanks to my friends from down the street.  Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Nelly were always playing somewhere.

High school brought new musical tastes.  Youth group, as mentioned, caused me to turn away a lot of the "secular" music I was listening to; which at the time only pertained to the Rap.  I had given up on the pop as they quickly went out of style.  You have to understand, I was still only paying attention to what was on the "top 40" as it were, and really didn't try to have my own taste or style until halfway through High School, but it was there that I started listening to Punk.  MXPX, Blink 182, Bleach, and Relient K.  Of course, later on I would recognize that my true taste was for the more pop-punkish style, but I still refer to those early days as punk, considering if it wasn't fast paced I wasn't into it.  Those days brought a lot of heartache on the christian front.  I remember thinking there wasn't anything good out there that I wanted to listen to, but I felt guilty owning non-christian stuff because of the way church made me feel.  I now don't hold the same feelings, but back then it was a big deal.  FM Static and Hawk Nelson helped give me a little hope for a while.  Later on Switchfoot gave me a similar feeling, but the story of how I came to like them can be saved for another time.

So the search for good music began shortly after graduation and into my navy career.  I've now fully embraced my pop-punk influence.  Relient K is the top of my list, and along with them comes Sherwood, The Rocket Summer, Maroon 5, and the aforementioned Switchfoot.  I've also expanded my tastes, thanks to some CD's I got from my brother, into the hardcore realm (though not too hardcore) starting with Underoath and Emery.  I've allowed slower (but very good) music to penetrate my once PUNK ONLY barrier, and there you'll find the likes of Coldplay and Sara Barielles.  It's only been recently that I've been adding rap back into my mixes, but I stick mostly with the christians like Lecrae, Sho Baraka, and Grits.  John Reuben is still a favorite, but his later stuff has been getting too experimental for me.  I'm still discovering new but beloved artists such as Mutemath, Atomic Tom, and OneRepublic.  I've also expanded into other genres such as soundtracks, irish bagpipes, and other such instrumentals.  And of course I have some oldies such as Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Beach Boys, and Frank Sinatra.

Michael Jackson and Hanson (strange pair I know) are possibly the only two who have survived my early musical tastes.

To be honest, this only really scratches the surface of the music I've gathered in my current 32GB iPod.  To really fill you in on my musical tastes, about 463 artists and counting, your best bet is to ride with me in the car; anyone who has already done so can tell you.  I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I take a special pride in my music.  Over the years I've gotten many compliments, strangely enough, in my choices - including from people who would normally stray away from my types of music.  I suppose this comes from my constants search for positive and uplifting music, and something that is artistically beautiful and meaningful at the same time.  I also try and choose a good amount of variety, and if it's music that I feel will just die with the fad or the times, then I stray away from it.  Also popular christian music (we'll keep that label for now) still gets on my nerves.  I hope I'm not the first to admit that it all basically sounds the same.

In any case, if you're looking for a good alternative to the music you listen to, feel free to ask, I have plenty of suggestions and probably from artists you've never heard.

So how have your musical tastes changed over the years?  Have you ever listened to my iPod, what music/artists do you think define me now?  Any suggestions based on what you read here?