My name is Travix and I'm a music addict. I love music all styles all kinds. I just love it. I play music in my classroom, I go to sleep to music, I shower to music. I love music. I'm not particularly musical. I play the guitar a little bit but not enough to call myself proficient. Although I am a decent guitar hero player. My love is more a listening type of thing.
It probably started when I was a kid my mom encouraged us to listen to music. It was mostly Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) with the occasional oldies station mixed in. My earliest music memory is of the Oak Ridge Boys. I used to lay on my mom's bed and listen to dubbed copies of their music that were made by putting our record next to a simple tape recorder. I also used to listen to Sandi Patti. At the time I probably liked it, but now it is a Scarlet Letter I'm forced to wear.
My journey to new and better music started around 3rd grade (1986ish). Two Seminal events occured that jump-started a lifetime love of music. The first was that some friends of our family who lived in Florida began sending us recordings of the radio station Way fm. I think it was in or near Ft. Myers. Way fm played what was considered Christian Rock and the song that really got me was by Carmen. It was called Get Outta My Life. Looking back it was incredibly tame but by my standards it was like a bomb had gone off and changed my world. The second thing was that my mom realized I enjoyed music I heard on Way FM and wanted to encourage it. Since there were no stations like that near Cedar Springs, MI were I grew up she took other steps.
My mom was very strict on some things and very cool on others. She didn't care what the music sounded like as long as the message was a good one. To that end she made a rule that we could only listen to Christian music. Around 4th or 5th grade, with those to things in mind she went to the library and borrowed the cassette that truly changed my life. My mom brought home Stryper's In God We Trust cassette. From the very first song I was hooked. A music lover and more importantly a metal head were born. If Carmen felt like a bomb blast this felt like the world had turned inside out. I loved the crunch of the guitars, Michael Sweet's voice and the style of the band. I learned to draw their logo and doodled it everywhere. I had Pictures of the band in my folders and spent anytime I could listening to, thinking about, or talking about Stryper. I was a nut. I couldn't get enough of metal. The hunger for more is what started me doing everything I could to find more bands like Stryper. It broadened my horizens and started the soundtrack of my childhood and for that I'm eternally thankful.
Many people make fun of Stryper but given the time and place of there music they were tremendous. They still hold up today. I'm listening to their one of their greatest hits cd's right now and it still makes me feel great.
Man, funny how Mom doesn't really even like that music but she totally let you run with it. Very cool! Also funny that I remember thinking Stryper was cool, too, but didn't quite make the leap you did, even though I followed in every footstep of yours I possibly could. Still do. :)
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