My ipod: Story of my life

So as most of you know I like to run, and as some of you know I like music. So when I got an ipod for my birthday last year what could be more natural than to put music on it for running? Now I like country music,blues,jazz, opera, and even native american powwow music. I like them all, a lot, but when your running you want something upbeat, so when I run, I run to rock and roll baby!!! During my weekly long run last Saturday I started day dreaming about the music on my playlist and why it was on there. I also do a lot of day dreaming while I am running. You can group the music on my ipod by different periods of my life.

High School:

I am a product of the late 70's and early 80's having attended high school during parts of both those decades. This was also the Disco era and the era of it's crazy,radical,and anti social counterpart Punk Rock.Being a young man raised in the Middle West to a middle class family I did what was normal, I rebelled against society. Or at least I thought I did. I was rocking the mullet (spray painted blue and spiked). I also liked to wear skinny neckties with t shirts. Safety pins and electrical tape were fashion accessories. Being weird was a badge of honor along with the myriad of small buttons on my jacket pledging allegiance to BLACK FLAG or the RAMONES. Gabba Gabba Hey was my anthem!!! I would constantly visit the "record" store looking for the latest vinyl.

These songs are on my ipod:
B-52s
Rock Lobster
Dance This Mess Around
Planet Claire

Ramones
We Want the Airwaves
I Want to be Sedated
Sheena is a Punk Rocker

Plimsouls
Oldest Story in the World
A Million Miles Away

Early Military:

After high school I joined the military and was stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division. I was in my late teens and early twenties. This was the period in my life where I did a lot of stuff and I mean a lot of stuff that should have killed me or got me arrested. Like Josie Wales said though" I was always lucky in the order of things." My roommate and best friend was from Southern California and he introduced me to the heavy metal hair bands of the 80's. I still think for pure rock mania these artists remain the best. This is the period when I fell in love with Judas Priest, Metallica, Black Sabbath and others. Nothing like listening to Ozzy at level 11 on your bitchin Reel to Reel tape deck while guzzling some brews.

These songs are on my ipod:
Accept
Balls to the Wall

Dio
Holy Diver
Rainbow in the Dark

Scorpions
No One Like You
Rock You Like a Hurricane

The 90's:

During the 90's I was a starting to establish myself as a career soldier. I also made the transition from infantry to Special Forces. It was during this period that my family was young. So I alternated between raising my children and perfecting my craft as a special operator. What goes on TDY stays on TDY wasn't just a saying it was a code of honor between brothers that I will never break. I started to get introduced to all sorts of "new  music" as I spent spent many days and weeks crammed together with my team in isolation or on deployment. The "neu metal" and alternative rock that was making the scene like Nirvana and Limp Bizkit started making its way into my music collection.

These songs are on my ipod:


Veruca Salt
Seether

Kid Rock
Bawitdaba

Rage Against the Machine
Bulls on Parade
Fistful of Steel

Hole
Celebrity Skin
Miss World

The Cranberries
Zombie

The new millennium:

During the last 5-6 years of my military career my unit was constantly deployed and constantly at war. Bosnia,Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq where all places that were very familiar to us. If we weren't in a hostile fire zone, we were training to go to one or refitting from just coming back. We were finally honed killing machines, just to survive this period I became a very angry and violent man. My first reaction in any situation was to close with and destroy my adversary. Constantly moving forward, keeping the enemy off balance and seizing the initiative. Violence of action was something to be proud of. The music I listened too reflects this. It was also influenced by the immense amount of time I spent in Germany in particular and Europe in general.

These songs are on my ipod:

Rammstein
Du Hast
Asche zu Asche
Feuer Frei
Links 2 3 4
Reise Reise
Sonne
Stein um Stein

Slipknot
People=S**T
Wait and Bleed
Spit It Out
Duality

Korn
Freak on a Leash

I haven't found anything good to listen too since I left the military. It is almost like my interest in new music ceased at the same time as my status as an action guy. Maybe I will find something in the future but since I very rarely listen to music radio and I never buy CD's anymore I think I am stuck with the choices I have made. Every song has a memory though, I think Garth Brooks said that.