Music

[Philips Headphones] Ah, music, I don't even know where to start. The first music I conciously remember listening to (as a teenager already, I think) was Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Kim Wilde. Oh, the good old 80s!

I guess since then my interest in music grew and grew. I took guitar lessons for some 12 years, classical guitar at first, then I progressed to an electric guitar, a Yamaha Pacifica 112 (see the image on this page). I played in a band for one year, I think, but then I graduated from high school and with two members leaving, the band ceased to exist. We weren't exactly good, but we always had a lot of fun.

[Creative Muvo V200 MP3 Player] Although I haven't completely discarded my musical career yet - anyone looking for a shy guitar player? - I have been working a lot on expanding my record collection. I say record collection although I only have two vinyl records (both by Joan Armatrading - one was a wrong buy from ebay, the other one was a gift). However, CD collection sounds so boring. But it's like Ani DiFranco sings in Fuel: "People used to make records/as in a record of an event/the event of people playing music in a room".

[Yamaha Pacifica 112] Anyway, whether CD or record or MP3, I enjoy music greatly and listen to it almost constantly. My MP3 player, by the way, is a Creative Muvo V200 with 1GB space (see picture above). Here's a list of my CDs.

So, I kind of grew up with music from the 80s, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Kim Wilde, Suzanne Vega and the likes, then for years my favorite band was K's Choice. The band decided to split for a while in 2003, and I was disappointed with the solo efforts of Sarah Bettens and Gert Bettens (Woodface). Instead I focussed my attention more on Ani DiFranco, an amazing musician and amazing personality. While I'm still following her career and looking forward to seeing her in concert one day, I also became very interested in Tegan and Sara.

Apart from these major influences, there are many other bands or artists I admire much, and if you're too lazy to read the aforementioned list of my CDs, let me just list some of those artists so you get a general idea of my musical taste: Tori Amos, Björk, Lisa Loeb, Fiona Apple, Tracy Chapman, Melissa Etheridge (pre-Breakdown), Shawn Colvin, Sophie B. Hawkins, Jewel (pre-This Way), L7, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, Transvision Vamp, Dar Williams, The Organ, Paul Simon, Bangles, The Postal Service, Everything But The Girl.

[Loudspeaker] And last but not least, I wrote a paper on The Changing Role Of Women In American Music in my English class in high school once, which you're free to download and read and comment on.

Anything other music related that I want to share my thoughts, please see the music category of my blog. Please do not hesitate to send me music suggestions, I'm always happy to hear about new artists, and I'm always happy to get nice emails.

And here's the Petofi radio .m3u file for the Hungarian radio station Petöfi Radio. I don't understand Hungarian, but they have an interesting mix of music, so I like to listen in every once in a while. ENJOY!