[JediScum]

When I was really young, I guess I mainly listened to whatever my parents did so there was a lot of 70's pop, disco and country. Though, I was also an avid watcher of "The Monkees" re-runs on TV when I was around 5 or 6.

I think I was in 3rd or 4th grade when MTV hit the airwaves. I'd watch it for hours at a time, soaking up a lot of 80's pop.

In 5th grade, on my birthday, I got to buy my first two albums. Van Halen "1984" and Motley Crue "Shout At The Devil". I started to listen a lot of hard rock and heavy metal, with friends sometimes influencing my tastes. Iron Maiden was my all time favorite but I was also into Def Leppard, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Ronnie James Dio, and a little bit of Rush and AC/DC.

By the time 8th grade rolled around, I bought an album none of my friends knew anything about out of curiousity and was blown away. That was Metallica's "Ride The Lightning". A few months later, I'd pick up Slayer's "Reign In Blood" and have my head crushed again. That is seriously the only album I've heard that scared me. Eighth grade ended and I was listening to Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Helloween, Celtic Frost, Slayer, Kreator and Death.

Ninth grade I moved and was living with my dad. In school, I heard people talking with disdain about "punk rockers". After a few months, I moved back and my old friends had been bitten by the hardcore bug. Soon, I too had a stupid haircut and began skateboarding. I remember Dead Kennedys and The Misfits replacing Iron Maiden as my favorite band. Sophomore year, I went to my first show and saw The Accused, which was totally mindblowing.

The rest of high school, I became fanatical about music, especially after getting my first job. I had no bills so, along with buying comics, I'd buy 4 - 6 new albums every 2 weeks. Once I got a car, I'd go to almost any show or record store I heard about within a 60 or 70 mile radius. My last job in high school was a pizza delivery driver. So I was pretty much paid to listen to Misfits, Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Corrosion of Conformity, MOD, SOD, The Meatmen, Big Black, Dayglo Abortions, Butthole Surfers, Voivod, DBC, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Samhain, Killing Joke, Violent Femmes, CRASS, Primus, The Dwarves, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fugazi, Lard, Pailhead, Inspector 12, Not-Us, Ministry, Skinny Puppy, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Dead Milkmen, Foetus, Fear, GBH, Public Image Limited, Revolting Cocks, No Means No, Subhumans (UK), Sepultura, Testament, GWAR, Operation Ivy, Happy Flowers, Screeching Weasel, and Naked Raygun.

After high school, in 1992, I landed a summer volunteer DJ spot at a local college and started taping a shitload of stuff from their stacks, especially stuff from Alternative Tentacles like Neurosis, The Victim's Family, Alice Donut, The Beatnigs, and The Crucifucks.

Then I moved to Columbus in 1993. While "grunge" was all the rage, I started getting really into Sonic Youth, The Melvins, Ween, They Might Be Giants, Rudimentary Peni, Jesus Lizard, The Didjits, The Residents, Frank Zappa, the Pixies, NOFX, and King Crimson.

In the summer of 94, I moved to San Antonio. The rave scene was getting pretty big, though I never went to a rave. I did start listening to more techno at the time, The Prodigy being the only thing that really stands out (this was 2 years before "Firestarter" hit the air). I still went to the occasional show. I'd made friends with a couple people who turned me on to a whole lot of new stuff and "oldies" I hadn't discovered yet like Roky Erickson, DE-VO, Helios Creed and Chrome, Yello, Throbbing Gristle, Scratch Acid, Big Boys, The Dicks, Pink Filth, Kurt Otto, Moby, Crash Worship, Tangerine Dream, Luscious Jackson, Flipper, Praxis, Bootsy Collins, EBN, and MC 900 Foot Jesus.

Finally, i moved to Austin, the self-proclaimed "live music capital of the world" and lived there for 8 years. It was there that I was exposed to stuff like the Swans, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Mister Bungle and the works of Mike Patton, David Bowie, Sockeye, Tom Waits, Buckethead, Thrones, Bobby Conn, Turbonegro, Meat Beat Manifesto, and probably a bunch of other stuff that I'm forgetting.

I moved back to Illinois in Nov. of 2004. There are absolutely no record stores in this town anymore. I think i've bought 3 CD's in the last 3 years. In 1997, I had about a third of my record collection stolen and eventually had to sell off the rest to make ends meet while in between jobs. So now I listen to cassette tapes or Mp3's of stuff I've copied off of friends or found at the library. And I listen with HATE!!!