It's Happening

When I was younger, I listened to fluffy pop music like Duran Duran and Split Enz - nothing ear-splitting, nothing offensive, just good ol' pop. I met a guy when I was 20 who liked Metallica, and I remember thinking it was too loud, but I was also intrigued by the anger of it all. At 21 I bought the first Stone Temple Pilots album, and remember listening to it on the bus on my way home from University (on my Sony Walkman!). When "Sex Type Thing" came roaring into my earphones, I thought, "This is WAY too heavy!" However, the album grew on me, and I found myself leaning towards the rest of the grunge movement, including Alice in Chains, a hard-driving metal/grunge band from Seattle, whos lyrics revolved largely around drugs and death. I loved it.

My mom used to like Black Sabbath when she was younger, and I remember her telling me a number of years ago that it now all sounded like noise to her. I thought that I would be rocking to Alice in Chains well into my 60s, I'd be the cool parent who liked all of the kids' music, and I'd never think of it as noise. My radio is always tuned to the new rock stations and I pride myself in knowing all of the new music.

But something is changing.

In the last few days, I've hardly been able to listen to the new rock radio stations - it all sounds very noisy to me. I hear the old Nirvana and Pearl Jam songs and they sound dated - a memory of long ago when we used to sit around a drink and listen to their depressing lyrics. I haven't let go of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains yet (I recently drooled over a guitar magazine article picturing Chris Cornell with his hair the length it was in the Badmotorfinger days), but I wonder if it is only a matter of time before I find them noisy as well. Oh, what a sad day that will be.....

I find myself enjoying jazz, listening to CBC (which I swore as a kid would never happen - we ALWAYS listened to CBC on Sunday nights and summer school-less days, and I hated it), and trying to soothe my brain with something a little quieter than screaming guitars and haunting voices.

Oh no.....I'm officially getting old.