The Tough Crowd this semester will be an exclusive inside look into the musical beginnings of your fellow American University peers. As music lovers, we all experience the same “firsts” during our foray into becoming music aficionados. So, this semesters column will explore the common music firsts, why we experience them, their similarities and differences, all while we learn more about our friends and AU family and gaining a deeper understanding of what forms our musical tastes.

Since this is my introduction, I‰’ll start with a personal first. Warning: Here‰’s where it gets embarrassing.

Courtesy of MTV

Up until the age of 12 I had only ever listened to the great pop groups of the 90s and my mom‰’s extensive collection of Billy Joel albums. My father loves talk radio and my parents didn’t listen to music much in the car, so until I was allowed access to the family computer at age 13, my only exposure to new music was through my television. This caused my undying obsession with television soundtracks, mainly my That’s So Raven soundtrack I had on CD from Target, Hilary Duff in her prime Lizzie McGuire days, and the classic Touched by an Angel soundtrack.

One day in 2006 that all changed. Thanks to MTV and the strange boom of emo music in popular culture at the time, the non stop playing of AFI‰’s “Miss Murder” video changed the direction of my life forever. For some unknown reason I seemed to think the fabulous haircuts and dark imagery of the band was way cooler than the Fall Out Boy record everyone was jocking at the time (as you can probably tell, this was the beginning of my life as a music snob, no matter how misguided my judgement was). This was the first time I was exposed to any sort of dark, heavy music and how to use the internet for finding it. This newfound interest fit right in with my early love of horror movies and of all things Halloween. Listening to AFI allowed me to feel like it was October all year long while slowly adjusting my ears to all different types of punk and alternative, since AFI‰’s discography holds a wide range of styles.

To this day AFI is still a favorite band of mine, and whom I credit to opening my eyes up to the type of music I listen to today.

Have a suggestion for someone you‰’d like to appear on this column? Would you yourself like to volunteer to be prodded by me and my searing questions about your personal life? Send me an email at [email protected]