My Music Consumption

How/where/when do you consume music?


I listen to music very regularly and frequently, as someone very passionate about it. Prior to owning a car and driving routinely, I listened to music on my phone or iPod on the bus, either from albums I own that are uploaded to my iTunes, songs/albums from artists downloaded from YouTube via a converter, or directly from YouTube using 3G internet and WiFi. When this was the case I could listen to relaxing hip-hop, slow/soft rock music or 'liquid' drum and bass.

Since owning a car I listen to radio far more, particularly in mornings where alongside music I can be updated on recent news. My car allows 6 radio stations to be saved, so for variety I have Absolute and XFM saved for a variety of rock music, Kiss for some popular house and garage music, Radio 1Xtra for urban genres such as grime and hip hop, Metro Love Radio for reggae and West Indian styles, and RadyoUmut for cultural music which I enjoy occasionally. However radio coverage limits the genres available to me which is the main downside apart from advertising every few songs.

Most nights I relax to music in bed as part of a sleep routine, to calmer songs with slower, more consistent tempos. Also but less often, I go to gigs (a few times a year) for the spectacle of witnessing artists I particularly appreciate, or out of recommendation by friends whose taste I trust. As well as this I sometimes go to clubs for the social side of enjoying music, but arguably the most enjoyable way to consume music (despite being the least frequent) is at a music festival, which I have had the pleasure of doing at Reading Festival for the past 3 years consecutively. 'Fesitval season' in the Summer fields a huge variety of music in many festivals across the UK, although I find myself limited to more commercial festivals due to the music taste of my main friendship group. However, Reading has increasingly become more diverse in genre content and audience in order to expand, which benefits me.



3 tracks that mean something to me:

From my childhood I have distinct memories of listening to Queen's first and second greatest hits albums on car journeys, and around aged 6 my dad bought me a Walkman, I think for my birthday. These were the first moments of listening to music with some independence - I could listen with headphones on my own and not just have to be in the car; I could enjoy music anywhere, which I absolutely loved. In those years my favourite song was 'I Want It All', during which I would unashamedly air guitar my way through the intro and guitar solo, perhaps due to not understanding the concept of dignity. I shared a love for the song with my best friend in primary school, and at eachother's houses we'd thrash around to it in our early appreciation of the rock music we grew up with through our parents.




Under The Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers became one of the most important songs to me in my early/mid teens, helping me get through tough times through sympathising with Anthony Kiedis' lyrics. I had always liked the number of songs I knew by the band, which I could count with my hands, but with curiosity that later inspired me to look much further into all artists I discovered all kinds of music ranging from psychadellic funk metal to softer, emotional acoustic music all from one band. Within days of exploration they became my favourite band and remain in that position. I bought Anthony's autobiography Scar Tissue which was one of the most influential, eventful reads I have ever experienced and really furthered my knowledge of musical history from the 60s to the early 00s. It taught me the inspirations and meanings to many of their songs, and I was particularly moved by Under The Bridge. Looking just beneath the surface of a band known for generally soft rock songs of their later work taught me that to many bands there is so much more worth knowing, a lesson that can be applied to all aspects of life. This band made music mean more to me than just an enjoyable listening experience.




A song that has become a recent favourite of mine is 'I Gave You Power' by Nas, from his second Album It Was Written. I was (am) in a phase of listening to more hip hop, exploring early influences and roots of the genre so Nas being one of the most important rap artists of all time was someone I wanted to get to know better. I fell in love with the chilled out, point of view focused music of his debut album Illmatic, which was clearly influenced by his father being a jazz musician, and was perhaps even more impressed with the direction of It Was Written as it lyrically became more of a social commentary, looking at issues in urban-American society. In 'I Gave You Power', Nas uses a powerful extended metaphor in portraying himself as a gun. It strongly impacted me in its insight into the violent ghettos of New York and its unconventional use of symbolic, autobiographical poetry.