Introduction

My music journey didn't really start the way you might think. When I was younger, I didn't really listen to much music. My Dad tried to get me into it, but nothing seemed to stick. I did have a few Springsteen songs I like to listen to on the way to school, but it wasn't really much more than that. 

Around 6th grade my dad started playing different artists in the car and I remember him playing me Are You Experienced? by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and telling me about him playing the guitar upside down. I Iiked it, but what I was really thinking about was how I wanted to discover some music for myself. I needed a favorite song. So I tried. I found a YouTube video that featured 24k Magic By Bruno Mars. I thought it had a good beat, so I liked it. I listened to it over and over again and told my whole family and all my classmates that it was my favorite song.

But it wasn’t actually my favorite song. I was much more concerned with having a favorite song to talk about, rather than actually loving that song. But it was a start, and it was not something my Dad had played me. And then later that year, I discovered Taylor Swift. That’s where it really began.

Go ahead and giggle a little or laugh hysterically here if you like. Perhaps you weren’t expecting me to say Taylor Swift, but I don't care. She’ll always be one of my favorite artists because she inspired me to do so much. The first song I ever learned to play on guitar was Shake It Off. The first record that I ever owned was Reputation. The first record I ever bought with my own money was 1989. The Reputation Stadium Tour was the first concert I ever went to. All of her albums will always be some of my favorites because they are part of the reason I was able to discover all the music I love now. So you may think it’s funny for a fourteen-year-old boy to be a Taylor Swift fan, but I don't care. Her work continues to inspire me, and her music still continues to make me happy.

I got a record player for Christmas 2018, and from there I began to branch out. I got into artists like Lady Gaga and Nirvana, Queen and The Beatles. My music horizons were widening. I kind of stayed on that path, listening to these artists over the coming summer. Then at the end of that summer, another life-changing thing happened in my music life. I saw a movie.

I wasn’t going to have my life changed, I was going for something to do, but my Dad was trying. My Dad and his friend were going to take me to the theater to see Blinded By The Light. If you are unfamiliar, it's a movie about a Pakistani immigrant to the UK who falls in love with the music of Bruce Springsteen, well past when anyone else was really paying attention.

At this point in time, I wasn't exactly Springsteen savvy. The only real experience I had with his music was those few songs I listened to in the car and owning Born To Run on vinyl, which Dad told me I “had to have”. At this point in time, it’s also important to mention that I had learned to play guitar, and had started trying to write songs of my own.I desperately wanted to be a good songwriter. And this movie made it clear Springsteen was a great one. So when I went home I downloaded all of his albums on my phone and listened to them back to back. It took me about a week. I realized I had discovered one of the greatest things I’d ever heard in my life.

Not a day after I saw that movie has been exactly the same. Springsteen changed everything about music for me. His lyrics made me feel understood because, at the time, I didn't feel so understood.

After that, I feel like it all went haywire. I started discovering music that I’d never heard before and soon became some of my favorites. I started asking questions about musician’s careers, the way they record and write songs, and what albums I should listen to. Now I discover new things nearly every day. My Grandfather and my Dad are probably the two biggest influences on my music taste. If it wasn't for them I’d probably be one of those people who say that the Beatles are just “not his thing.” They have really opened up a door for me. They showed me so many great artists that now will forever remain my favorites.

I like music for many different reasons, but one leads them all. It gives me a reason. With music, everything seems to make more sense. It has given me a purpose. It makes happy times happier and the sad times better. It’s really indescribable.

In On Broadway, Springsteen’s one man show about his life and his music, he speaks about the aftermath of Elvis playing on The Ed Sullivan Show. "The kids would want more. Now more life, more love, and more sex, and more hope, and more truth, and more power, and more soul, and most of all, more rock 'n' roll." I want more. 

NCB