{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"What Does Music Mean To You? - Part 1","description":"  Music makes the good times better and the bad times bearable. Thanks to my Dad I got into music at an early age. He was always playing his records and some of my earliest memories involve his massive collection of 45\u2019s in those classic cases and the musty smell. When I\u2019d start choosing my own music it was cassette\u2019s I\u2019d buy because a Walkman was cheap and portable (although the first album I bought was Michael Jackson\u2019s \u2018Thriller\u2019 on LP with some of my First Communion money).   When we finally got cable in 1987 it was MTV and VH1 I watched on a daily basis hypnotized by the hits of the day, be it \u201cHysteria\u201d by Def Leppard or \u201cSo Emotional\u201d by Whitney, or a flash-in-the-pan like Johnny Hates Jazz or The Escape Club it captured and led my young imagination and lit the fire for me to love collecting and listening to music for pretty much every day of my life since those hair-metal rich days of the late-80\u2019s until this very day.   I began to keep my own Top 25 and eventually Top 40 music chart as a means for cataloging and interacting with all the music I was listening to. Dutifully I\u2019d keep this chart in a spiral notebook as if anybody besides me cared whether \u201cI Remember You\u201d by Skid Row or \u201cCherish\u201d by Madonna was #1 on my chart.    As time went by I became more aware and curious about the music that came before my era of Top 40 awareness. Since my parents were divorced I had hours alone in my Dad\u2019s basement to comb the shelves and see what grooves my Pops was jamming to before he had 3 kids. The Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin and so much Motown were the highlights. It also turned out there was a lot of dreck too before my time, as those K-Tel compilations featured some truly awful dreck that even my unrefined ears could tell didn\u2019t age well. In fact I clearly remember the aural affront of \u201cSeasons In the Sun\u201d by one Terry Jacks and \u201cAfternoon Delight\u201d by Starland Vocal Band as serious offenders to my developing musical taste.   Also, as Dan and I pivoted to angsty teens, we would discuss and introduce different musical artists and ideals to each other. Sometimes we\u2019d agree. Occasionally we\u2019d differ. But we were brothers in our mutual misery and coming-of-age stories and music was the soundtrack.   We were the perfect age to be swept up by grunge and the third wave of hip-hop which paved the way for rap to rule the pop charts.    As the times changed I began to make my own money and the CD age took hold. Emboldened by the ease of signing up for record clubs like Columbia House and BMG I jumped whole-hog into getting as many albums as I could get my hands and ears on. So many mix tapes were made it became its own form of therapy or entertainment. I was never a drinker or into drugs. I believe music had a huge hand in that (along with Dan). I simply couldn\u2019t afford that bad habit and all the music I was buying \ud83d\ude04! At this point Music was a huge part of my identity and what I was genuinely enthusiastic about. I loved discovering a new up-and-coming act but also reveled in going back-in-the-day and finding the forefathers of what informed the music of today. I also genre-hopped and took pride in the notion I could listen to the latest Tori Amos release one minute and follow-it-up the next by listening to a Classic Funkadelic LP. Over time I went wide and deep.    As the years have gone by music has been along every step of the way. From the finding and losing and finding again of love. From adolescence into adulthood and currently into middle-age. From inner city Detroit, MI to the beautiful suburbs of Nashville, Tn. From running a college radio station to being a parent of two my constant companion. As for what else music means here\u2019s some quick hitters: Passion Community  Connection Going to shows Heartbreak Intellectual curiosity  Emotional  Stereotyping Happiness Critical evaluation  Meaning Hype Anticipation Discovery Disappointment  Supreme creativity Growth Stagnation  Cultural  Salve for the wounded Rhythm Dancing Eclecticism  Standing for what you believe Essential  Friendship    Music is all these things and more. Like all great art it means what you mean and it depends on your mood at the time. Be it pop, rock, rap, soul, country, Emo or some bastardization or amalgamation of any of the above it\u2019s both personal and communal. And it\u2019s the reason you and I are here for this podcast. So that\u2019s probably the most important takeaway of all. Thanks for including us on your musical journey.   ","author_name":"Podcast \u2013 That Dandy Classic Music Hour","author_url":"http:\/\/thatdandyclassicmusichour.com","html":"