The Sane Psycho

Hello there, music lovers! I decided to start my own journal, because these things are pretty cool. So, what will my journal be about? Mostly, it will be about my experiences with music. Particular musical memories that stand out for me. The experiences that made me a fan of a particular fan or genre of music. My first albums. And sometimes, just my musings on music in general. Once in a while, I may write an entry not related to music, but this will mostly be about music.

My first entry will be... '90s/Early '00s Boy Bands! Yeah, I know, you're mocking me in your head right now.

The Sane Psycho

Late '90s/Early '00s Boy Bands

First of all, I want to thank whoever approved my Journal. To be honest, I was worried it wasn't going to be because I have far less than 100 posts. So, thank you, whoever decided to look past that and let me have my Journal. I really appreciate it.

I know you're probably laughing at me right now. However, I implore you to read anyways.

I was a young child in the late '90s and early '00s. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but I feel that that was a great time to be a kid. Nintendo 64 and PS1, awesome shows on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Kids WB, and the beginning of the Pokemon craze in America, among other things. It was truly an awesome time, and I'd love to go back to it, if just for one week. However, one thing from that time that was mocked endlessly back then and now were boy bands.

Who can forget them? Groups like N'Sync, The Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, 5ive, etc. were huge back then. They had millions of teenage fangirls, megahit after megahit, and tons of money. They were everywhere. They were on TV and movies. There was a ton of merchandise for them as well. Think of them as the Justin Biebers and One Directions of the late '90s and early '00s. And just like One Direction and Justin Bieber, they were hated immensely by the male population. The older guys criticized them for being manufactured to make money, and they had a point. Us younger boys, on the other hand, just thought they made "sissy" music, and took great pleasure in making fun of their songs.

But I don't think anyone will disagree with me when I say we all sort of enjoyed them secretly, though we would rather die then tell anybody. Are those boy bands really that much better than the pop artists of today like so many girls in my age group claim? No, not really. But, I'll tell you what, I'd be lying if I said I don't get a sort of guilty pleasure when listening to them. It brings me back to my childhood, to a simpler time. They may not have made the best music, but it certainly makes me nostalgic. So yes, I do like the boy bands from my childhood. I do enjoy their music. Just please don't tell anyone.

Next up in my Journal: My First Two Albums

Scarlett O'Hara

I love 5ive. Stupid J forcing the band to stop making music. I only got two albums out of them!

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The Sane Psycho

I can't name any songs from 5ive, but since I listened to popular music in the late '90s and early '00s, and since 5ive was a popular boy band, I guarantee I've listened to at least one of their songs.

The Sane Psycho

My First Two Albums



Yes, my first two albums were Satellite by P.O.D. and Nellyville by Nelly. I got them when I was in 3rd grade, on the same day. It's actually very surprising to see how much my taste in music has changed. So how did I get these albums? Read on to find out.

When I was younger, I would often go to my friends (Troy and Sean were their names) apartment. Me going over there was actually what transformed me from being a music listener to being a music fan.

One day when I was over there, I heard a song on the radio, on a station that has long since been turned into a country station, and I loved it. Sean told me the song was called Satellite and that it was by a band called P.O.D. Like I said, I loved this song, so I naturally wanted to buy the CD. I really liked it back then. I actually listened to the song on YouTube recently for old times sake/ I have also heard Youth Of The Nation a million times. To be honest, P.O.D. hasn't aged all that well for me. They're decent, but there are many Nu Metal bands that are a lot better. Still, this is an important album for me, as P.O.D. were the first Rock band I was really into.

Nellyville, on the other hand, was sort of a consolation prize for me. The album I really wanted was The Eminem Show, as I was a massive Eminem fan back in the day (and I still love their music today), but I'll talk about that in another entry. The point is, I wasn't allowed to get it due to the explicit lyrics, so I got this album instead. I guess my mom and my aunt didn't know that this album also contained explicit lyrics. I mainly got the CD because I liked the songs Hot In Herre, Dilemma, and #1. Of course, I also loved Ride Wit Me, but I didn't know it was a Nelly song back then. Stupid me, I guess.

