So when I was real young I listened mostly to what I now know is called nerdcore; fan songs and random amvs about things I liked.
My main platform for discovering music was YouTube and I wasn’t looking for it but rather just watched content related to my interests that occationally contained music.
In what I'd call middle school I still mostly did this, but I had discovered artists!
I was now, besides random animations, consistently having songs by the same artists on my playlists!
I listened to mostly musicals and folk and at this point but also like whatever I found on my homepage and still didn’t really seek it out.
I recall liking Liana Flores, Tv Girl, The Crane Wives, Elio Mei, Girl in Red, Madds Buckley and multiple Lemon Demon songs.
Then, during what I’d call highschool, I finally downloaded Spotify and I’ve never been the same since.
My mum has a paid family subscription, and has had for as long as I can remeber (she really likes music) so there was no reason to not have Spotify like ever, but it was first during highschool when I got new headphones that I gave in.
At first I was listening to mostly what I had before, still The Crane Wives, still Elio Mei and still TV Girl, but I was also getting recommendations by the app, specifically I was getting recommendations to listen to Tally Hall.
And so I had a Tally Hall phase, I don’t like to say hyperfixation because I’m not diagnosed with anything, but it very much was one;
I thought and talked about literally nothing else, I still have a digital photo album with hundreds of screenshots on my phone and at one point I sewed a themed tote bag.
And this went on for a good few months at the end of the year, and as all Tally Hall fans do I also eventually started to listen to Will Wood and Will Wood and the Tapeworms, of whom I still have a few songs on my playlist.
I definitely was never as obsessed with him, (as the Tally Hall phase had taken it’s toll on me) but I probably listened to him a lot more, as shown by my spotify statistics from that year.
At the beginning of the next year I recalled a post I had seen on Pinterest, the photo had the phrase ”the weird music pipeline” written over it and had a couple of bands that I recognised (I’ll see if I can find it) as well as one that I didn’t; Oingo Boingo.
It took a listen through of the entire discography and thinking about the songs a bit after before I became I fully fledged fan, but I was determined to become a certified weird music listener!
And you can say I became a fan,,,
Throughout the year I was trying to find more music like Oingo Boingo!!
And the first place I looked was the artist description, where it said they were often compared to DEVO, and so I quickly became a fan of them as well, with some difficult because DEVOs spotify profile is all kinds of messed up
Besides that I also looked at the ”fans also like” page, an interview with Danny Elfman about his musical inspirations and also this one blog post that I kept seeing being linked on Pinterest???
Erm and that’s how I found artists like XTC, Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, Madness and Wall of Voodoo.
I also listened to Talking Heads, They Might Be Giants and the B52s but I just didn’t get into any or them,
I mean I actually added quite a few Talking Heads and B52s songs onto my playlist and I learned all about them and stuff but I just... didn't like them as much as other things I was listening to.
One important aspect to note is how I used to listen to new artits, and that is by chronologically listening to every single song they have put out without break, which was obviously very tiring, but I also found that it actually works very well because I got a general vibe from the bands and if I later thought about one of the songs, I knew I should add it and maybe listen again.
Now, I don't have the patience or desire to do this anymore, but I do an adapted version, which is chronologically listening to their albums or eps or singles or whatever one at a time and adding the songs I like from that.
Anyways, that was the main musical evolution of the first part of the year, but soon enough it became autumn and there was a new semester at school, where I talked with my friend, who’s like a big music fan and who got into alternative 80s music wayyyy before I did, and they kept talking about their favourite 80s goth bands they thought I’d like, especially Siouxie and the Banshees.
And so I checked them out (note: I did it in a super strange order?? I like started with Juju or Through the Looking Glass insted of The Scream?? Idk how I messed that up) and I started to periodically listen to their albums during my spare time.
After that I honestly don’t remember? Which is stupid because this is the most recent part???
At some point I checked out Japan, of whom I really only liked the first album, I’m pretty sure I found Sigue Sigue Sputnik though them, since they feel a bit similar.
I also started to listen to Adam and the Ants, either because of the same friend again or because of Pinterest, and I became more into them (and Adam Ant and Bow Wow Wow) after watching a public service documentary about music from the 80s, which mentioned them and then got removed like two days later so I have literally no proof.
At some point I also thought to myself ”Hmm that Video killed the radio star song is like really good, what else did the band make?”
And found out about the Buggles and then, pssibly also because of Gary Numan, started needing more like them and became a bit of a synther; Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby and Pete Shelly, etc.
As of recent I've been getting REALLY into synths and synth history as well, but I'll save that for another time as this already is too long.
I am sorry that this is way too long and slightly uninteresting, but I really needed to get it out as, if someone actually reads anything here, this includes a lot of important context and is crucial to understand what I actually like to listen to.