So, after collecting my beautiful new laptop today from the Kiss100 studios, where I spent the day meeting great new people and infiltrating the studios from the inside, someone sugggested that I should put my winning article up here. So, here it is...
I find myself writing this under the guise of my 14 year-old self. You see, I’m in the process of battling the demon that is my little sister, yes, that one that lurks in your shadow, copies your every move, chats on the phone to her friend for hours about bands you were moshing to 5 years ago. Though I, of course, feel quietly (or rather, gloatingly) proud of this fact, I need something new. So I’ve turned to something old. And thus, the conclusion that music is, literally, my life…
My earliest music memory (okay, second, the earliest is Spice Girls at Wembley Arena) is sitting in my old best friends house listening to her mum’s records. These records mainly consisted of The Cure and Prodigy. Okay, yes, I was a bloody cool 9 year-old. Thinking back, these after-school music lessons probably carved a path in my destiny without me even realising it. This curiosity about music exists in me still and has caused me to go through a plethora of identities over the last 12 years…
As I’ve hinted, I went through the typical 90s boy/girl band era. Rarely has there been a fad to rival The Spice Girls, their army of admirers and their overabundance of merchandise. There was the DVD (I still can‘t believe they got Meatloaf), there was collectable DVD tins, there was the photo cards and albums, the stickers and the dolls. Every young girl worshipped at their homemade shrines and there began thousands of obsessive personalities. Including mine. I’m unashamed to admit that I owned Westlife and A1 posters, heck, I’m unashamed to admit I listen to The Backstreet Boys and Five now, at the same time as every young girl wanted to be Baby Spice, even if they were too young to realise it, every young girl wanted to fuck Justin Timberlake (or, as it were with me, at this stage not owning a gaydar, Lance Bass).
In secondary school, however, I managed to pull myself away from the role of ‘sheep’ and put myself into the category of ‘individual’, AKA SUICIDE at 12 years old and attending a private girls’ school. I lathered eye liner on so thick I couldn’t see and I lived in an oversized, signed, AFI hoodie. Somewhat an anomaly among my peers, I managed to retain my friends whilst still looking like a corpse. This was my favourite ever period, and one I shall hold dear to me forever. Staying under this semblance for the next 3 years, and discovering punk along the way, I discovered bands such as Jimmy Eat World, Rancid and The Distillers, sometimes even attempting, and failing, at turning myself into Brody Dalle. My first ‘real’ gig came in this period, and that, again, is something I’ll never forget. It was the month of March in 2003 and my mummy darling surprised me with tickets to see Something Corporate, a band I still adore now. I had my fingernail ripped off by a stage diver and I spent my favourite track crying at the back of the hall. But none of that could deter me…
…I went on to become an Indie anorak, or rather ‘music snob’ (see what I mean when I say “plethora of identities?”). I’m not sure what inspired this phase but I know where it’s high point was, a point in my life where I discovered that music was not only my life to this moment, but would be forever more. I was placed in the local radio station for my high school work experience and I’ll never look back. I ended up co-hosting my own indie show for two years and started DJ-ing along the way. Possibly the highest two years of my life, this was the point at which I changed forever. I knew music was my past, my present and my future. I got a high from seeing people’s reactions to the music I played and interviewing Good Shoes and The Mystery Jets and knew that legitimately talking to musicians felt far more comfortable than standing around in the cold and rain for a quick photo op.
At uni, I suddenly found that being musically broad minded was far more fun than being a ‘music snob’. I started listening to anything I could get my hands on, from R&B to underground Indie. At this point in time, I own tickets to see Owl City, The Maccabees (for the 11th time and counting) and, yes, JLS and Chipmunk. I may get ripped for being a 21 year-old (obsessive) fan of JLS but no one was laughing when The Kooks shot to fame 6 months after I pledged they would, did they?
I realise that you may not have been expecting, and definitely not wanting, a life story of me, some nobody you don’t know, but this is what I make of the title ‘Music is Life’. I haven’t yet mentioned what I mean when I say “I’ve turned to something old”… The bands my sister is twittering about now are Good Shoes and The Mystery Jets among others, hence the gloating and pride, so I’ve rebelled by rediscovering the magic of Lostprophets and Jimmy Eat World, turning myself into this 14 year-old me I loved so dearly. But it’s not repetitive; I’m still discovering genre’s I never thought I’d like, and songs from artists I though I knew all there was to know… The future of music is indefinable for this very reason, music is a constant circle, and for every new band or artist, another person is discovering The Beatles and Elvis.
