I love music. I think it's just inherited. My father is a musician; my mom is in the choir. Music has just always been a part of my life. My childhood was spent on my my parent's musical tastes: John Denver, Juice Newton, Gordon Lightfoot, etc.
When I got to high school I started developing my own tastes and got really into bands like Depeche Mode (or as my friends teased me calling them Depress Mode). Anyway my musical tastes were self indulgent and depressing or angsty.
Well as an adult I find that I pretty much want to listen to exclusively happy music. Don't get me wrong I still blast Depeche Mode and The Cure, but mostly I am interested in music that makes me happy. Here are a few on my happy list:
- Kylie Minogue, come on like she doesn't belong on the happy list.
- Dion, every time I listen to Dion I wish I was a swooning teen in the early 1960s. OK well maybe not, but still he gives me a slight urge to swoon.
- The Sound of Music, I love to sing along in full operatic voice. I do have to keep this one under control because I don't want to annoy my neighbors and turn my happy music into their annoying music. Seriously I think I blog about my love for the Sound of Music at least once a month.
- Harry Belafonte, what's not to love about the King of Calypso?
- Serge Gainsbourg, he's a tricky fellow that Serge he is somehow super cool. When I want to feel cool and happy I listen to Serge.
- Georges Brassens, in keeping with the French I also love me some Georges. His music whisks me away into a French dream...not real France, but some invented and romanticized version of France, sigh.
- The Talking Heads, I didn't find the Talking Heads until I was in my 20s. I knew who they were of course, but never really cared. Now, I am a convert. I love them.
- TRex, another like Serge Gainsbourg that is both cool and fun. How I wish I had big curly hair!
14 comments:
Hilary Duff - "Metamorphosis" That's my Jam!
Good selections! OK, where do I start? A few that come to mind are:
Frente-- fun band from Australia
The Innocence Mission-- lovely band from Pennsylvania
Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto-- perfect for a rainy day
Sondre Lerche-- Dan in Real Life sold me on this guy
The Anne of Green Gables Soundtrack-- yes, the tv movie from the 80's. If I could somehow become a fictional character, it would be Anne.
Keith Green--funky 70's/80's Christian singer with crazy piano skills and a white man's afro
Sidenote-- I grew up listening to John Denver too. My parents were fans of the 70's folk music scene. "Follow me, where I go...."
The 80's is my happy music. And I have some videos in my sidebar. I used to like Depeche Mode and Talking Heads too but funnily that depresses me now. :-)
I can never get enough of They Might Be Giants or Abba when I need a lift :-).
Love the vision of you in the car :)! Wow, this is tough...
Jack Johnson...Feist...Carla Bruni...Cat Power...My Morning Jacket...Ray Lamontagne...Fleetwood Mac...CCR for sure!!! Some really good jazz and sometimes some good rap :). Occasionally some bad pop music can get me singing...and give me some oldies any day and I'll sing and smile away! OH and anything memorable from high school will get me singing (Oasis, Toadies, etc.)...Fun question.
It's always "workout" music that gets me happy (and pumped)... now don't laugh:
1) Katy Perry (Hot N Cold)
2) Lady Gaga (Just Dance)
3) Xtina Aguilera (Stronger)
4) Destiny's Child & Beyonce (Survivor & All The Single Ladies)
5) Bonnie Tyler (Total Eclipse & I Need a Hero)
Fun Bag of Others
1) Diamonds & Rust by Joan Baez
2) Chicago Soundtrack
3) Fall Out Boy: Take This To Your Grave
4) The Early November
5) No Doubt: Tragic Kingdom
6) Queen: A Night At The Opera
7) Dashboard Confessional: The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
8) The Supremes
9) The Statler Brothers
wes montgomery
howard roberts
django reinhardt
frank zappa
louis prima
sinatra (It Might as Well Be Swing)
charlie christian
bob wills & his texas playboys
to name just a few:)
I found a copy of The Violent Femmes Greatest Hits at a thrift store and I was super fricken pumped when I saw "I Held Her in My Arms" on the track listing. I pretty much ran home (well, I drove) and threw it in the CD player.
Kylie Minogue would be on my happy list too! Jack Johnson always makes me relaxed. Kings of Convenience and Feist make me happy, but there's a bit of angst in there, too I guess.
My little family always laughs because I can sing all of the songs in The Sound of Music...
...and I love the Talking Heads - we go way back - to my college days...
i had to think about this one for a moment because to be honest i generally dont like happy music, i prefer my tunes kinda mopey and suicide-y.....but here are some of my happier picks:
*Marshall Crenshaw
*Beau Brummels
*Cornershop
*XTC
and on a cheesier note, i've always sorta had a thing for brit-pop star Robbie Williams.
I have a whole playlist of happy songs on the iPod.
1.) Best of my Love (original)
2.) Rainbow Connection (seriously, I love Kermit!!)
3.) Brown Eyed Girl
4.) Walk Like an Egyptian
5.) Build Me Up Buttercup
6.) Cecelia
7.) Washington DC (great song by the Magnetic Fields)
8.) Mr. Brightside
9.) Unpack Your Adjectives
10.) Sugar, Sugar
11.) Do Ya Think I'm Sexy
12.) December 1963
13.) I Touch Myself
14.) Do You Believe in Magic?
15.) Only the Good Die Young
16.) Let's Talk About Sex
17.) Come On Eileen
18.) Fresh Prince of Bel Air
19.) The Gambler
Seriously strange mix I know...
Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode. I know all the lyrics and I love to sing along to it! Most of Chuck Berry's music is happy music!
Did you know Cope and I played Talking Heads as our wedding song!!
"How did I get here....!"
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