STEWART COPELAND

Where were you and what were you doing when you first heard your favorite bands and artists?

What about when you heard the boys broke up?

Okay if no one else is going to say...

There are plenty of other bands and artists I listen to, but these were memorable to me:

ZZ Top (Eliminator was my favorite) and Fleetwood Mac (Rumours was my favorite) is the earliest I can remember. I was around six years old and listening to my Dad's CD's; I'd play air guitar (often while jumping from couch to couch because the floor was made of lava).

Then I Saw Sting's Desert Rose music on TRL, when I was twelve. I had to fight my sister over the remote on that one.

Then around fourteen I discovered Bear Share. I downloaded the "So Lonely" video first, then "Don't Stand so Close to Me". I was hooked, but felt guilty about how I got it: I bought the full box set and videos on DVD.

Around that same age my Dad gave me Eric Clapton's Time Pieces album, and it's still my favorite gift he ever gave me.

I remember the elation when I finally got my copy of the "Kollected Works", I was about to give in and buy a record player and the albums off ebay. I probably still should (as I have since learned to like the sound of Vinyl), but it seems like a hassle to have true Vinyl.

Then the last one, was Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood". I think it was the first Police show I went to that I was on my way to, it was raining so badly. My boyfriend wanted to turn around as some of the roads looked almost flooded out, but I wouldn't let him because there was no way I was missing the show. It was the perfect song to be playing.

Since One Direction Broke up,it struck my curiosity of what your reactions were when the boys broke up.

I learned of most of my current favorite composers within the last 7 years, thanks for the Music Sharing Central that is YouTube.

Before the Internet, I was growing up (and doing a spectacularly bad job at it) in Russia. There, my main methods of discovering music were the radio and musical television channels. I listened to all the modern pop on the radio for many years, until I became desensitized to all the artificial, assembly line manufactured garbage, designed to be catchy and memorable, but ultimately empty upon closer inspection. I got sick and tired of it. That was the moment of my life when I decided to stop accepting what is being given to me, and start seeking out, start picking and choosing real music, with real substance, music that would come from the <3, and not the Pop Assembly Line.

I started to pay attention to more "alternative" music shown on alternative music channels. I discovered Mew, Europe and Radiohead from television.

My uncle was a music fan of modest intensity. Thanks to him, I learned of many blues-based rock bands, such as ELO and Pink Floyd. I also got a taste for guitar-based rock, as long as guitar jazz from Pat Metheny and Bireli Lagrene. Oh, and I wouldn't be an a-ha appreciator if not for my uncle lending me his "best of" collection.

— — — — —

I first heard of The Police after learning that the famous Sting (that I almost never listened to) was in it. I listened to Message in a Bottle on a "best of" CD, and thought it was merely "okay". Around the same time I discovered YouTube, and that you could listen to videogame music on there, outside of the context of games themselves. That was a complete surprise, since I did not know one can take music out of the games. Of course I started to search for songs from all my favorite PS2 titles, including but not limited to Ratchet & Clank. Somehow, I learned that the drummer from of Police wrote music for Spyro the Dragon. Curious, I checked YT. I listened to the main theme, Stone Hill, and Wizard Peak. From that day, I was hooked.

— — — — —


That is my story. Pretty long, huh?

I don't remember the first time I heard The Police, but I remember a particular time that I was in my parents' car, driving to my grandparents' house, and De Do Do Do was on the radio, so this would have been when I was around 9 or 10. My mom said something like "your baby cousin could sing better than that", and I remember thinking for the first time that my parents were really dumb.

So thanks to The Police for sparking my adolescence.

ManWithGoodTaste wrote:I learned of most of my current favorite composers within the last 7 years, thanks for the Music Sharing Central that is YouTube.

Some artists fear this, but I think it helps them far more than they realize. This was shown clearly with Gangnam Style.

I listened to all the modern pop on the radio for many years, until I became desensitized to all the artificial, assembly line manufactured garbage, designed to be catchy and memorable, but ultimately empty upon closer inspection. I got sick and tired of it. That was the moment of my life when I decided to stop accepting what is being given to me, and start seeking out, start picking and choosing real music, with real substance, music that would come from the <3, and not the Pop Assembly Line.

I know what you mean.

These days I have two methods of discovering new music. One, I love Lone Star 92.5, if anyone has I heart radio, you should give it a try. They play the extra good stuff at night. During the day there's far more 80's... aside from Our Boys, I don't like the 80's much.

My other method is sampling artists and bands that have worked together. The only sampling of this system I haven't liked, that I can recall, is Strontium 90.

Mrs. Gradenko wrote:My other method is sampling artists and bands that have worked together. The only sampling of this system I haven't liked, that I can recall, is Strontium 90.

That is my method also. Through good ol' Stewart, I discovered:
– Deborah Holland
– Wall of Voodoo (and members' solo projects)
– Darryl Way (and Darryl Way's Wolf)
– many of the contributors to IRS's No Speak line
– Rusty Anderson
– Andy Summers

GREAT TOPIC....!!! I keep meaning to respond to this, but it's loaded...could take hours. I've been going down memory lane for weeks!