Music & Me

Michael Jackson was the first artist that I remember liking very much. This was also the first time I 'learned' something from my brother. He was a fan of MJ so I followed his footsteps. I remember very clearly seeing and hearing Smooth Criminal and They Don't Care About Us for the first time.

I saw/heard Smooth Criminal for the first time when I was watching this tape that my mom had recorded. It was from the MJ concert in Finland, it was so big back then, that you could see the whole concert on tv. So I remember seeing first some gangsters, then this big white sheet and Michael's silhoutte on that sheet. Some kicking and dancing, then suddenly music, the sheet dropped and singing started. It was so awesome.


On that same tape was music program called Jyrki and it was some sort of a MJ special since it showed all his music videos. From that tape I remember seeing They Don't Care About Us. It was the earlier version, the one with the jail scenes. I liked it. I liked the rhytmn and the way everything was so synced.

So that was my first musical experience and it's also why I can never totally dislike MJ.

Eminem is the second artist I remember liking at a very young age. I was, I think eight or nine when I heard Eminem for the first time. My brother (once again) had this rap phase (which never really ended, though) and he had gotten tired of Eminem. So I got The Eminem Show from him and me and my cousin listened to it. We listened to it A LOT. It was just a really hilarious album, with all the funny voices and awesome music.

That album stayed in my mind, even though at the time I didn't check any of his other albums out. The Eminem Show was also one of the first records I got. And years after, it still is an excellent album. I really got to know Eminem a bit later in my life, and his music worked for me at the time really well. The reason I liked him was partly the same reason why I liked Marilyn Manson - both of them were these anti-heros, shocking people with their sayings and doings. That kind of people have always made a great impression on me. So he became one of my favorites, which still confuses people.

It seems like a cliché to say that he is one of the best rappers ever, but I honestly think so. It's no surprise that there are tons and tons of teenagers that LOVE him and praise him as the best rapper in the world (which is not quite true). But that teenager mania makes me avoid his music, unfortunately. Also I just don't find his music as good as it was. But he's still one of my favorites.

There's nothing too special about this band for me, expect the Americana record. It was also one of my early favorites, mostly because of the hit Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)... We literally watched that video again and again and again because it was just SO hilarious and catchy.

I got into Sex Pistols when I was.. I think on fifth grade. I live in a really small town and when I came to school with my new style... My teacher got so worried. It was really weird. First I got complaints about my make up, next it was the self made piercings. And huh, when my mom found out about my piercings... I had to take them off. I had made twice a lip piercing and I got pins in my ears. It was fun to cause that kind of reaction to people. Haha.



But anyways, Sex Pistols was on of the first bands that really spoke to me (with the other one being Marilyn Manson). For the first time I called my self a fan of something, and I was totally mad about Sex Pistols. They had a huge impact on me. They were the first band to REALLY make a difference in my life. They are legendary. I got into punk, but there never really was any other greater punk band for me than Sex Pistols. I liked the Clash at the time but I got to like them a bit more later in my life. At this time in my life I also listened to Rancid, Transplants and other Tim Armstrong projects. I also started listening to David Bowie, after reading Please Kill Me.

My Chemical Romance came to Finland 3.7.2007 and it was my first real concert. I remember being in school and I was talking with my friend and we thought it might be cool to see them since MCR was an OK band. After reasoning with mom why I had to go to that concert, we finally got the tickets. I think the ticket sale wasn't really that good since the tickets had already been on the market about a week and there still were tickets left. So we got surprisingly good seats. What really bothers me is that I can't remember a single thing from the concert. I have these huge gaps where my memories should be... I only remember this large lady that was sitting next to us. Everybody else in the audience got up and danced but she just sat there texting. But I do remember seeing few of my internet friends at the concert.

This concert was still very important because I really got into this concert thing so it was pretty much like goodbye money, and hello music!

Marilyn Manson and Sex Pistols had the biggest influence on me and my musical taste. I instantly fell in love with MM, and that happened on the summer before I went to the 7th grade. Marilyn Manson also came to Finland, almost right after MCR so as you might guess, I had to get there. No matter what.

