But it’s not the man, it’s the drug

This is what I want to know: is it normal for your music collection to be affected by your boyfriend/crush/friendly member of the opposite sex du jour? I mean, I think it makes perfect sense, but my tastes have always been affected that way.

Those influences were interestingly contradictory when I was a high school senior. The first guy I dated labeled a John Michael Montgomery tune “our song” and won me a stuffed animal that Kevin Sharp carried through our local fair. Even after we broke up we attended a Shania Twain concert together. (Ever the princess, I slept in and awaited his call to confirm we got the tickets while he waited in line on a Saturday morning.)

My other high school boyfriend could hardly be further from country. He bought me Fuel tickets for my birthday. We went on a trip to Daytona (gag puke) for a Less Than Jake concert. It was under his influence that I got into Reel Big Fish and Limp Bizkit (later eradicated from my collection in The Great CD Clean Out of 1999).

My taste continued to fluctuate through college, in part because of whoever I was hanging out with and sometimes because of who I had a crush on. Heather, Jon and Mike encouraged my country phase. Apryl introduced me to Jennifer Knapp. Philip and Amanda brought Nickel Creek to my attention. Philip also added a little Tiger pride (and conversational piece) to my CD collection, and along with Stacy, he launched my interest in Caedmon’s Call. Jesse played Diana Krall (which Geof later purchased), who served as a reminder that I needed to get into some real jazz. (Two Miles Davis discs later, my collection is still weak.)

The trend continued as Brandon sent me a Counting Crows mix and an autographed Andrew Osenga album. (He also recommended Miles selections, though I haven’t purchased his next choice yet.)

I think Scott has had the greatest (individual) influence on my recent-ish purchases, though. Ryan Adams, Dave Matthews Band (yes, I was terribly late jumping on this bandwagon), possibly Damien Rice, Coldplay and Johnny Cash all wormed their way into my heart at his urging. That’s 18 CDs purchased as a direct result of his influence. Given that I own fewer than 200 albums, that’s quite the percentage.

Huh. I’m not sure I like that. I play the “independent woman” card too often to be comfortable with a man exerting that much power in my life. Yes, my girl friends make recommendations too, but I never seem to spend quite as much based on their opinions.

Or maybe it’s just because I liked/”dated” Scott at the height of my CD buying days. (He does spend more at Best Buy than most people I know. That could also be a factor.) In any case, his influence remains more than a year after we “broke up.” I can’t wait for the new Ryan Adams double disc album to be released next week… and as it’ll be my first day of work, don’t you think that’s a worthwhile splurge? 🙂

I’m supposed to be falling for the newish Hem disc, Eveningland, sometime soon at the urging of Geof, Aaron and Bjorn. I’ll let you know how that goes. 😉

8 thoughts on “But it’s not the man, it’s the drug

  1. Cash and U2 also tend to take up most of my music shelf. And, on a humorous note, from the relationship arena, I remember trying to win girls during a couple of years of high school and college by boasting Celine Dion CDs. (This is being said while assuming the fetal position to nearby guys wanting to chuck eggs at me. 🙂 )

  2. More for the egg-chucking crowd here 🙂 . . .

    I liked pop music (e.g., Billy Joel) for a long time, into high school and my JMU sophomore year, then went into a rock phase with Dylan for a while. I picked up on U2 at the time of the album release “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and became hooked by the time I taped their Boston concert around “9-11.” Also around that time, I was introduced to DMB by some Campus Crusade for Christ housemates when taking summer classes. I like some DMB songs, like “Crush” and “The Space Between,” but don’t have them in my collection. After graduating from JMU, I started getting into some contemporary worship stuff in addition to secular music. A friend of mine burned a CD mix for me for this last year. I like this one performance from an Irish-sounding band of “Come, Now is the Time to Worship,”; this girl group’s performance “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”; and Delirious? “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?” (And since I don’t remember the artists’ names, I’m still obviously very new to CCM. Anyone familiar with these described songs?) And I have a classical hymns CD too, with stuff like “Immortal Invisible,” “How Great Thou Art,” and “Amazing Grace,” which helped develop my poetry and songwriting bent last year.

    Country can be cool too. Hey, after all, I’m from “Virginny.” 🙂

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