Confessions of a Wannabe Ad Man: Today is the greatest day I've ever known (thoughts on music)

Reading Northern Planner's post about got me thinking about my own musical consumption. You, faithful reader, can improve this by buying me some of my musical .

I felt like thinking about my own musical journey (obviously, this will be massively sparse and incomplete).

1986: I am two years old - Paul Simon's and Billy Joel's are played a great deal in the car . To this day, 'Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes' remains my favourite song, and Graceland my favourite album.

1989: Tapes of and the Beatles ' ' are played.

Still can't track down the Beatles cover of Buddy Holly's Words of Love on CD. Cracking tune.

1990 - 1991: is on almost constant repeat in the car.

It was the first album I ever 'owned'. is notable because it's the first time I felt let down by an album. So much so that I can't remember half of the tracks on it.

. unlike the next era of music.

1992 - 1994: Aka the Dad rock years.

Albums by , , , and the dominate my listening habits. I've still got a soft spot for most of these albums. However, interspersed with some , I began to (along with practically everyone else of that age) play a lot more football and listen to a lot more indie music.

I think the two were intertwined with me at that age.

1995 - 1998: I must confess, I overlooked 'Definitely Maybe'. But when came round, it pretty much dominated all my music buying.

Hence, I went on a bit of an indie binge over the next few years; , (snap), , , and amongst many many others.

1999 - 2001: As well as getting caught up in the inevitable 'The' band craze (White Stripes, Vines et al), I went backwards and listened to properly, as well as buying and listening to everything related. I still hadn't lost my indie tendancies.

Again, Mersey Paradise from their still proves to be one of my favourites.

I began getting into heavier, more feedback inspired albums, such as by the Jesus Mary Chain, along with the odd psychadelia of and the bouncy punk pop of and . Jurassic 5's was the sole concession to any form of hip-hop.

2002 - 2003: Going backwards before forwards, I finally picked up some classics by and the first album (having bypassed angry teenager music, I now seemed to discover it at University), along with the eponymous Smashing Pumpkins - still being a favourite of mine.

Intelligent bubblegum pop made an appearance with Fountains of Wayne's . Some classical also came into play; I began listening to a lot of Beethoven as a result of this (not quite that one, couldn't find the exact one) album.

I remain bloody awful at remembering the names of different pieces though. At some point during this year I bought all of albums.

2004: The bubblegum pop trend continued with some , but to go with it this time came some groove oriented indie (Kasbian, The Music).

However, the biggest discovery that year was . Going to one of his gigs that year, I began collecting most of his albums. I also finally bought the only good album, after listening to an old tape copy for most of Sixth Form.

A musical discovery that year was ; some funky stuff.

2005: I listened to a lot this year, as well as . For some reason, the tracks 'Rain City' and 'The Imploding Voice' (by Turin Brakes and the SP respectively) remind me of writing my dissertation.

On a slightly more chilled out vibe, I got into and at around this time as well, along with most of the rest of Nick Cave's .

2006: So far this year I've been listening to (over and over, like a monkey with a minature cymbal), along with some (who says prog is dead?) and Paul Simon's latest .

On the suggestion of Jeffre, I've bought some and I have to say, I'm enjoying it a great deal. Gartside's voice is really interesting..

.it's a voice of a 14 year old, albeit one with immense talent and a good line in a esoteric lyric. I've also recently bought some , and I'm liking that as well.

After seeing DJ Shadow live, I've bought . Can't believe I didn't own it before.

So yes, this list is by no means exhaustive.

. I think I spent the majority of my student loan on music. No mentions of Mew, Idlewild, Tom Waites, Radiohead or The Clash.

All of these songs are tied up with different parts of my life. Tellingly, there's one song (you've guessed it, ) which has got me to buy an album on the back of an ad. If more ads could carry this kind of emotional weight, then they'd be in a very strong position indeed.

I can remember exactly where I was when I was listening to the above albums.

Sad, but the same can't be said for many ads. Anyway.

. a question: