Big milestone for me. I've been surrounded by music since birth but it took until my late teenage years to start curating this library.
Before my teens, I listened to what was on and never really thought about or controlled what I was hearing.
By high school, I was listening to "the only the best of classic rock." Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones. Basically what you'd hear on any classic rock station, but I was choosing it.
In university, I expanded my tastes to the big bands of the 1990's and some of the 2000's. Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam. I don't get too wild, but there's growth.
By the time I graduate with my Education degree, I've read Our Band Could Be Your Life. All bets are off. I've been given permission to listen to things that aren't "popular." I learn to listen to the bands that inspire the bigger bands I like. The Replacements, Minor Threat.
By my mid-twenties, my tastes have grown past big electric guitar riffs. Punk, jazz, swing, folk, singer-songwriters. Seatbelts, Soil & Pimp Sessions, Fugazi, Django Reinhardt, Plumtree. Good music isn't limited to a single genre.
In the first half of my thirties, I bring my attention back home. There's so much great music in the world, and so much of it comes from Canada.
In the second half of my thirties, it's time to round things out and fill in the gaps. Complete discographies, buy one-offs or box sets of singles, find the ghost albums I've been chasing.
There's never been a hard and fast rule, aside from "Listen and grow." Starting somewhere and adding has always been the game. Where I'll go after 20,000 songs isn't decided yet, and honestly, I'll probably never decide.
I'll just keep going and adding whatever clicks.
