When I was around 10 or 11 years old I made a trip to the local record store (remember those?) with my family knowing that that I wanted to expand my music horizons with “cool” music. I had to buy the record myself so instead of CD section I headed straight for the tapes (remember those ) I picked up Nirvana’s Nevermind and Metallica’s ReLoad because they were “cool” but not too “cool” for my own good (it was the late 90′s). With both tapes in hand I went up to my older brother, stuck them in his face and said, “Which one should I get?” His exact words were, “Get Metallica, everyone has Nirvana.” Those are the words that changed my life forever.

I took the tape home and couldn’t stop listening to it. It spawned my love for Metallica (I started playing guitar because of Kirk Hammett) which opened my eyes to heavy metal and hard rock music which shaped my junior high and high school years. Diving deeper into the origins of hard rock led me to blues music which led me to early country and bluegrass.

I tend to have a little ADD when it comes to music and can never stay on one type of music very long. Maybe that helped me explore and like many different genres of music along the way. However, I consider that one fateful conversation with my older brother to be the beginning of my musical journey that has and will always effect my life for the better.

Where did your music journey begin? Who turned you on to the wonders music had to offer?

As someone who plays guitar, I am breathing a sigh of relief that there are finally BANDS at the top of the charts… bands that still know how to play their instruments and write their own songs. I have nothing against Kanye West, I admit I bought his last album the first day it came out, or the Jonas Brothers… then again… . These guys may have writing credits but how far does that really extend? Brett was telling me earlier that now-a-days all you need to do to get writing credits is to have been in the room when the song was written. As far as I’m concerned Kanye West and Jonas Brothers don’t have the technical musicianship that people need to maintain their stature at the top of the music industry.

All we need to do to show people that music is a lot more than a drum machine and good looks is to give them a little history lesson. With the release of Death Magnetic, Metallica has set a new record with five debut #1 albums, beating out the the Beatles, U2 and Dave Matthews Band with their four debut #1’s. It comforts me to see that these bands, which some consider to be the greatest in the world, have either written or are still writing their own songs and can also play their own instruments.

Tim

Anyway, lets take a second to thank Metallica for reminding us that real musicians still reign supreme.

TIM’S DIGITAL JUKEBOX:
“All Nightmare Long” Metallica, Death Magnetic