Meme stolen from cadhla.

[camwyn]

1. What was the first record you owned?
As a gift from a parent or loved one: Sesame Street Disco. Me lost me cookie in da boogie music, baybee. As a purchase of my own, REM: Document.

2. Is there a song that reminds you most of your childhood?
Probably The Muppet Show theme song, but if we're talking about radio music rather than TV music, gonna have to go with One Night In Bangkok, the Murray Head version. (Shut up. It came out when I was in third or fourth grade.)

3. If you could spend a night with five musical artists -- three for their minds and two for their bodies -- who would they be?
Gyuuuuh. . . um. . . Sting, Billy Joel, and Yo-yo Ma for the minds part, I've heard each of 'em in interviews and they'd be a lot of fun to talk to. Bodies. . . um. . . shoot. You know, I can't remember ever looking at musical artists for that, that's what actors were for. Um. Can I have Sting back for this part, so long as his wife doesn't kick me in the head or something? I can't think of anyone else. . .

. . . but if you're gonna get really stinky about this one I'm going to have to get out my drawing pad and pencils and get somebody like Ekin Cheng to fill slot #5. Hey, that's still the body if I'm getting some damn good sketches in.

4. If your life was a movie, what song/band would play over the following:

Opening Credits: Joy To The World, Three Dog Night
Love Scene: oooh, shoot, I dunno. Probably something by Enya.
Driving Scene That Consists Mainly of Flashbacks and Love Lost: Pinch Me, Barenaked Ladies

Closing Credits: Solsbury Hill, Peter Gabriel / Kyrie, Mr. Mister (how many closing credits do YOU know of that only take up one song?)

Any other scenes?
High School Flashback Series: We Didn't Start the Fire, Billy Joel
Angst Scene: Show Me The Way, Styx
'Shawshank Redemption'-esque Staring Up Into The Rain Scene: Fortress Around Your Heart, Sting

5. If applicable, name a song or concert that moved you to tears:
When I was little I used to cry like a fountain every time the soft-rock station played 'Wildfire', by Michael Murphy. I didn't care about the singer or his girlfriend. I felt sorry for that poor pony getting lost in the blizzard and just wanted the horse to come back.

Later I found out that a 'killing frost' refers to the weather's effect on plant life. If the horse 'busted down his stall' and ran away during a killing frost, he probably didn't want to stick around anyway, and somehow that implied to me that the horse was long gone before the blizzard ever came around. That kind of thing tends to strip a song of its power.

Oh, and I still don't care about the singer or his girlfriend.

6. What do you listen to when you're happy?
Frith on a bridge, you expect me to narrow this down? Depends on the kind of happy. Sometimes it's 80s music along the lines of Kyrie; sometimes it's Weird Al; sometimes it's classical; you name it. There are days when I just put on Sounds and Songs of the Humpback Whales 'cos I'm in a good mood. Deal with it.

7. What do you listen to when you're sad?
I have a CD that I stuffed with things like 'Through Heaven's Eyes', 'The Rising', 'Show Me The Way', and Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of' (okay, that's not on the CD, but I wish it were). I know I tend to get stuck in sad if I’m not careful, so I have to employ music like that.

8. What do you listen to when you're upset?
Stuff I tend to refer to as '80's nuclear war music'. Stuff like Europe's 'The Final Countdown', Nena's '99 Luftballons', etc. Add in some later stuff like Christmas Eve Sarajevo by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and you have the general idea. If it's all thundery and 'world go boom now' it probably makes the list. I generally have enough sense to mix in a few things like 'Through the Fire' by Larry Greene or 'Through Heaven's Eyes' from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack, otherwise it gets too hard to pull loose.

9. Name one musical artist you'd like to see banished:
You know, it's been so long since there was an artist I really couldn't. . . who am I kidding? Britney Spears, the tribe has spoken.

10. Name an album that's perfect all the way through -- no bad stuff or filler:
The soundtrack to 'Chariots of Fire'.

11. Name a song that you'd rather never hear again:
'I Hope You Dance', by Leanne Womack. Jeebus, that song's the auditory equivalent of mainlining molasses.

12. Music you like that could be considered a guilty pleasure:
I have a fondness for some of Michael Jackson's later songs that has occasionally caused people to laugh at me long and hard. Sue me. I'm still gonna keep hold of 'Black Or White' and 'Will You Be There'.

13. If your music collection was about to go up in flames, which five CDs would you save?

Um. . . the three that have my MP3 collection burned onto them, because I ripped all the good songs from my music collection and burned them to CD for office/car listening. Weird Al Yankovic's In 3-D, and probably Sounds and Songs of the Humpback Whales.

14. Is there a song that describes you or a situation you've been in so well that you could have written it?
U2, 'Peace on Earth'. Also 'Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of' from the same album. In that order.

15. What is your favourite soundtrack?
Until The End of the World. I've never seen the movie. I bought the soundtrack because I lost access to my roommate's only copy of the U2 song Until the End of the World (people who steal stuff from airplanes suck) and it turned out to have so many different singers and styles of song on it that I was just blown away. I'm really not fond of one or two of the songs, but that's okay. The rest are fantastic.

16. What's the best music-related movie?
Er. Um. How about 'The Blues Brothers'? Music AND car chases AND music AND explosions AND music AND car chases AND Nazis who fall out of the sky and go splat (v. important when dealing with Nazis) and music.

17. What is your favourite video of all time?
Van Halen's 'Dreams'. You can't beat the Blue Angels, you just can't.

18. Current favourite radio hit?
I've got a serious thing for 'Die Another Day' by Madonna right now.

19. Do you sing or play any musical instruments?
I used to play the piano. I haven't in years.