Do you even like music?

This post was originally written before my new job, back when I was doing Data Entry

I was sitting around the fire pit, drinking (of course), with the Usual Suspects (this meaning the Shanes, Bob, and my husband), and I can't remember exactly why but the topic of music came up and I made the comment to my husband "I learned a long time ago not to criticize your music" (There were a few times I made some less than positive comments on what music he had on in the car and he got upset. Neil feels I don't "know" music enough to have any valid judgment. He felt bad saying that out loud because it sounds super douchey (and it kind of is), but it made me laugh. Sorrynotsorry but some of your punk music is whiny. He has since lightened up to some criticism) and Shane looked at me quizzically and asked: "do you even like music?" Which garnered a laugh from everyone because... well, I guess I don't really talk about what I listen to. Or mention that I even listen to it as a choice. Because I do. I mean, like, sometimes.

Even at work one of my supervisors has mentioned surprise that I don't blast my music when my coworkers are absent. I just happen to enjoy the silence and soft clickity-clack of my typing. I decided to pin up some of my recent concert tickets at work to show, yes, I do listen to music, and yes, I also do things that don't involve reading about how to dispose of dead bodies. Why that has become part of my work identity, I'm not sure...

Posting my Katy Perry concert ticket has prompted some bemused conversations with other coworkers because pop music was the last thing they thought I'd listen to. I now have conversations with a guy about Katy Perry and how his daughter can't wait to go to another concert. She is five, so it does make me feel like ha what, I have a shared interest with a little girl. But of course I do. So sophisticated, much adult. I bet she and I could totally bond over candy too.

So I don't listen to music at work, I don't listen to music around other people, when exactly do I listen to it?

Mostly I listen to music when I'm doing a mundane task like folding and putting laundry away or doing the dishes. But I feel weird turning music on when other people are around, so I only have it on when I'm alone. Which is like, never. So I can see why my brother would ask me if I even like music, because, on an average day, it would be easy to think that I don't. But I do. I swear. Just maybe not as much as the average consumer. Okay, a lot less than the average consumer.

But I have been to a lot of concerts! Why would I go to concerts if I didn't like music, riddle me that, Doubters McDoubters. I don't like listening to live albums (they are the worst), but actual live music is something I enjoy. Being part of a crowd that is all excited about the same thing gives it another level. It's the same as going to a movie on opening night or a sports game (yes, I've been to those too!). It's the one time I think I understand how extroverts feel, by the definition of getting energy from other people. It does really feel energizing! You know, until after, when I feel super drained.

Bands/Singers I have Seen (edit: every time I go to a new concert I will try to update)

30 Seconds to Mars
A Day to Remember (Twice)
Black Sabbath
Blink 182
Bush
Fear Factory
Flight of the Conchords
Gwen Stefani
Insane Clown Posse (across state lines even. the cringe, it hurts)
Katy Perry
Korn
Lady Gaga Piano and Jazz
Monster Magnet (they were an opening band and not good at all)
Muse (four)
Nine Inch Nails
Offspring
Pantera
Primus
Prophets of Rage
Rise Against (Two or three times)
Rob Zombie (Twice)
Thrice
Warped Tour

...and others I don't remember...I really should have saved all my ticket stubs! I do regret not keeping them now, I just didn't think they were important at the time. I've just never been very sentimental! I have been trying to keep my stubs from recent years, but I have yet to organize them in any way. I do have a plan to get one of those binders specifically for tickets, or something like that, haven't quite decided yet, since I know that I feel a loss of my tickets from the past, it's just a guess that even more future me will be sad if I don't start keeping them.

I starting going to concerts with my older sister and her ex-husband (before he was her ex-husband, obvi, otherwise, how awkward is that?), which was about when I was 14 years old. I don't even remember what was my first concert! Feels like that is something I should have made a point to remember. I guess young Heather didn't realize it was such a big deal, ha.

They were mostly into metal/rock type music, which influenced the type of music I was into once I started buying my own CDs in high school. Then, unfortunately, I shifted a bit to ICP for a few years but thank god I outgrew that phase. UGH. I never went as far as painting my face or going to their grungy music festival summer thing, so that's a plus. I WILL GRASP WHATEVER MEAGER STRAWS I CAN, OKAY? Maybe that is partially why I'm a bit shy about sharing my music taste. If the past is any indication, I have made some cringe-inducing choices.

Why couldn't my secret music shame be a boy band like a normal girl? Not that anyone I know that use to jam to boy bands from the nineties seems to be ashamed of it... in fact, they still actively profess their love for them. So maybe not the best comparison. I really don't know music.