Family Blog Interview: Feat. My Dad!

 The format of this blog is just going to be the word for word dialog perhaps with some commentary interspersed throughout. Which will be denoted by italics and parentheses. If it happens mid sentence there was no pause I just feel the need to clarify. 

Me: So I am Matthew Hudson this is my father John Hudson

Dad: Good Evening 

 M: Talkin’ about a generation above me's music and what he listened to what he experienced etc first question being what has been your earliest experience with music that you can remember?

D: The earliest memory was traveling with my parents to the beach or traveling with my parents in general, and they are of the generation that really enjoyed The Temptations, The Platters, The Drifters, Mo-Town, or beach music. Which to this day I think its the best music ever recorded. It was classy it had a horn line it had meeting there was nothing but respect in the lyrics that stuck with me a long time. It also gave me a better appreciation of rock or hard rock and anything else. 

M: And what genre did you call it?

D: Mo-town or Beach Music (I have never quite heard the term beach music said like this when I hear beach music I think of like The Beach Boys’ Kokomo) They are used interchangeably, a lot of the time. Mo-town was the record label where the artists were signed.

M: And when you were younger and you can define younger however you like?

D: Def Leppard. D-E-F L-E-P-P-A-R-D. Both misspelled in Queen’s English which is funny ‘cause they’re british. Like most teenagers (I’d imagine he meant teenagers at the time then) and quite frankly if you’re a white guy, you’re gonna gravitate towards rock that’s just how it was.

M: And real quick how old are you, when was that? 

D: I am 53 (Damn.) I would say between 12 and 15 when hard rock really got a hold of me and what it comes down to is what your peer groups listen too. Also if the cool kids listen to X then you will listen to X. It’s just the way that was, and I was no different in that regard.

M: Has your music taste changed since then and if so how. 

D: Absolutely, Sense I took up guitar at 16, like if you're a musician and you study it. Not just listen to it, but study it. It can give you a better understanding and appreciation for different genres. I will bounce around from Mo-Town, Hard Rock, Death Metal, I’ve actually grown an appreciation of country lately. Which I didn’t think would ever happen but as a musician I can just appreciate the style, the instruments, things of that nature. Sometimes I’ll catch myself listening to soft rock which I used to make fun of inordinately 

M: What music did you think was overrated or is overrated?

D: Was music or what band?

M: Either or.

D: Holy cow, that's a good question… oh backing up a question another genre I’ve gained appreciation for is actually rap. Again I can appreciate a voice, a human voice as an instrument, it takes a lot of breath control, there is a lot of rhythm involved. I’m going to site Tech N9ne which sounds ridiculous but the man’s got some moves. I’ve gotten appreciation for that.

D: But in terms of what was overrated or what bands were overrated. I think Glam Rock. Even though they were catchy and they sold a lot of albums. A lot of times if you really… Okay I’m gonna… I think KISS is overrated.

M: Oooh. Hot Takes…

D: Not every song is bad, not every song is good. But Gene and Paul make good tunes. And sometimes you’ll catch me listening to them very loudly, but if you really study the structure… It’s not… that… great. But they have something I don’t have… a music career and millions of dollars. I think they were overrated and overplayed which can hurt a band more compared to underexposure, and you couldn’t get away from them in the 80’s.

M: And kinda connected to that. You said you played guitar, did you ever take lessons for that?

D: I did when I was 15 or 16. I did not like it was boring. I just didn’t react well to it. Like most teengers you wanna learn how to shred and play guitar like your favorite rock guys and when you want to music theory and go straight to the cool stuff and I find myself at this age now; when listening to music trying to pick up the time sig. if it’s major or minor and what key it's in. I just don’t think I was mature enough, and I’m not going to blame her and I can’t remember my instructor's name but I don’t blame her in the slightest. That was my fault for not giving it what I should have and to this day I can barely read sheet music. Which is absurd. I use what is called tablature and it’s effectively cheating, and I would be a liar if I would say I don’t spend hours on Youtube trying to learn some songs. 

M: Throughout different points in your life what kind of different technology was used to listen to music.

D: Well back when I was a kid we had 8-track tapes and vinyl LPs. Which are making a comeback which I think is fantastic. That hiss and pop in the music in between is hard to beat I think. Then after that you had cassettes then CD's were all the rage. Where you could skip tracks without forward winding. Then after that we got MP3 players and Ipods. Then after that it was no holds barred where technology would take us. Then there was Napster, Limewire, sharing services and things of that. Then thats the funny thing about Napster, you had recording artists raising 10 tons of H about it but the fact of the matter is that if the recording industry had embraced that technology and harnessed it as opposed to trying to repel it like Dracula. They would have been able to profit on it legitimately. 

M: When you were younger did you goto any music concerts?

D: My first concert that I’d ever seen, Twisted Sister and Iron Maiden, which was the most intense experience I had up until then. The loudest band… Ratt R-A-T-T. Los Angeles Band the hair metal scene.

(From here it was borderline impossible to decipher what the phone picked up due to audio pollution from the room next door, but on the brightside that was the most of the questions.)