My Taste in Music - Jack Budofsky

     I grew up listening to music all the time. It was never really my choice what music I listened to, instead it was my dad's. He was always playing the rock music he grew up listening to around me, so it became the music I listened to when I was a kid.
     I think this is the case with a lot of kids, that they grew up listening to the music their parents like. It always seems, though, that as kids grow up, they drift away from their parent's music and start to like more current music. This was never the case for me, for the most part I still listen to the same music I grew up with.
     I've never understood how everyone else so easily found conemporary music they liked. To understand why I struggle to do this, I looked back on the specific music that defined my taste in the first place. For me it is 70s progressive rock. When I was around ten-years-old, my dad used to play all the great bands of the genre like Yes, Genesis, and The Moody Blues every chance he got; about the last kind of music you would expect a kid to like. For whatever reason, I loved it.
     Looking back, I realize he did this on purpose. He intentionally made me like this music by playing the greats all the time. I've asked him why he did this, and he doesn't seem to know himself. The album that probably really got me hooked was The Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd. I loved that album, I memorized almost every lyric on every track. I was hooked on the genre.
     I know that this isn't the music that most 16-year-olds' parents listen to, and maybe that's part of the reason why I've had trouble finding different music to like. As far as I know, most 16-year-olds' parents listen to music like Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi, and maybe it's easier to connect that with the music on the radio today. Maybe my problem is that no popular music sounds even close to prog rock.
     I also realize that music is a bigger part of my life than it is for most: I play guitar and two people in my family are drummers (including my dad). Maybe that is a factor into my music taste being so stuck. Either way, my music taste is locked where it is and always has been, and it seems too late to ever hope to change it now.
     Its interesting to me how I've found that music taste really isn't your own choice, it is almost entirely the choice of the people around you, along with what is going on around you. This can be said about a lot of opinions too, that they are formed by your experiences, not by your mind. I guess I had particularly strong experiences when it came to music.

A painting of the Dark Side of the Moon album cover made by my sister is hung above my bed.