Most of the time I spend outside of school is spent with a little mp3 player and nearly ancient looking Bose alarm clock which with a simple aux cable. These seemly ancient devices have possibly given more emotional comfort and have allowed me to explore the wonders strings, percussion, wind and every other instrument can produce.

My first album was none other than Green Day’s 2004 Release of American Idiot, which concealed the smash hits of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Holiday” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” These songs were my first favorite songs. My mother would play the CD in the old Honda Civic during our commute to my private school in downtown Austin and when she went off to college. The album was to me at that young age, a simple marvel. The distorted guitar sound mixed with the percussion of an energetic and precise mad man, was a simple pleasure to the ear of a child who grew up in several different houses.

I owe Green Day a lot. I was fan back then, and sometimes I play the record to bring me back to that confusing time of trying to find myself and the constant shifting of lifestyles that was brought upon me and my single mother. I love American Idiot. After 10 years, the message is still ever so clear. With the introduction of Green Day at a young age, it allowed me to warm up to the funk rock sound of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I had known of the Chili Peppers as early as fourth grade; however I couldn’t summon the courage to ask my father what group’s singer sung out the words of “I’ve got a bad disease; But from my brain is where I bleed,” I was many years until the song was played on the radio and at that precise moment, I had my mother’s first generation aluminum backed iPhone. With haste powered by curiosity, my thumbs punched in the letters to the words at the beginning of the song. With a little waiting, the Google search query had returned with an answer. The song was non-other than “Soul to Squeeze” and with the knowledge of the song being done by the Peppers, I had googled something else. The search literally changed my life.

Back to my room, I plug in my MP3 player to the Bose radio via aux cable and the album By the Way is playing. Ringing out the angelic and sometimes psychedelic guitar playing of the band’s now former guitarist John Frusciante, the album is a masterpiece. The harmonies send chills that only good music can give. The bass guitar is ever so present and Anthony Kiedis lays down vocals that flow with the music ever so easily. So I’ll listen to them. Maybe after this, I’ll play some Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters or Arcade Fire.  Maybe I’ll play some Animal Collective, Spoon or Robert Earl Keen. Or perhaps I’ll try shuffle.