JoJo's Favorite Music
Editorial note. I wrote this in November of 1997. I haven't updated
the content since. I received a couple of "broken link" reports recently
so thought I'd at least get rid of those errors. I did not modify content,
though. I should. Things are a bit different now (regarding the what I
like now part of the essay) but I don't have the time to fix that.
-- JLC (Aug. 2002)
Okay...I like music. And, I spend way too much money on CDs but...geesh...they're so hard to resist. So...here you go, some of my favorite music...
Elementary school...
I know I liked lots of music when I was a kid but there are three songs
that have special significance to my memories as a kid: B. J. Thomas'
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head,
Three Dog Night's Joy to
the World and Black and White (also by TDN). My mom had
"Raindrops" played on the radio for me on my 6th birthday and I
thought that was beyond amazing and that I must be just about the most
cool person in the world if the radio would play a song just for me! We
sang the TDN songs in music class in 5th grade. I remember calling my
favorite radio station 3 or 4 times a day after getting home from school
to request those two songs. I'd space the calls about 10 or 15 minutes
apart and try to disguise my voice in a different manner with each call
so the station would think they were getting loads of requests and
they'd be more likely to play the songs. I'm sure it was perfectly
obvious to the person answering the phone but I thought I was being so
terribly clever. I was always assured by the voice at the other end of
the line that the songs would be played shortly. 'Course, they never
were. I kept on trying, though, thinking I just didn't wait long enough
the previous day. Oh my...the anticipation. Sigh...
High school...
Well...there was Fleetwood
Mac. My art teacher in 10th grade played their Rumours LP
(do you young 'uns even know what an LP is?) over and over and over.
Everyday. All day. I'd go to the art room and work on my projects
whenever I had free time and fell in love with that album. It's a
wonder the thing played at all by the end of the year. Hmmm...I wonder
what the teacher's name was? I can't picture her (I think it was a
"her" but I'm not even sure about that much) at all. Then,
there was the Alan Parsons
Project. Wow. Blow me over with a feather. I liked Eve
and Tales of Mystery and Imagination (based on a bunch of Edgar
Allan Poe stories) best. Then, there's
Supertramp (Breakfast in
America, thankyouverymuch), Boston,
and Elton John.
College...
I continued to listen to my high school favorites in college. The
first couple of years I was in school, my parents lived 8 hours away.
I'd go home 3 or 4 times during the year and would play the
Rumours and Breakfast in America tapes over and over
again the whole trip. I'd almost never play anything else. I can't
imagine why nobody liked driving home with me. But, a few other
people started cropping into the list of artists I enjoyed. Groups
like the Fabulous
Thunderbirds, Miami Sound Machine,
Men at Work,
the Eurythmics, and Yello. And
"solo" artists like Billy
Joel, Prince, Cher, Robert Palmer, and (of all people!)
Barbra Streisand.
Post-college...
Have I mentioned the fact that my mother is a big fan of Country and
Western music? I haven't? Hmmm...well...she is. And, she always has
been. And, we'd listen to C&W endlessly when I was growing up. My
mom got a reel-to-reel tape deck when we first moved to Bolivia and would
make 6- and 8-hour tapes full of the stuff. And, then...and
then...she would pipe the stuff all through the house! Frankly, I
couldn't stand C&W. Nope. Not a bit. I hated it. I'd hide in my
room with the door closed playing my radio in order to avoid listening to
the stuff. In college, people would try to convince me that if I'd just
listen to it, I'd like it. But...no. I'd heard it my whole
life and didn't care for it at all. Then something weird happened.
George Strait came along.
And then Clint Black. And
then K. T. Oslin.
And on it went. 'Til suddenly, all I ever listened to was C&W.
Weird, I know. So, now my favorite artists include the likes of
Mary Chapin Carpenter, K.T.
Oslin, Trisha Yearwood
(the more I listen to her, the more the purity of her voice astounds me),
Ricky Van Shelton (who I didn't get 'til I saw him in concert and was
blown away by that booming voice resonating through the Erwin Center),
Wynonna Judd (and, of course, The
Judds), Rosanne Cash, Shelby Lynne, Clint Black, Lyle Lovett,
Lorrie Morgan, and George Strait.
But, I also love listening to
Melissa Etheridge,
Natalie Merchant, Lisa
Stansfield (I could probably put her Affection CD on repeat
for two weeks and not tire of a single note),
Matraca Berg, Death Valley
(yeah...I know, you've never heard of 'em and it looks like they're
kaput but still...they're great), Annie Lennox,
Nanci Griffith
and Bette Midler. It's a pretty good bet if any of these people put
out a CD, I'll be buying it.
And, finally...some "new" (to me!...I realize some of these guys have been around the block a time or two) folks who've caught my attention in the last few years: Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow, Enigma, Sarah McLachlan, Enya, Ottmar Liebert, Alanis Morissette, R.E.M., Toad the Wet Sprocket (is their latest any good?), Jann Arden, The High Lonesome ...
Who is JoJo anyway? |
Joanna's home page |
joanna@joanna.org
Last updated: November 7, 1997