Red Mosquito

Which band/artist would you pick to define each decade of your life, so far?

My first favorite artist was probably Weird Al. So we'll say ages 0-9 it's him

10-19 it's definitely Pearl Jam.

20-29 it's The Decemberists.

30-39 is Tom Waits or St. Vincent, not totally sure

And in my 40s so far it's Patti Smith

0-9 probably Michael Jackson, though weird Al would be up there.

10-19 probably AiC or maybe Nirvana. It's fuzzy. Listened to a lot of stuff.

20-29 definitely Pearl Jam

30-39 Mogwai best encapsulates this decade.

40s Carpenter Brut

Michael Jackson is s really good call. That might be a better pick for my first decade, honestly

0-9: I owned a few cassettes. I only knew every song on one: Beastie Boys - License to Ill.
10-19: Discovered PJ in 10th grade. Obsessed with them through college.
20-29: Still PJ.
30-39: STP/Cornell. Saw Scott and Chris a bunch during this period. God, I miss them.
40-48: Metallica/Weiland/STP//PJ: My youngest son got really into Metallica and so I did, too. I think Weiland is my favorite singer of all time. I also love the new guy, Jeff Gutt. Perdida is my favorite album of the last five years. But the Gigaton/Dark Matter combo really solidified that my relationship with PJ is as important as any relationship in my life.

Nice thread.

Strangely, I don't remember Pearl Jam being played much around my area during high school. Rock music was kinda hard to find in general, but I was well aware of the other grunge bands. I somehow didn't really discover PJ until I graduated.

0-9 Michael Jackson
10-19 Nirvana
20-29 Pearl Jam
30-39 My Morning Jacket
40-47 Bruce Springsteen

These would probably be the artists with the biggest impacts. Pearl Jam has been my favorite band since I first saw them live when I was 17 (in 1996), and that has never changed. It also leaves out bands that influenced big chunks of my music listening, like Led Zeppelin (teens), Janes Addiction (teens and 20s), The Rolling Stones (30s & 40s), Grateful Dead (40s), and scores of other bands. But in a quick shot, this is probably the most influential in those spans.

0-9 David Bowie. My brother made me a C90 Bowie mix tape that I played to absolute death. Started my love of music.

10-19 Gotta go with Midnight Oil. I started to find my own artists not necessarily via my brother. Violent Femmes were a great discovery. Weddings Parties Anything were huge through my school years. The Clash and SRV were big for me too.

20-29 The lost acoustic years for me (ridiculously this was 91 through 00). Probably have to say Bob Dylan, but could have just as easily been Floyd.

30-39 Pearl Jam. Got into them a bit late but in a very large way.

40-49 I'll go with Frightened Rabbit but this is where it gets very varied.

50-54 Not sure I can go with a single artist these days. If I have to pick one I'll go with... Underworld. Getting way more into big beats and EDM so these guys will do.

The Wiggles

BurtReynolds wrote:Strangely, I don't remember Pearl Jam being played much around my area during high school. Rock music was kinda hard to find in general, but I was well aware of the other grunge bands. I somehow didn't really discover PJ until I graduated.

If you don't mind sharing, in which state did you go to high school?

0-9 - Def Leppard
10-19 - Pearl Jam
20-29 - Bob Dylan
30-present - Jazz

Def Leopard is another good one.

Do you remember how you got into them?

They were all over MTV and radio in the late 80’s, and I had aunts and uncles that were into them.

I have pretty much been chasing the way “Rocket” made me feel at age 6 for my entire life.

Kevin Davis wrote:They were all over MTV and radio in the late 80’s, and I had aunts and uncles that were into them.

I have pretty much been chasing the way “Rocket” made me feel at age 6 for my entire life.

I remember spending the night at my Grandparents' house in Louisville when I was around six. My Uncle (their youngest) still lived at the house. I went into his room to borrow a cassette to listen to. I ended up dozing off with the headphones on. I woke up to that demonic-robot vocal effect in the intro to Love Bites and it scared the shit out me me!

Photograph is about the only DL song I can say I like. Rock of Ages is ok but most of that is remembering my buddy’s older sister changing the words to be about fucking her boyfriend.

I’ll try this, but the timeframes don’t really line up for my changing tastes.

0-9 — KISS, I guess
10-19 — from 10-12 or so, Michael Jackson. The rest is Lynyrd Skynyrd and KISS
20-29 — Pearl Jam
30-39 — Allman Brothers
40-49 — Steely Dan
50-on — it’s pretty much been Pearl Jam from ‘23-now, I can’t think of another artist that I’ve devoted as much time to.

0-9 - Anal Cunt
10-19 - Pearl Jam
20-29 - Pearl Jam
30-39 - Neil Young
40-present- still accepting nominations

Honestly, it’s hard to say who the definitive artist of the first 9 years was. For the first few, probably Raffi. Then maybe Paul Simon or the Blues Brothers. Then Bon Jovi was a pretty big one. His New Jersey album was the first cassette I owned.

O’s don’t know. Young MC?

10’s Pearl Jam

20’s Pearl Jam

30’s ???

40’s ???

Farmer John wrote:0-9 - Anal Cunt
10-19 - Pearl Jam
20-29 - Pearl Jam
30-39 - Neil Young
40-present- still accepting nominations

Honestly, it’s hard to say who the definitive artist of the first 9 years was. For the first few, probably Raffi. Then maybe Paul Simon or the Blues Brothers. Then Bon Jovi was a pretty big one. His New Jersey album was the first cassette I owned.

Bon Jovi! Yes!

God, I was so fucking into that band. Slippery When Wet, New Jersey, the Blaze of Glory solo record, and even Keeping the Faith. Man! 1986 to 1992, was a major Bin Jovi era for me.

Great call, FJ

epilogue wrote:

BurtReynolds wrote:Strangely, I don't remember Pearl Jam being played much around my area during high school. Rock music was kinda hard to find in general, but I was well aware of the other grunge bands. I somehow didn't really discover PJ until I graduated.

If you don't mind sharing, in which state did you go to high school?

deepest bowels of the deep south. Only radio choices were country, pop and maybe a classic rock station. Sometimes you might catch some modern rock late at night.

0-9: MJ
10-19: Tool (kinda misleading though, a lot of shitty pop punk before ~15)
20-29: Pearl Jam
30-37: Easy to just say PJ again, but could make some good arguments for; Metric, Silkworm, Hop Along, Manic Street Preachers.