Do You Have a Ninth Favorite Band?

“Devo is Johnny’s ninth favorite band”

--Sarah Jessica Parker from the Muffy's Bat Mitzvah episode of Square Pegs (1982)

Hulu - Square Pegs: Muffy's Bat Mitzvah - Watch the full episode now.

High school was a time when music was crucially important. It gave meaning to our lives and gave us something to talk about. I remember a friend breathlessly telling me that the Electric Light Orchestra was going to change its name to the Electric Laser Orchestra (it didn’t happen). I met my first girlfriend because she was wearing a shirt from one of my three favorite bands. High school was a time when it was possible to have a ninth favorite band and be overwhelmed about seeing them play.

During the decade from 1976-1986 (ages 15-25), I saw a lot of live music. I’m not sure if this is complete, but the bands that I remember (in alphabetical order) are: Adam Ant, the Altar Boys, the B-52s, Barren Cross, the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Bloodgood, Blue Oyster Cult, the Call, the Cars, Crumbacher, Fleetwood Mac, Flock of Seagulls, the Go-Gos, Amy Grant, Herman’s Hermits, Jethro Tull, Kansas, Men at Work, the Moody Blues, One Bad PIG, the Paul Q-Pek Band, Paul Revere and the Raiders, REO Speedwagon, Standing Waves, Stryper, Styx, the Turtles, Undercover, the Uranium Savages, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Wang Chung, Sheila Walsh and Rusty Wier.

You can see that it’s a strange mix. My tastes originally were limited to bands that I thought were sufficiently deep. The troika of my high school years was Kansas, Styx and the Electric Light Orchestra (two of which I actually saw). However, I came to embrace metal, new wave, Christian music and 60s revival acts.

Somewhere along the way, life caught up with me and I stopped going to a lot of shows. During the decade from 2000-2009, I can remember seeing Cheap Trick (it was a free show at South by Southwest), Hillary Duff (this was Kristen and Stephanie’s first concert), Evanescence, Lost & Found (the most influential Lutheran pop band of the last 50 years, although they may be in a category of one) and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (although I have seen them six times). There is a big difference between five acts in ten years and 34 during a much earlier decade.

There are still a lot of bands on my ipod who I would love to see someday. However, it just seems harder to get away to a show. Weird Al was in Austin this past week for a festival. I’m not sure what I was doing but I didn’t make it. I tried to think of a top 10 list of bands who are still alive and still touring who I would like to see but I was only able to come up with nine: MxPx, Flyleaf, Linkin Park, Weird Al Yankovic, Bowling for Soup, Jimmy Eat World, the Black Eyed Peas and Nightwish. My goal is to see at least one of them during the next year.