Music To My Ears

I have been asked a bunch of times what is so appealing to me about bands like Sublime, Radical Something, Jack Johnson and others like them. Okay, first of all, what is there not to like? But seriously, I actually have reasons and history behind why I listen to the music I listen to. I could give you the short story and just tell you that I stumbled upon some Jack Johnson songs back in the day, but that would be leaving out vital information about why the music means so much to me. So here it goes:

When I was in the 8th grade, I had a young science teacher. He was definitely fresh out of college and considering he was our only male teacher that year, yes a lot of us girls thought he was cute. (Which now that I think about it that is pretty creepy because he definitely creeped on a lot of us) Anyway, he wanted to be the "fun" teacher so before every class, he would have music playing as we walked in. What kind of music? JACK JOHNSON. My science teacher was a huge Jack Johnson fan and wanted to share his music with all of us. Some days he would play one of Jack's music videos on the T.V. in the room, and if there wasn't a music video for a song, he would just play the song.

I had never heard of Jack Johnson before this point, and I fell in love with the music right away. His voice was simply music to my ears; always so soothing. I literally never skipped that class. Even if I was feeling sick I still went to that class because I was excited which Jack Johnson song my teacher was going to play that day. I also liked it when my teacher would talk about how he discovered Jack Johnson, and shared memories from when he went to one of Jack's concerts out west. I realized that year that I wanted to go to those kinds of concerts, I wanted to find more music like Jack Johnson, and even more, I wanted to meet Jack one day.

The summer before going into high school I started to really search for music and discovered not only great new music that none of my friends listened to, but I also learned a lot about life in other parts of the country, like California, Hawaii, and some islands in the Caribbean. I was a girl in junior high, trying to figure out who I was, and I kind of found myself in the music. Which I know sounds like totally weird, but it's true. I really discovered my true style.

The music also inspired me to apply for a job at Hollister Co. Of course I really liked the clothes too, but come on, how could I not want to work in an environment where I can listen to really chill music, and see Huntington Beach, CA at all hours of the day? That company was my way of being able to live the life I feel like I belonged in. I have to thank Hollister, if I didn't work there, I may not have discovered Radical Something. One of their songs, "California" was on our playlist one summer and catapulted me in to listening to more bands like them. After going to their concert, and also working at a small concert venue, I realized what makes their concerts so awesome.

I would never want these bands to become big enough to where they are selling out stadiums and arenas because the concerts aren't as intimate. Why do you think Jack Johnson never plays in big places? To an even more extreme, why do you think he only plays in Hawaii and the west coast? Because that is where the heart of the music comes from, and with this genre of music you need to keep it real. Honestly I'm glad that not a lot of people like this genre, because everything that becomes mainstream gets tainted. The last thing I want is the music that made me who I am today be soiled by constant media, and have it be listened to by millions of people who don't even understand the meaning of it.

Well, there's my rant for the day. Also, I was really inspired to write about this topic right now because like I have proclaimed in my blog a couple days ago, I am now a "pencil-pusher".. so naturally I need distractions from work. ;)

Oh, and can we just talk about how cute Jack is??? Of course he's not single though! :(