So I had already met this guy, and we became friends. He and his brothers were going to see Manson and he asked if we wanted to come too. So when it was time to order the tickets the guys got theirs but me and my friend didn't. It was horrible.

But fortunately, there's this site in Finland where people re-sell their tickets to concerts, so we started to hunt down those tickets. We found two tickets and I think they did cost about 20€ more than the orignal price but we still had to get them, and finally we did. So everything was OK, everybody got the tickets, so we just waited for the day of the concert. 20.12.2007 was one of the best days, not to mention one of the best concerts EVER. We had so much fun, the concert was amazing. I was hoping for something more shocking though (even though he did the classic bible burning)...


Since that concert, I have been an avid fan of Mr. God Of Fuck and his awesome band. Even with all the disappointments, I still believe they are great and always will be.

My ex-boyfriend was a real music person, he was really musical and he even tried to teach me to play an instrument. He had the widest music taste and I had never met someone like him that was so into music. We shared a really similar music taste, but he was more of an elitist. If there was a band I liked, but he didn't he'd really just let me know that he didn't like that band. But because of him, I got to know a wide range of new artists/bands that I had never even heard of. I got to know bands like Opeth, Porcupine Tree, My Dying Bride and many other metal or progressive rock bands.


He also got me to like rap even more. And at this time I started to listen to rap much more, and also Eminem came into my life again. I started listening to Proof, D12, Tupac, Eminem, N.W.A, etc. We stayed friends for a long time and he also kept influencing my music taste. But at some point our tastes got so different that these days we don't have that many same favorites.

I re-discovered punk when I got to go to a Anti-Flag concert. The tickets were only 26€ so I really wanted to see them. Also I had the chance to meet some internet friends. It was cool, first time I took part in a mosh pit, the band members did some stage diving etc. The whole concert was way more atmospheric and smaller than the other ones I had been to.


So after that, I started listening (again) a lot bands like Anti-Flag, Rancid, NOFX, etc.

My ex was a huge fan of Placebo so that's how I got into Placebo. I had listened to them before, but at first I didn't like them as much as I would've liked to. But when I actually listened to their whole discography, I was in love. Placebo instantly became one of my favorites.

Few years ago I finally got to see them live. And I loved every moment of it. Placebo is on this list because I have so many memories that their music was also part of. My friend's brother passed away about a year ago, and at the memorial they played this really emotional version of Without You I'm Nothing. Placebo also helped me through my break up. Also they remind me of that great time I got to see them live.

I discovered The White Stripes a few years ago. I can't remember how but it was love at first sight. I suppose it started with hearing songs like 7 Nation Army and Hardest Button to Button, they are their most popular songs BUT also one of the best. So after hearing them, I checked all of their songs. De Stilj was an instant favorite, but ALL of the records were just so unique and great in their own way.



I love TWS to death and their music will surely continue to live on even after the bands break up.

There was a point in my life when I got really interested in blues, jazz and soul music. I watched a series of documents on TV about history of blues and jazz, and then some Motown documents etc. So I discovered great musicians like Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Otis Redding, B.B King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker...

'Asa' (back then he was 'Avain') was really the first finnish artist that I really, really, really liked. Once again, I found this burned cd from my brother's room and it looked really interesting. There was a lion head with an eye patch and stuff.

It was love at first sight. I became a huge fan of him, and his music started a whole new era in my musical experiments. It was about a year after discovering Asa, that I got really interested in finnish hip hop/rap music. Especially the underground artists like Huge L, Laineen Kasperi, Jontti & Shaka etc. So I discovered a whole new genre and I liked it.

Gorillaz is here, because it is part of a really short, but awesome time in my life, about three weeks actually. Last year (2010) I got a really awesome chance to go to the US with my friend. It was a language travel course that lasted 3 weeks, we traveled from L.A to New York. It was by far the best trip I've ever had, and I had waited for a chance to get to the US so long. So there we were, and we had these awesome american guides. My group's guide was particularly great, because he was an avid music fan, and he had this iPod, that had a huge collection of music. So he gave us the soundtrack to that awesome trip.

I discovered so many new artists, and also re-discovered some old ones. There was Bob Marley, Gorillaz, Tool, Jay-Z, Elvis Presley, Tenacious D... And we also got to hear the soundtrack for The Legend of Ron Burgundy and btw, IT'S AWESOME.

