🎧 Downbeat.fm Vol. 6 Track 6

Growing up, I think I was the most interested in music in my family.

This isn’t to say that my parents or sisters never played music when we were growing up, it just wasn’t as much of a priority to them as it was to me. My parents had a decent record collection, some of which is a part of my collection today.

My parents introduced me to artists/bands like The Beatles, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, The Beach Boys, and a ton of Mowtown. Throughout the 80s and early 90s, other acts that I heard on the radio would creep in, like Billy Joel, Huey Lewis and the News, and too many more to list.

But when I got older, I started to branch out - mostly due to discovery Nirvana when I was 11 or so and then it was all over. Nirvana led to Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Smashing Pumpkins and so many more.

When I was a teenager and had my first job I would buy music magazines like Circus, Kerrang!, Alternative Press, and others. There was a cute girl with an English accent who worked at the pharmacy where I would buy these magazines, and we’d chat about music and bands we liked.

Between those chats and reading the magazines I could get a glimpse into my favorite bands, what they listened to when growing up which would lead me to “discover” music from my parents generation that wasn’t necessarily what they listened to.

Over the next few years through high school my musical world expanded "backwards" to include David Bowie, The Doors, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, The Clash, Jimi Hendrix, The Police, and again, so many more.

This wasn’t just a musical exploration backwards through time. Each classic act I discovered linked me to a new modern band that was directly influenced by those classic acts. For example, Metallica led me back to Black Sabbath, Misfits, which brought me forward to Tool and Helmet, which lead me back to Rush, Pink Floyd, and others.

This pattern continues to repeat to this day - it’s one of the easiest ways to discover new to you music. However, today’s streaming technology and algorithms make it much easier than when I was a kid. You don’t need to read through multiple magazines, or dozens of fan websites (which, do those even exist anymore?) - just listen as you would to your streaming service of choice and let the robots take you on a journey.

June's Playlist

This month's playlist features songs from Pool Kids, girlpuppy, Seko, Dahila Seed, Greta O'Leary, Me in Capris, and more!

Listen to this month's playlist on:

Quick Listening and Other Links

Rock and roll lost a big one this month, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys passed away at the age of 82. The Beach Boys were always a band I remembered hearing when I was growing up. They had fun, poppy songs and I always enjoyed them. It wasn't until much later in life did I fully appreciate Brian Wilson's genius and musical creativity. God Only Knows remains one of my all time favorite songs.

Sly Stone also passed away at 82 this month. Two amazing talents gone in one month. If you're not familiar with Sly Stone (Sly and the Family Stone) I urge you to go check out their essentials playlist on Apple Music or Spotify. Full of bangers.

Guitar maker Gibson is trying to track down the guitar that Michael J. Fox played in Back to the Future during the Enchantment Under the Sea scene - the guitar hasn't been seen in over 40 years.

CNN is asking, what's behind the decline of music festivals? I think there are some ebbs and flows with festivals. Some of the bigger ones are seeing slowdowns of ticket sales, others are just closing down altogether. But, there are some newer ones that are popping up, though it remains to be seen if they will have staying power. I've been to a few festivals, but no more than three. For me, even when the lineup is stacked with artists I like, I don't want to be outside all day, or for multiple days, with that many people in that small of a place. I'm too old for that shit.