Had a random music compulsion this morning (Alabama's Mountain Music, not a regularly played part of my collection but an echo from my childhood) that got me to thinking about my eclectic assortment of CDs. It's amazing to consider my musical choices and where they came from. Take the aforementioned Alabama. I do not, as a general rule, listen to country. There are a few exceptions, of course, just as in the grammatical world (I before E, EXCEPT after C, and what about the poor kid named "Keith"? Don't you think he was just horror-stricken as a young speller to learn that his first name flew in the face of all that is good and right in the English language?)--I believe that Patsy Cline's "Crazy" transcends all musical forms, and Kenny Rogers was part of my early years too; thanks, Mom.

But that's just it: much of what I listen to came out of the music I heard around me. Kenny Rogers? Mom. Bing Crosby? Dad. Alabama (and Stryper, and Weird Al, and metal of all forms)? My brother. Everything my brother listened to, I wanted to listen to. Despite what he may think, I thought he was unbelieveably cool (and still do, by the way), and so I surreptitiously borrowed and copied all of his cassette tapes when he wasn't home. The first "albums" I myself owned were birthday gifts in 5th grade: Madonna's Like a Virgin, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, and Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair. And thus my strangely meandering musical collection was born.

Through high school, most of my music fell into two categories (sometimes overlapping): metal and Christian. Enter Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Stryper, Barren Cross. Again, my brother had a tremendous influence; his roommate in college had an extensive music collection, and my brother would make me copies. Who needs digital piracy when you can do it on the cheap with a tape deck? When I got to college, I rebelled against the music around me (country, and my friends' idea of hazing the chick from California was to trap me in a room with "Friends in Low Places" playing over and over again; is there any wonder that I do not listen to a lot of country?) by finding the loudest and most obnoxious metal to blare--Pantera's "F$%^&#$ Hostile" will forever reign as the angriest song I can think of. But I was also exposed to music I hadn't heard before. My roommate brought with her from Chicago a collection of underground/alternative, and my best friend (and future and current husband) listened to Depeche Mode, New Order, Agnes Poetry, and Concrete Blonde.

Since then, as I have grown more mature (or at least pretended to), I have added music that I would have never admitted to liking before: Neil Diamond (saw him in concert, by the way--Neil ROCKS!), Air Supply, Journey, things that wouldn't have seemed cool when I was younger...now I don't care if anyone else thinks they are cool.

And we have the music we've stumbled across. Barenaked Ladies, for example. Everyone's heard a few of their songs that have gotten radio play, such as "One Week", "Pinch Me", and "Another Postcard (the chimpanzee song)". But we got into them in college and now they are one of our favorite bands, all because one of my husband's friends left their first album at his apartment (never gave it back). Great Big Sea (another Canadian band, pop and folk music), whom we started listening to after flipping across a concert of theirs on MuchMusic (Canadian music channel) on our satellite TV. Awesome, and a must-listen if you like celtic-sounding music, folk music, or just a great fun band. Carbon Leaf, a Virginian college "Dave Matthews meets Great Big Sea meets damned talented musicians" band. They opened for Great Big Sea one of the times we saw them, and now we just pine and pine for them to come back to the area for another concert. The live version of their song "Home" is one of the greatest "throw your head back and just sing and feel great" songs of all time. Cowboy Mouth. New Orleans rock band, they've had a couple of radio songs (their most popular still is "Jenny Says"). We were given the CD single of "Jenny Says" right when it came out, by an embarrassed music store clerk who was deeply apologetic after not demagnetizing our purchased CDs which caused us to set off the doorway alarm. Loved it, and when we saw them live (opening for Bakenaked Ladies)--we've now seen them five times, and they are the ultimate good times party band. I highly recommend all these bands.

So we have a lot of music. There is something for every day, good or bad (Good? Great Big Sea-"Ordinary Day". Bad? Limp Bizkit-"Break Stuff"). There is something for every mood (Happy? Carbon Leaf-"Home". Sad? Moloney, O'Connell and Keane-"Kilkelly, Ireland"--boy, if you want to cry, here's one that will get you. Pissed? Pantera-"F$%^&#@ Hostile". Sleazy? Nine Inch Nails-"Closer". Wanna sing really fast? Letters to Cleo-"Here and Now" or Great Big Sea's remake of "End of the World as We Know It" which is WAY faster than the original).

So I'm proud of my music collection. I'm off to listen to something obscure. Maybe Jimmie's Chicken Shack. No, really. They opened at the Live and Luscious Jackson concert. Their album Pushing the Salmonella Envelope is really good.