Taylor du Pont
DJ Tayrex
I remember the first time that I saw a turntable like it was yesterday. At the time, I was only around five-years-old, and ended up stumbling upon the old machine in a game of hide-and-seek. My grandfather, who was standing nearby, walked over to the old player and delicately taught me how to place the record on the platter, and how to place the needle on the spinning record without scratching it. My grandfather introduced me to jazz and classical music, and shaped the core of my music taste. He taught me that music is a true form of art, and that it is ever evolving.
Ever since those early stages of my childhood, my musical taste has evolved in correlation to particular events and changes in my adolescent years. Before the days of the iPod, my taste was formed solely by my role models. My mother’s passion for Fleetwood Mac, my dad’s obsession with the Dave Matthews Band (I could have sworn that he was a groupie. He followed them around on tour) and my grandfather’s love for jazz music, all infused into one musically diverse child. While other elementary students were listening to Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys, I was watching DVD’s of Dave’s live shows and playing air drums to Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk.”
In fifth grade, I started to explore music on my own terms. I was presented with my first iPod, and filled all two gigabytes with John Mayer. At that age, I could have sworn that John was the most talented musician in the entire universe, and I could not see past his smooth guitar playing and raspy voice. As I encountered my first failure, my first loss, my first love and my first heartbreak towards the end of middle school, I deleted John’s simple songs and replaced them with an array of genres and songs that more appropriately reflected my emotions, and my ever evolving state of mind and maturity.
Through music database sites, such as Pandora and 8tracks, I explored nearly every genre, even delving into some techno and classical. I found that there was a genre for every mood, and a song for every situation. When I was feeling carefree and inspired, I would listen to chill “beachy” bands such as The Beautiful Girls or Bedouin Soundclash. If I was in a darker mood, I would listen to bands like Modest Mouse or Led Zeppelin.
The past four years of high school have been the most pivotal in the development in my musical taste. After my grandfather passed a few years ago, the turntable that introduced me to music, was passed down to me.
I started to collect records, finding used ones at old thrift shops, borrowing a few from my dad, and scavenging through Urban Outfitters for decent music. I found that my favorite songs were songs that stand the test of time, such as “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd, or “Try a Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding. The lead vocals are strong and un-synthesized, and the band members can actually play their instruments, instead of typing notes out on a computer. They also express emotions that words alone cannot. I’ve learned that pop and rap music just really are not my thing, but rather, I enjoy listening to alternative, indie, classic rock and instrumentals.
Who knows, maybe this indie/rock and roll preference is just a phase (like my John Mayer obsession), but I know that my taste will only evolve positively in the future. Our environment, family and personal experiences shape our music taste and that makes all of our tastes different, unique and beautiful.
