Hi all, another fun discussion I want to start where we can share the kind of music we love listening to.

I think my musical tastes are quite eclectic – I’m an alternative rock kind of person – the kind of stuff I love to listen to is alternative rock, trip-hop, shoegaze, grunge, industrial rock, electronica (the really slow, chilled out kind of stuff), drum and bass, punk, ambient, just about anything from the nineties…

I think the earliest songs I can remember listening to are by The Cranberries – ‘Dreams’ and ‘Linger’ are two of my all-time favorite songs and I can remember those from childhood. I remember my favorite song from early childhood being “Quiet” by Bjork – I am still a huge Bjork fan!

The first concert I ever went to was an Avril Lavigne concert (circa her second album – when she was a cool skater-girl type). I don’t exactly call myself a huge fan of her music anymore so I cringe at this memory! At this time I was a huge Nickelback fan but when they released ‘Rockstar’ I wasn’t really into them anymore.

I went through an emo phase as a teenager and I remember avidly collecting every KoRn, Offspring, Nirvana and Green Day album I could get my mitts on. The first CD I ever bought for myself was by My Chemical Romance *cringe* Later on in my teens, I started listening to the kind of bands my mom recommended – The Cure, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters Of Mercy. At this time, there was a huge TV show airing in the UK called Ashes To Ashes (A time-travel police procedural drama set in the 1980’s – was a follow-up from Life on Mars) which spawned an obsession with 80’s music – Duran Duran, The Eurythmics etc.

Anybody here used to watch WWF (World Wrestling Federation?) There used to be this female wrestler Lita and she’s in this band (The Luchagors? Can’t remember the name) but my friend dragged me along to one of their concerts and I got to have my photo took with her!

I also first started listening to this group called ‘The Birthday Massacre’ – a lot of electro-goth-pop-synth kind of stuff. I was fooled into believing they were around in the 80’s but the group have actually been around since late 90’s/early 2000s!

I was listening to a lot of old groups I had never heard of when I was 17, namely a lot of shoegaze and indie bands from the late 80’s/early 90’s groups (My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Lush, The Primitives, The Smiths) One group I especially love are Cocteau Twins – their songs inspire me so much with my art and Elizabeth Fraser is one of my favorite vocalists.

When I moved to uni, I started listening to more electronica and trip-hop kind of stuff as per the recommendation of my best friend (Massive Attack, Leftfield, Sneaker Pimps, The Prodigy).

These days I listen to a lot of stuff by bands like Collide and Kidneythieves. I guess as I get older I’m less snobby about the kind of bands I listen to (I was a huge music snob in my late teens, I think I’ve mellowed out now *cackle*) – when I am cooking in the kitchen, I can be found listening to BBC Radio 2 where they play an assortment of older bands. They were even playing some stuff from the solo album of Agnetha Faltskog (the blonde lady from Abba) and I remember thinking her songs weren’t that bad.

I do like listening to some contemporary artists as well every now and again – I hate to admit it but I like ‘Bad Blood’ by Taylor Swift!!! There’s this acapella group big at the moment I think go by the name ‘Pentatonix’ and I think they’re pretty cool. Lady Gaga’s songs are pretty catchy as well XD

Concerts I’ve been to – Avril Lavigne, The Luchagors, Skunk Anansie (seen twice, amazing band!), Switchfoot, KoRn, Garbage (best concert I’ve been to!), Combichrist and The Primitives (it seems like all the indie groups from around that time are reforming)

So I’ve mentioned the kind of bands I love listening to, the concerts I’ve attended, my guilty pleasures…

What about you? What bands do you love? What are your favorite genres of music? What are your guilty pleasures? Have you been to any concerts? Do you collect physical copies of the music you love – i.e CDs or vinyl? Do you like classical/instrumental music?