Assignment One -- Autobiography

Music forms an interesting component of my life. When I am asked what type of music I like, or who my favorite band is, I usually just shrug my shoulders at the inquirer. The contents of my iPod tend to be a humorous issue when discussed due to their irrational grouping. I like the music that I like—this statement seems obvious, or rather, maybe a cop-out, but it’s really the only way I know how to put it. How else can one explain hitting “shuffle” and going from bubblegum pop, to post-hardcore, to Disney, to Screamo, to Irish Folk Music, to death metal, and finally end up at country over the span of maybe—maybe 15 songs. “What type of music do you listen to?” is the question I hate most regarding music, because I don’t even know if I’m naming or applying the genre’s correctly. According to my iTunes, there are 3,845 songs on my iPod, which is 9 days, 20 hours, 22 minutes and 27 seconds. That’s 22 gigabytes; five times the size of my first family computer, and 66% of my second computer. My taste in music is eclectic to say the least, and this has resulted mainly from a few factors.
I’m going to come right out and say it—probably half of the stuff on my iPod wasn’t put there for myself to enjoy. Most of that music I pilfered off of friends’ computers without any intention to ever listen to it. I like to make everyone’s lives easier. My motivation for purchasing a 30 gigabyte iPod was the ability to hold the types of music for several of my friends to enjoy. If I’m driving somewhere, I can hook my iPod up to the speakers and pass it around—any possible passengers have music on their that they can enjoy. If my friends and I were out and one of them wanted to listen to something, it was always available to them. I always took requests from my friends—they would ask for a song, and I would download it. If my friends are happy, I’m happy—I really don’t care what I listen to most of the time.
Unfortunately, most of the “embarrassing stuff”—the stuff people who view the contents like to tease me about—were put on there for me to listen to. Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift? I actually listen to those. The Disney songs? Sometimes. Power Rangers? Once in awhile. Japanese music? Occasionally. Irish Folk Music? All the time. Mostly, when left to my own musings, I listen to what I think can be classified as Alternative Rock / Emo / Screamo, but again, classifying music isn’t really my thing. Of course, people who glance at my iPod tend not to notice the good stuff, but only the bad. Just last weekend, one of my friends commented, “How can someone who listens to blink-182 have Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift on his iPod?” I just laughed.
My eclectic taste in music (the music on my iPod that I listen to), has been shaped mostly by what other people get me to listen to. My mom liked to listen to John Denver, so he’s on there. My father listens to Johnny Cash, David Allen Coe, John Prine, Willy Nelson, and he knows Irish folk music, so that’s all on there. It seems as though most of my friends grew up with some kind of aversion to country, which I obviously never picked up. My sister listens to Grateful Dead, Phish, and Beatles, so that’s all on there. My high school friends got me hooked on Alternative Rock and Screamo—probably by far the most common genre on my iPod, so I listen to that quite a bit, but I appreciate any music that’s pleasing to me, or any lyrics that fit whatever my current mood is at the time. On the same token, I can go days without listening to music and not even notice, which would drive some of my friends batty. My weird tastes in music represent my open, easily accepting personality.