A musical journey through higher education

This will be my last column as a student at this fine institution. At first I was thinking about writing about topical issues, but in the end I settled on something a little more universal. (Believe me, I would love nothing more than to talk about how “Hop” is a signal of the apocalypse.)

These columns usually focus on films or music, as those are two things I care a great deal about, so I’ll do the “things I learned in college” column, but restrict it to one of those domains: music.

College was a time for discovering important music that I wouldn’t necessarily hear on the radio. Freshman year was a glorious time. I would sit in the first floor lounge of Forest Quad and while I should have been doing homework, I would usually just listen to great albums I had somehow missed. My first experience with The Velvet Underground happened in that lounge. I discovered Sonic Youth’s “Daydream Nation” there, an album that’s now my favorite ever.

Sophomore year presented new musical possibilities. I was living in a house not too far from Kirkwood, which meant plenty of exploring, culminating in my first visit to an independent record store. It was then that I realized there were new, young bands that were actually making important music. I didn’t have to surround myself with the music of aging baby boomers anymore (not that their music isn’t great). It was refreshing to realize great albums were still being made after 1988.

Junior year was a bit of a detour, when a crisis of musical faith led me to give up rock for the most avant-garde classical and jazz music. I was more interested in hearing the earth ripped apart by Krzysztof Penderecki or hearing the chaos of the universe from John Cage. Eventually I mellowed out, but I never abandoned this music, just better integrated it. Stockhausen makes a great companion to Sonic Youth and Radiohead.

This year was when I finally made use of live music. At a great Toro y Moi show with some great people a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but think that a few years ago, I might have chosen to just stay home.

My advice to people who still have a few years left: Dive in. These four-ish years are a time for discoveries. Make them while you still can.