middle school music tastes

i find middle school consists of many similar thematic components: baggy clothes, cliques, terrifying hairstyles and one of the broadest spectrums of music out of any of the primary schools. during the same period i was deceiving my father into purchasing cords sized 42 in the waist to cover my impressive size 24 waist, (maybe i contemplated smuggling gallons of milk in them?) i was discovering there were more musical tastes around me than jellybelly flavors.

to some of the less informed, (and the more ridiculed), children's music was still a staple; but i imagine they were forced to speak of it in dark corners during recess. being from a smaller town, we also had our share of country music fanatics, a group who was mainly girls and boys with gigantic cowboy boots and names like travis and justin. then there were the trendy kids. some picked up rap artists and pop, but i found myself sticking mainly to alternative music. yes, i do admit that i did buy some music which i would turn red in the cheeks to mention today, but it helped me find my taste today.

green day, weezer, soundgarden, (the) smashing pumpkins, nirvana and radiohead were just a few names which I became thoroughly aquainted with during middle school. nirvana had carried over from elementary school and was establishing it's presence as a motif through my lifetime and james had introduced me to most of the rest with the exception being radiohead.

my brother jay and i started playing the guitar halfway through our seventh grade careers, largely due to us winning a bet with our parents to not watch television for two years. the acquisition of the guitars led to us having a better understanding of what we listened to while providing a new found appreciation for the compositions themselves. through playing with friends, i also found out about new music learning different guitar parts.