Musings on Music

First a little backstory. Justin works at CompUSA and last year he calls me because they have this great deal on XM satellite radio. The radio was free and we had been talking about possibly getting satellite radio. I was in the don't really care/don't want to add another monthly bill side and he is in the shiny pretty new gadget/deep playlist/commercial free radio side. We talked about it and I wasn't sure if XM was the way to go, I was thinking of Sirius because of Stern and English Premier League Football (GO Chelsea!!!!!!) I thought that this was settled and we were going to wait until the new year.

Guess what I got for Christmas last year, and early to boot. XM. Justin tells me that he was thinking of my commute and the amount of time I spend in my car. I do spend a lot of time on the road, 90 miles a day, so he had a point. Needless to say, I was a little pissed. It felt more like a I want this, but need to figure out an angle to make it seem like it's for my wife kind of gift. Well, flash forward to today. I absolutely love my XM and it makes my drive so much better. It helped that they had World Cup coverage this summer, and for a month, if you got in my car it was non-stop Football. I listen at work online too. Love, love, love it.

Today, I am listening and hear a song called 3 Strange Days by a band called School of Fish. I really like this and will probably buy it from iTunes. I love that XM plays stuff I haven't heard in a while, like The Plimsouls and stuff I have never heard. I have discovered lots of new music on the international pop channel too. It has reminded me how much I really do love music.

I tend to save CD purchases for my birthday and holidays, so that my husband can buy them for me. It is kind of a joke between us that he always buys me CDs. I think it's kind of fun to perpetuate it. You would think with the CD collection we have, I would listen more at home. We passed the 1000 mark and I just can't keep straight what we have anymore. Justin knows though. I went through a period of time where I just kind of forgot that I love music. I have to thank Virgin Radio UK for rekindling my love, with bands like Keane, Snow Patrol, and Damien Rice.

I like the XM because I can expose Andrew to tons of music genres. Sometimes he surprises me with what he reacts to. He loves Mr. Big, Ozzy, in short, hard rock/metal. (No doubt that he is ours.) Then we're in the car and Joy Division comes on. Andrew starts rocking out and I am not sure how to react. On one hand it's cool that he is responding to music, but it's Joy Division. As Justin calls it, music to slit your wrists to. Joy Division can be horribly depressing, but it's got a good beat. I like Joy Division and the surviving members went on to become New Order, who I love. Still, it makes me wonder about my kid. Maybe we should stick to the kids channel for a while.