This post will talk about my love for country music, and the interesting history behind it.
It all started on a vacation to North Carolina, and I was at the tender 7 years of age. On the way home, my family stopped at a Cracker Barrel. I was with them.
I fell in love with one of the songs on the radio, but I didn't know what the song was called, and neither did the people working there. I asked my mom; she didn't know, either. I was devastated, and we went home with me STILL not knowing the name of that darn song.
So we got home, and I was destined to at LEAST find out about more songs that might have sounded the exact same. I asked my mom which genre that music in Cracker Barrel was; she said it was country music. Therefore, I went onto Yahoo! Answers and asked people if they knew any country artists.
The response I picked as a "Best Answer" was one that included Kenny Chesney, some 'random dude' I didn't know. I figured that I'd might as well check him out. I typed his name into the search bar on YouTube, and the song I thought would appeal to me most was "Summertime," so I listened to it.
That was where my love for country stemmed.
I still had a buck left on an iTunes gift card my mother bought me, and I headed towards iTunes to buy that song. I bought it, and as of today, iTunes said I'd listened to it 76 times.
~*~
However, I eventually got out of my love for country, and rather, I began listening to hard rock. My love for it stemmed when I was 10, and my mother bought me a WOW Hits CD. It was all Christian music, and I used to love pop. The CD was chock-full of pop music. Well, except for two tracks at the end: "Unbreakable" by Fireflight, and "Already Over" by RED. I started listening to those tracks obsessively. Like, I'd listen to "Unbreakable" on my stereo for an hour, and then switch it to "Already Over" for about 30 minutes. I REALLY loved that stuff, and I hadn't listened to Kenny Chesney in over 6 months. I then imported the CDs into iTunes and began to listen to the songs.
Here's an update on the play counts at that time:
Unbreakable: 295
Already Over: 62
Summertime: 76
My mom continued to get me more "WOW Hits" CDs, and I continued to listen to the pop and hard rock, which REALLY don't go together well, but I didn't know that when I was young and naive.
~*~
When I was 12, I was watching The Simpson's Movie alone. Bored out of my mind, my brother was at a friend's house and my parents were on a date, and they wanted to put their trust in my hands by seeing how I could handle being home alone. I sat on the couch watching the movie, and once it was over, I wondered briefly, "What does the REAL American Idiot sound like?" I had never really HEARD of Green Day before. Like, I knew who they were, but I hadn't really listened to them. In the beginning of the movie, they played the theme song, and then they were drowned by the citizens, who didn't want Billie Joe Armstrong to lecture them on the pollution of their lake. At the funeral, the lady was playing "American Idiot Funeral Version." SO... I began to wonder what the original version sounded like.
I went on my mom's old laptop, which she had passed down to me, and I looked it up. In my curiosity, I downloaded the song because the preview sounded... okay. Like, not great, not bad.
Two minutes and 23 seconds of awesomeness were hidden in that 30-second preview.
I was immediately in love with these guys, and the obsession started on June 1, 2009, at 8:14 a.m. Then I realized, I HAD TO HAVE MORE. Therefore, I downloaded "Jesus of Suburbia" the next morning, and what do you know? I loved that one, too! In fact, it's STILL on my list of all-time favorite songs, 9 minutes and 9 seconds of awesomeness. It's the first song in my iTunes library that I got the lyrics for. Following those two came Longview, Basket Case (another personal favorite), and their whole old album 39/Smooth.
When I submerged myself in Green Day, I forgot all about Fireflight, RED, and especially, the well-abandoned Kenny Chesney.
Here's an update on the play count.
Unbreakable: 295
Already Over: 62
American Idiot: 397
Jesus of Suburbia: 331
Longview: 103
Basket Case: 417
Summertime: 76
You know how for most of these, I'm like, "And I abandoned [this band] because I fell in love with [that band]."? Well, that didn't happen with Green Day. I still harbor an obsession for those guys, and it's not just their personalities; it's also them as people. They're just so fun and funny and cool and nonchalant. I'd love to spend an entire day with all of them.
~*~
I was changing the radio stations; I was in the mood for something a bit lighter than all of the pop-punk from Green Day that I had been listening to. My friend had recommended another pop-punk band, but I didn't like them as much as I liked Green Day; they were too light. They were called All Time Low, and you may like them; go check them out if you want to.
Anyways, I came across a radio station where they were playing a pretty catchy song with two male singers. I kept it on that station and sat back, relaxing and ransacking my room for a book I lost (and later found: "A Painted House" by John Grisham). Suddenly, the song stopped, and I sort of wanted to hear it again. The guys on the radio said that it was Brooks & Dunn's last single, "Honky Tonk Stomp."
What!? I thought. I liked that song! It was the last one they'd EVER be releasing? Like, the last song they'd ever do before calling it quits??? Then the commercials came on, but before they did, the radio guy announced, "This is country with Kix 101.7."
So guess where I went? Back to the iTunes music library, where I was like, "I haven't heard Kenny Chesney in more than a year. I'd might as well go check him out again."
I fell back in love with "Summertime."
Update on the play counts? Here we go.
Unbreakable: 296
Already Over: 67
American Idiot: 412
Jesus of Suburbia: 339
Longview: 152
Basket Case: 458
Summertime: 233
Honky Tonk Stomp: 98
~*~
That's the last update, because I fell in love with a lot of music. I now LOVE George Strait, Brad Paisley, and Toby Keith, too, when it comes to country music.
I harbor another obsession with The Offspring. They are another band almost just like Green Day, but they are heavier (punk laced with metal, yeah!!!!!!) and they are more consistent with what they release. Like, in 1994, they were punk laced with metal. Now, they're punk laced with metal. Green Day used to be punk, and now they're political pop rock.
~*~
That post was WAY too long. None of the others will be that long unless I get into them like I did with that one.
Bye bye.
~Billie~
