How I became a Music Nut 4: Prog Rock, 2000s and beyond

As we entered into the 2000s, it was an interesting time for me. I was heavy into college from 1999-2005 and it was the best years of my life. I had collected a lot of LPs at the time and I jammed to records all day long. I was big into Dylan, Tom Waits and other stuff. Seems I was going back and picking up albums that I had missed along the way growing up. Some punk like Sex Pistols, The Clash, Dead Kennedys and more!  And there was a phase of synth goth rock like Type O Negative and Sisters of Mercy. I also started going to a few more live shows. I saw Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd) in 1999, then U2, Dylan in 2001. A few others as well. It was a very fertile time in music. I even went through a huge Jazz phase from 2000 to 2003. I think my open mind in getting into jazz really helped me when I finally embraced progressive rock later on. And while I still had my favorites from the 90s, all these new bands were starting to take a front seat with me, and I loved it. Seems most artsy types get into all this kind of music in college.

In 2005, I graduated and was a couple years married by then. I was working as a graphic artist and my life consisted of just working on a computer all day and jamming to music. My favorite bands were getting stale and I needed something new, and challenging to listen to. Turns out, I had already had the music in front of me the whole time, thanks to my best friend, Shane.

DREAM THEATER was a band Shane was heavily into and I used to poke fun at his fandom of it. I tried the music back in the day and I just didn't understand it. It sounded like complete nonsense of noise to me. I just "wasn't ready" for it at the time. So finally out of boredom one day, I decided to give their album SCENES FROM A MEMORY a chance and holy crap! It was awesome. I really got into it and fell in love with it and all progressive rock from that point on. It was metal mixed with a sort of virtuostic type of playing that started to appeal to me. I preferred the sounds of good drumming, Richenbacher bass and mellotron. Dream Theater was a door to other bands I would fall in love with:

SPOCKS BEARD is another prog band that I love and its mostly for the songwriting of their lead singer: Neal Morse. The dude had chops and great songwriting abilities. Although after I got into them, he left the band and became a Christian solo artist. I saw him perform Spocks and solo songs live at two concerts at a local church, which I got to help out at. It was a great behind the scenes look at someone who was quickly becoming one of my musical icons. The great thing about prog musicians is that they are always quick to collaborate! And you take the great drumming of Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy, mix it with Neal Morse's songwriting and add two other progressive rock musicians from Europe and you get some nice collaborations like TRANSATLANTIC: 

I saw them perform live in 2010. I also saw Roger Waters again that same year perform my favorite album of all time, THE WALL in its entirety. It was magical. In 2011, I saw U2 again, in their biggest and most profitable tour of all time. Once again, it was awesome. But the best was seeing Sir Paul McCartney that summer at Tigers Stadium. I was on the floor for the show and it was almost a religious experience. I laughed, I cried, I sang loud. Easily the best concert I had ever seen or possibly will ever see.

Also in the 2000s, I made my own music with Shane! We formed a band finally called "IDIOTHEAD" and recorded three albums (and several non-released demos) of material with our new joke band. Any style, any thing we wanted to say or record, we did. It was total freedom. Barely anyone took notice, but thats totally fine. The main point was that I got to spend time with my buddy and create something. It was awesome and I am very proud of that stuff. And it laid the foundation of the website you are now reading. Idiothead.com became a "hub" for my stuff and Shane's stuff as well. Although we haven't done any new music material since 2008 or so.

All thoughout the 2000s, I became increasingly frustrated with popular music. While I'd get into some bands like HIM, White Stripes and a few others, nothing ever really stood out anymore. No one has come along to hold the mantle of best rock band in the world. Its sort of been this R&B, RAP and POP song world all through the 2000s till now. Some of it was tolerable and watchable. But certainly not my preferred type. So I spent a lot of time (and still do) going back and picking up bands I missed. Now that prog rock was open to me, I started to listen to early Genesis and Rush, along with keeping up my favorite bands (that were still together) and their newest albums.

The problem is with this era is now most of my favorite musicians from back in the day are now slowly aging and dying off. Each year, I lose someone major and its been a very sad time. I sometimes have a hard time adjusting to it. At least we have the music. And its getting more and more appreciated, with nice remastered packages and mixes and expanded artwork. The music industry has been slowly choked to death with people stealing the albums online and the "industry" is all but dead. It is quite sad when you think about it. But for me, I'm alright with it. Cause I still got the music. CD and Record stores will never completely die out, no matter how much people say they will. Perhaps one day they will be like antique stores, but I can still go in and get the music I want or stuff that is out there that I haven't discovered yet. And, I can still make my own music! Even now, Shane and I are planning on doing some new recording later this year. Who knows what is to come of all of that?

So despite the last few frustrating years, I am a stronger music fan today than I ever was. And recently, Shane and I have been discussing sort of sitting in our "arrested development" and just enjoying the memories of the music we love in celebration by getting back my LP collection. He's starting his own as well. Its just a perfect way to keep my love of music alive and pumping. An archaic form of media in an archaic form of art. To me, there's nothing greater. I love music more than comics, more than movies even. And for me, thats saying something! Where does it go from here? I have no clue. I have hopes that things will get better for my favorite genres of music. But for now, I am happy to rest and just keep reliving the memories and retaking the journeys that my favorite bands and their songs take me on. I am a 100% certifiable music nut. Label and judge me as you wish.

Thanks for reading! T