The last 21 years of life have taught me that music is all-consuming and totally worth it, and it’s inspired me to find my destiny in life, do what I love and teach the world just how much there is to hear.
My earliest music memory (okay, second, the earliest is Spice Girls at Wembley Arena) is sitting in my old best friends house listening to her mum’s records. These records mainly consisted of The Cure and Prodigy. Okay, yes, I was a bloody cool 9 year-old. Thinking back, these after-school music lessons probably carved a path in my destiny without me even realising it. This curiosity about music exists in me still and has caused me to go through a plethora of identities over the last 12 years…
As I’ve hinted, I went through the typical 90s boy/girl band era. Rarely has there been a fad to rival The Spice Girls, their army of admirers and their overabundance of merchandise. There was the DVD (I still can‘t believe they got Meatloaf), there was collectable DVD tins, there was the photo cards and albums, the stickers and the dolls. Every young girl worshipped at their homemade shrines and there began thousands of obsessive personalities. Including mine. I’m unashamed to admit that I owned Westlife and A1 posters, heck, I’m unashamed to admit I listen to The Backstreet Boys and Five now, at the same time as every young girl wanted to be Baby Spice, even if they were too young to realise it, every young girl wanted to fuck Justin Timberlake (or, as it were with me, at this stage not owning a gaydar, Lance Bass).
In secondary school, however, I managed to pull myself away from the role of ‘sheep’ and put myself into the category of ‘individual’, AKA SUICIDE at 12 years old and attending a private girls’ school. I lathered eye liner on so thick I couldn’t see and I lived in an oversized, signed, AFI hoodie. Somewhat an anomaly among my peers, I managed to retain my friends whilst still looking like a corpse. This was my favourite ever period, and one I shall hold dear to me forever. Staying under this semblance for the next 3 years, and discovering punk along the way, I discovered bands such as Jimmy Eat World, Rancid and The Distillers, sometimes even attempting, and failing, at turning myself into Brody Dalle. My first ‘real’ gig came in this period, and that, again, is something I’ll never forget. It was the month of March in 2003 and my mummy darling surprised me with tickets to see Something Corporate, a band I still adore now. I had my fingernail ripped off by a stage diver and I spent my favourite track crying at the back of the hall. But none of that could deter me…
…I went on to become an Indie anorak, or rather ‘music snob’ (see what I mean when I say “plethora of identities?”). I’m not sure what inspired this phase but I know where it’s high point was, a point in my life where I discovered that music was not only my life to this moment, but would be forever more. I was placed in the local radio station for my high school work experience and I’ll never look back. I ended up co-hosting my own indie show for two years and started DJ-ing along the way. Possibly the highest two years of my life, this was the point at which I changed forever. I knew music was my past, my present and my future. I got a high from seeing people’s reactions to the music I played and interviewing Good Shoes and The Mystery Jets and knew that legitimately talking to musicians felt far more comfortable than standing around in the cold and rain for a quick photo op.
At uni, I suddenly found that being musically broad minded was far more fun than being a ‘music snob’. I started listening to anything I could get my hands on, from R&B to underground Indie. At this point in time, I own tickets to see Owl City, The Maccabees (for the 11th time and counting) and, yes, JLS and Chipmunk. I may get ripped for being a 21 year-old (obsessive) fan of JLS but no one was laughing when The Kooks shot to fame 6 months after I pledged they would, did they?
I realise that you may not have been expecting, and definitely not wanting, a life story of me, some nobody you don’t know, but this is what I make of the title ‘Music is Life’. I haven’t yet mentioned what I mean when I say “I’ve turned to something old”… The bands my sister is twittering about now are Good Shoes and The Mystery Jets among others, hence the gloating and pride, so I’ve rebelled by rediscovering the magic of Lostprophets and Jimmy Eat World, turning myself into this 14 year-old me I loved so dearly. But it’s not repetitive; I’m still discovering genre’s I never thought I’d like, and songs from artists I though I knew all there was to know… The future of music is indefinable for this very reason, music is a constant circle, and for every new band or artist, another person is discovering The Beatles and Elvis.
The last 21 years of life have taught me that music is all-consuming and totally worth it, and it’s inspired me to find my destiny in life, do what I love and teach the world just how much there is to hear.
P.S Harley, I'm sorry ;D
