Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Yes I’m a Junkie

When someone describes another person as a junkie nine times out of ten it is perceived to be a bad thing. If you look up the definition of junkie in a dictionary sure enough the very first one you see has to do with being addicted to narcotics, but if you look further you will see a second definition; a person who is addicted to a specified interest, activity, food, etc, etc, etc., and I most definitely fall into the second category. If the truth was known I actually have more than one addiction; take a look into my office, and you would see it filled with movies, books, and video games, but without a doubt the one thing that would make your eyes pop out of your head would be my collection of compact discs. Yes I am a junkie; a proud self professed music junkie.

I had always loved music when I was growing up. Now talk about diversity: the Archies, Jim Croce, Kiss, the Charlie Daniels Band, and the soundtrack of Grease were my favorites back then, but my addiction started one night when I was twelve years old. I was tuning my A.M. radio and came across WLS; now being a young boy living in Arkansas being able to listen to a radio station in Chicago was the coolest thing in the world to me, and did I ever listen. Every night I would listen for as long as I could stay awake, and at the time WLS played music that none of my local stations were playing which I thought was even cooler because I was hearing music no one that lived in my town was hearing. All of this led to me trying to find these different bands albums at my local stores, but not only did I have to have the music I had to know as much about the band as I could learn; which led me to read as many articles as I could from various magazines. The magazines in turn introduced me to other bands; which of course I had to hear as well, and my addiction grew from there.

From 45’s to albums, cassettes, compact discs, and now to mp3’s, I-pods, and external hard drives I can proudly say I have never outgrown my music addiction, and I never will. Music consumes virtually every aspect of my life now; if I’m not listening to it for work or personal enjoyment, which is very unlikely, then I am talking about it to friends, family members, or work associates. My appetite for finding new bands and hearing new music is just a voracious today as it was all those years ago, and of course I am loyal to bands I loved from the past that continue to put out music today so I have to have their latest album as well when it is released. I will admit that educating myself about different bands has dropped off considerably since my younger days, but in all honesty that has more do to with the bands today being pretty much faceless when they are compared to some of my favorites from the past.

More than once I have been told I’m crazy for all the money I spend on music or the amount of space, both physical and virtual that I use to store my music, but to me it is definitely worth it. I couldn’t even begin to count the times music has brought a smile to my face, made me feel better, or has gotten me through rough situations. Music is with me regardless of what I am doing or where I am at, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. If you ever need to show someone an example of a music junkie; just come find me I’ll be more than happy to show them what a music junkie is.