I actually ended up loving the album. I preferred it over Satellite. Seriously, I used to listen to this **** all the time. I don't like it nearly as much as I used to, but I'd still say I'm a fan of this album. It was released at a time when Hip Pop and R&B music was exploding in popularity. Hip Pop is a genre with a lot of terrible music, but fortunately, this is an exception. It's a good album, even if it's not a great album.

And that is the story of my first to albums. I don't love them as much as they used to, but they still have a special place in my heart. They may not be the greatest albums ever, but they're still important to me in that they really shaped my early days of being a music fan. And isn't that what matters in the end?

Next Entry: How Tony Hawk Turned Me On To Classic Rock

The Sane Psycho

How Tony Hawk Turned Me On To Classic Rock

The GameCube is an awesome system. I don't care what anyone says about it. I remember when I got one when I was 10. It was Christmas of 2003. And I loved it. One game I played a ton on the GCN was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, which I got about a year later, if my memory serves me right. while I was already a THPS fan, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 quickly became my favorite in the series. While the gameplay and levels were amazing, I never really thought about the impact it had on my musical taste until I made this journal. So I'm gonna talk about it here.

The Tony Hawk games have always had awesome soundtracks, and THPS4 is no exception. One song that I really liked was TNT by AC/DC. I would put that song on all the time, and I would always sing it. It made me curious about other AC/DC songs, and I soon became an AC/DC fan. Seriously, AC/DC was my favorite band for years.

It eventually led me to listen to more Classic Rock. I would listen to Classic Rock Radio all the time. Over the years, I would explore more Classic Rock, from Led Zeppelin to Pink Floyd to Jimi Hendrix. I simply loved Classic Rock.

While it's no longer my favorite genre, I still love Classic Rock. And I have Tony Hawk to thank. So the next time you hear someone say that video games can't have an impact on your life, promptly direct them to my journal.

Next Entry: 11th Grade And Why It Was Awesome For Me Musically

Black Francis

Diggin your journal man, but is P.O.D really that old? i remember them like it was yesterday.

And yea, the tony hawk games always had good songs, American wasteland even has Frank black playing Los Angeles

my fav one though was Tony hawk 2, i played that game WAY too much.

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"Hey Kids you got to meet the MIGHTY PIXIES!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbRbCtIgW3A

The Sane Psycho

Thank you for the kind words!

I know the album isn't all that old if you really look at it. However, it does seem like a long time to me. To put it into perspective, I was in 3rd grade when I got the CD. I'm 20 years old now. 11 years is a long time for someone my age. I mean, that was more than half my life ago. However, to someone in their '30s or older, it's probably not all that long.

I do love the older THPS games, but 4 has to be my favorite. I loved that they got rid of the time limit, and that they made it more mission based.

The Sane Psycho

11th Grade And Why It Was Awesome For Me Musically

Wow, I haven't updated in a long time.

11th grade was a mixed year for me. There were some crappy things that happened that year that I won't go into detail about. But there were also some awesome things. One of those awesome things was the music I listened.

You see, previous to 11th grade, I was almost exclusively Classic Rock, a little bit of Metal, and Video Game Music, and then the rest was a definite minority. My junior year, that changed.

First of all, my Metal tastes expanded. I listened to some Metal previously, but this year, I had an obsession with Thrash and listened to a crap ton of Thrash Metal. I also listened to more Metal in other genres. This was also a year in which I listened to A TON of Punk and Hardcore. And most importantly, I truly discovered Alternative. I listened to some before, but this is the year I truly started listening to it. In addition to my Thrash obsession, I also had a Grunge obsession, and started to listen to as many different Grunge bands as I could.

My junior year was a great year for me in regards to music. My musical taste still wasn't fully developed yet, though it probably isn't now either, but it had definitely grown by a huge amount. I'm glad I started listening to more music in 11th grade, as my musical taste would have been very limited.

Next Entry- Old Music Elitism