I have always enjoyed music. Even as a very small boy I was allowed to creep back downstairs to watch Top of the Pops and my favorite back then was Sandy Shore. In my early teens I discovered T.Rex. I still have a lot of T.Rex in my collection. I recall that I also enjoyed 10CC, Roxy Music (early only, The Sweet and a few more besides. I detested Slade primarily because of how they looked. My first album was a T.Rex compilation called Ride A white Swan and my second album was Suzi Quatro’s first effort… Can the Can… I loved that song!
However, a strange thing happened in the summer of 1974. A french pen friend cam to visit us and he was desperate to buy some albums including several by a certain Status Quo. I have to admit, the first time I heard Piledriver I hated it. By the time I cam back from France, I was a fan. The sound of that album and Hello and Quo was just amazing to me. Incredible. I still love listening to Status Quo and am in fact listening to them right now. Not much of a fan of their last 20-years but up until Rockin All Over the World, I love it. After that, I started to listen to other bands like Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd, Genesis and so on. Awesome.
I recall the first time I heard Opeth. I took my son to see them with friend of his at a club in Houston, Texas. I couldn’t stand it. Loud, repetitive noise with growling to boot. Death metal was not my thing. Famous last words right? Yep. Opeth are my favorite band of all time and I have seen them 6 or 7 times live and even had dinner with them. Super guys and really talented. You have to listen a few times but once you get your ear in there is no song better than Demon of the Fall! Of course, this opened up a whole host of musicians and I also love Porcupine Tree and anything by Steven wilson along with Pain of Salvation.
To be honest though, I like a wide variety of music and a quick inspection of iTunes on my iMAC will reveal all of the above plus The Stones, Coldplay, Shakespeares Sister, Sunrise Avenue, U2, The Verve, The Zac Brown Band, Roxette, The Pretenders, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Kula Shaker, Ozzie, Lana Del Ray, No Doubt, Japan, Edie Brickell, Gary Numan, Adam Ant, Birdy etc. I also listen to a lot of meditation music and classical music courtesy of youtube.