Music

I like to listen to all sorts of different things, depending on mood, setting, etc., but I will say that I usually find my way back to the gigantic, sprawling, and hugely varied "genre" of metal.

To me, metal is any form of music in which things are pushed beyond "normal" such as blast beat drums, shrieking/growling/operatic vocals, guitar virtuosity, and deep atmospherics.

From Led Zepellin to Nightwish, Mozart to Enya. Powerful, consuming music.

Johnny Cash is pretty metal.

I believe the best way to approach metal is as you might a brand new fantasy genre movie in the theater: with an open mind and a willingness to be transported to a different world with a different set of magical rules, heroes, villains, and enigmas.

I like buying music from Bandcamp, here’s me (bandcamp.com) and streaming from the French service qobuz (qobuz.com), which has an awesome catalog and I understand to have the best artist compensation of any major streaming platform.

I also have strong memories of specific family Christmas albums on vinyl (I am now the caretaker of these and ought to catalog them here at some point) and some rock albums:

Listened to lots of "classic rock" on the radio while growing up: Pink Floyd, Kansas, Chicago, Jethro tull, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Queen, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimmi hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Aerosmith…​etc. etc. etc. (List in absolutely NO particular order and I got really into some of these bands at various points of growing up and early adulthood.)

We had plenty of orchestral, symphonic, organ, choir, and soundtrack "classical" music on record.

Here’s a compilation cassette I remember playing many times over in my youth:

(This image of the Heavy Metal Rules cassette liner came from https://www.discogs.com/Various-Heavy-Metal-Rules-/release/5515086 and looks to have been uploaded by heavymetalmuseum.)

The Anthrax and Megadeth "tracks" stood out even then. But I remember all of these.

I also remember these cassette tapes which I either purchased or were purchased for me (in rough chronological order of my memory of how they fit into my childhood/youth):

Later came CDs…​ (grunge, hard rock, metal, lots of classical)

where I’d like to think my money goes to support the artists and a fair distribution system.