Thought I would share one of my formative moments and reveal an unlikely influence on my music
Music has always been in my life. Thanks to being born in the late 20th Century, I've been able to access a much wider range of music than those born in earlier centuries, and it's mostly free too via radio and libraries.
We take recorded music for granted, from the range of performances to their origins in far-flung corners of the world.
There's a comparison I see while watching my kids watch a huge variety of videos on Youtube. It prompts me to think how I was limited to a handful of TV stations while growing up.
One of the first musical trends I experienced was the tail-end of the disco phenomenon and I think it has shaped my interest in BPMs that lend themselves to foot-tapping.
My earliest exposure to disco came at the release of The Empire Strikes Back.
That film was incredibly popular, so much so that I was initially unable to see it.
As a result my aunt decided that, when we couldn't get tickets, we'd go see The Village People movie.
Can't Stop The Music told the story of the formation of the band, who are now seen as gay icons.
Their sexuality isn't much of a feature I recall from the film but many of the songs remain memorable, from Steve Guttenberg rollerskating while miming singing the opening song that implores listening to the sound of the city, through to the Hollywood musical treatment of Milkshake.
I can recall there was a lot of singing and dancing that followed watching The Village People movie and I think it shaped my interest in upbeat music. This would include getting into rap and hiphop then metal and then the crossover between those different genres in the late '80s, before electronic dance music took off with rave influences in the '90s.