Gallows. One of my latest, but also one of my greatest discoveries. I've had that time in my life when I tried listening to artists like this. And none of them really got to me. So I wonder why Gallows is so special for me me. It's mainly screaming (at least to my dad) and I've never liked a band like this before. Still I absolutely adore Gallows... hopefully even though Frank decided to leave the band.

Something about Gallows and Frank remind me of Sex Pistols and Johnny Rotten. I had the same sensation with Gallows, that I had with Sex Pistols. Only this time I didn't have the need to dress up like a punk rocker. Gallows is easily one of my favorite bands, and I hope they can keep up the good work even without Frank. He was a very important part of the band.

About a year ago I re-discovered The Clash. I think sex Pistols got to me so hard that even though The Clash did make an impression on me I was more in love with Sex Pistols. But as we can see, there's was a later but better time for The Clash and me. Now I've finally discovered the full greatness of this band. Unlike Sex Pistols, The Clash has always been the intelligent punk band, for Joe and the guys music wasn't just noise. I'm not saying that Sex Pistols weren't aware of things, but they just fell into this other kind of road... the road to the superficial side of punk. Everybody knows that Johnny Rotten was actually quite aware of things, and he was the one that always told those opinions. But anyways, back to the Clash.

The Clash started as a solid punk band. I love that first record. But what really impressed me was Joe's and Mick's lyrics. The lyrics are surprisingly witty and intelligent. Also I love how they didn't just stuck to one genre. They are also very influental and especially Joe has been a great inspiration to me and a lot of people.

[I already praised The Clash on my "20 Days of Musicians" list, so maybe you can check that out ;)]

Few years ago I fell in love with Pink Floyd. But it took me some time to really come to appreciate them. Now my appreciation for these guys has grown to the highest possible point. First time I heard about Pink Floyd was when I saw The Wall movie. We also had that record, I don't know why, because no one in my family particularly liked Floyd. I liked the weirdness of that movie and after checking the music out, I liked The Wall & The Dark Side of The Moon. But the band faded away to the background when I discovered new artists, that were at the time more interesting.





But now, I've found them again, and they're right there on my top 20. Roger Waters' lyrics, David Gilmour's quitar solos, Syd Barret's artistic and creepy imaginary, Nick Mason's drums and Rick Wright's distinctive keyboard sound makes Pink Floyd one of the greatest bands ever! Whether there is Syd on the vocals or David, Pink Floyd always sound so unique and interesting.

Any Bad Religion fans or just punk fans are gonna be like WTF when I say that I just recently got into Bad Religion. No, it was not because of the new album, I was completely oblivious about that. But the main reason for getting into them was that they were playing at a Finnish festival called Provinssirock and I was working there and I though that it would be epic to see such a legendary band. And sure I had heard the basic popular songs from them but never really took the time to really get sucked into their music. But man, after seeing them live, all of them being such good and charismatic people, I fell in love. The band suddenly became so important, I really fell in love with almost every song (and they have A LOT of songs). I love their personalities, they are not typical kind of punk rockers. They even look like middle aged men with families and Greg is a F'ing professor. But I guess that is one of the things that make them special.

Last year I discovered Hurts. I like them and they sound a bit like Depeche Mode. The song Better Than Love really sounds like Depeche. They have so much potential, and I want to hear more music from them. I'm also going to see them in October, finally!

Beirut blew me away, even though I haven't really listened to this kind of music. Everything about this music makes me feel good and happy. The Flying Club Cup is a masterpiece.

Thanks to a fellow listal member, I re-discovered NIN. I never really liked them that much so I didn't have the interest to look more into their discography. After a recommendation, I checked out Broken EP and The Fragile, and especially The Fragile made a great impression on me. That is the way I always thought they would sound like and that's what I would've liked.

It all started with me finally watching the movie Control. I knew about them, and I was even a little bit interested in them but never took the time to hear them properly. And when I watched this movie I just fell in love with the music. I can't believe I never took the time to listen to them, but then again maybe this just was the right time for me to really get into them. The incredible emotion of Ian's voice blew me away completely.