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		music is probably one of the larger influences in my life. ever since i started actively listening to the radio during the summer of '94, my days have been filled with music. now to elaborate a bit about my music tastes. in general i like alternative or rock or whatever you feel like calling that stuff. you can also through in some mild techno and some new wave 80s music. the radio stations that I listen to, kits 105.3 (alt-rock), kllc 97.3 (more female rock, like some lillith fair stuff), and kcnl (more alt-rock) have shaped those tastes. i like what i hear, and i listen to what i like ... but music did not always hold my attention. sitting the backseat of my mom's car i listened to easy listening and maybe some milder rock, like phil collins and whitney houston. those artists and bands never really connected with me, well they probably weren't aimed at me liking them, but still it wasn't a very auspicious environment for building a musical taste. moreover, that was about the only music I ever heard in my childhood, aside from classical music brought in with piano lessons. oh and there were those instances at school (like those lovable elementary school talent shows which consisted some instrument playing and a lot of girls dancing to the hits of the day) but that music was also pretty bad. so my appreciation of music continued to lie dormant. in some ways i'm happy that i wasn't into music back then. i didn't have to deal with to grunge music, which despite what all people may say, sucks, and mc hammer and others of the early nineties. but, finally my eyes were opened to music when my brother bought oasis' 'what's the story (morning glory)'. possessing such hits as 'wonderwall', 'don't look back in anger', and 'champagne supernova', it was just great music (and still is pretty great music), and it is what hooked me on to music. i remember listening to wonderwall on constant loop for a couple hours every day just because i loved it so much. so to fulfill my new found cravings for more music, i channel surfed around kome 98.5 (a now defunct station that was the big mainstream alt-rock station of the time) and accidentally found kllc 97.3, which at the time being was more attuned to my milder sensibilities. there i grew to appreciate the 80s bands (depeche mode, the cure, some new order, and some duran duran) and more eclectic music that would often not get played on any other station (it's the only place where i heard ashley macisaac and dubstar). and so it came to be that i listened to radio more and more, progressing more towards alt-rock'ness as i hopped from 97.3 to 98.5 to 105.3 (which used to play more eccentric alt-rock). my musical memory kept increasing until i was able to name most any post '97 rock song that got radio play after hearing the first 10-15 seconds (i wish i was still so up to date with things, but things have slipped a bit as of late). now that i've drawn out my history of music listening, i guess i should be moving on to my views on music. alternative: most of it is good, like i mentioned before i don't hold any love for most of the grunge stuff, but with some of the newer trends like rock-rap, i'm beginning to feel a bit left behind on the trends of things. metal: i can't hold up with the old hair band stuff, but some of the guitar riffs are nice, overall metallica is the only band worth mentioning in this category, although they are somewhat hard, they hold an almost universal appeal of some sort, their music is just good. country: i remember back to the day when country music could be ridiculed by all without fear of retribution, but now i almost feel it would be cool if i listened to country, but i really can't stand it. plus if i became a real country fan i would have to deal with the bastardization of the genre by the likes of shania twain and faith hill. rap and r&b: again, i can't stand much or any of it, though i can somewhat understand why people listen to it. classical: though i appreciate it, and should be able to enjoy it, i don't really like listening to it that much. jazz: about the same vibe as classical music. and all other types of music, i really do not know all that much about, so they won't be mentioned. so overall, music is all good, and i encourage everyone to appreciate it no matter what you listen to. but at least try to stay away from listening exclusively to mainstream music, which often goes through deplorable phases like the current mix of teeny-bopper music and latin music, because, yeah, it really is sad at times. and to cap things off i guess i'd better give you a more concrete sample of my music tastes, here's a semi-recent list of songs that are pretty decent and that i like.