Music to my ears

People & Places

Music is as old as humanity itself. Scientists have carbon dated flutes made from bones and mammoth ivory going back more than 40,000 years. I have to imagine before the woodwinds and strings, the art of percussion was the first way we humans made a tune.

Sticks on stones, a thump resonating through a hollow log, the beat of our own heart laid down a rhythm. Two hands can be instruments.

While percussionists and drummers have played a significant role in my life, I’ve never gotten further than absentmindedly tapping out an irregular beat with a butter knife while waiting on the toaster.

As a child, I was sometimes entrusted to strike a triangle or ring a stick of bells on cue during a special holiday “concert” to mostly disastrous consequences. Elementary school was a rough period for me. Although middle and high school didn’t exactly smooth out, by then I’d moved on to drama, which was marginally more my speed.

Firm in the knowledge I wasn’t a music creator, I was very much a music appreciator. While in utero and after birth I was exposed to what can arguably be called some of the best music ever made.

I fell asleep to the thundering chords of Jimi Hendrix and the rambunctious and unique songs of The Beatles. “Revolution 9” is eight-plus minutes of … well … this definitely falls into “if you know, you know” territory.

The Rolling Stones, Hank Williams Sr., Three Dog Night, the man in black himself, Johnny Cash, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Doors, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Eagles and more poured out of two speakers perched above my crib.

My parents’ record collection was epic and when the grooves in the vinyl got too deep and the cracks and pops drowned out the music, my father went through the arduous task of transferring them to reel-to-reel tape, then to cassettes.

There was much bitterness when CDs became the next new thing, but he bit the drumstick and made the leap.

I know there’s a younger audience who might be reading this and wondering what these things are. Record? Cassette? I used to make butter in a gallon glass jar as a kid, and I’m feeling old and salty, so no, I won’t be explaining.

Somewhere around 1993 or 1994, I went to the music store at the mall across the river from where I went to college and bought two copies of the eponymous and iconic White Album from The Beatles on CD. I cringed when the clerk — who was my age — didn’t know who they were.

My folks appreciated the Christmas gift and I managed to wrangle a CD player out of them because how else was I going to listen to my copy?

Those of us of a certain age look back on the ’90s as a golden era of music, and don’t get me wrong there was so much amazing music being made — Nirvana and Pearl Jam — but we also had the Goo Goo Dolls and Blind Melon, so … not everything stood the test of time.

We’ve come a long way since those portable CD players with the anti-skip technology that never really worked. Music of all types and genres, remixes, mash-ups and covers are available through your favorite streaming service. I will give up my Amazon Unlimited Music when you pry the earbuds out of my cold, dead ears.

Like everything digital, it’s ruled by the algorithm. So I get to hear a cover of “Dream On” by Blacktop Mojo and No Resolve’s version of “Surface Pressure” from Disney’s Encanto, of all things. “Bad Habits” got a refresh when Ed Sheeran connected with “Bring Me The Horizon.” I will note that any version of “Wicked Game” is an automatic skip for me.

Everything from the Collision Course EP by Linkin Park and Jay Z is on several of my frequently played lists, and Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” pops up more and more often.

Armin van Burren, David Guetta, Timmy Trumpet, Sickick, Fort Minor, Really Slow Motion and more are part of my morning routine soundtrack and drive-time playlist. Some of the suggestions are old songs but new to me. Digitized, synthesized and synchronized for my listening pleasure.

Something called “Unicorn Zombie Apocalypse” by Bogore and Sikdope popped up as I wrote this. It might not be to everyone’s taste, but I gave it a thumbs up. Just don’t ask me to hit the triangle when the beat drops.