If even the longest of journeys begin with a single step and even the most amazing of discoveries happen per chance, then it would be safe to assume that a journey of discovering something as limitless and profound as music is bound to be besot with errors.

Nevertheless that first step is necessary, despite all our natural propensity to love bad music first. Well, not bad music, really. Forgettable music. However, that phase is a necessary one. Loving Popular music (pop), getting tired of it, and eventually forgetting all about it, is like a coming of age ritual every music enthusiast must go through. It sets the parameters of evaluation right. A dedicated listener is bound to travel beyond that eventually. 

And one day, discover the sort of music that makes him high. 

It took me twenty three years and a per chance hearing of the track, "Coming back to life" to discover Pink Floyd.

Perhaps I envisioned a great disparity between what I was and what I could become. Or perhaps, I was plain lucky to discover the kind of music that will save my soul.

Or perhaps, it was just an attempt to ape the west.

Whatever the reasons, the entry into secondary school, and its subsequents years of wannabeness, made me go through the usual boy and girl bands. Backstreet boys, West Life and all the usual crap.

And along came Eminem.

Blatant hate, explicit lyrics. This is who I am and fuck you if you don't understand me. The kind of stuff that every teenager would love, and I had found my first god.

Eminem was the crudest version of what rock n roll stood for. Yes yes, I know he is a rap artist and all that. But some of his lyrics had a rawness that other rappers failed to bring out. I have always considered hip hop artists to be a bunch of mumbling idiots, calling women bitches, and each other derogatory words. Eminem, instead, gave a hint about what music could be about.

But he got repetitive. He never went beyond the little spurge of brilliance that he initially showed. And the music wasn't great. Which is when I made my first foray into rock music.

It began with Bryan Adams. For a kid in his first year of college, it held a universe of possibility. It was a first glimpse of what music could mean. A new perspective.

Over the years, I have gone through phases when I have found him to be cheesy. Come on, what proud heterosexual would sing "Let's make a night to remember"? You could be using it as your make out song with a girl friend, but it would still be gay. But before I write him off completely, lemme concede that there are days, when I find myself returning to Bryan Adams. Some of his songs are catchy. "Run to You" is my favorite Bryan Adam track. It has the sort of riff that makes me give up whatever I am doing and croon with him midway...

Works every time.

Also, despite being one of the more popular songs, and despite my aversian for really popular pop songs, Summer of '69 is indeed a work of genius. A riff that will stick with you for a lifetime, specially in the accoustic version, and lyrics that reminisce about a past and sing to a lost lady love who,

Around the same time as Bryan Adams, I also happened to hear Bon Jovi. Now, here was an artist, that went beyond the sloppy display of love.  Bon Jovi, thus became my first legitimate hard rock band. Everybody is familiar with the all so popular "It's my life". But my favorite song by this artist happened to be "Livin' on a prayer", a song about sadness and giving it a shot for love even as, 

The first two years of college were the years I discovered many bands like Police, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Meatloaf. It is not possible to describe my journey with each of these bands without making this post extremely long. Suffice to say, that I came across some really good songs. Message in a Bottle by The Police is one such song, in which Sting sings very soulfully,

However, during those years in college there was one band which I found amazing.  

My first palaver with Guns N' Roses happened when I ended up watching this video of Paradise City. They manage to exude so much coolness and style, that I found myself entranced with a lifestyle which I could not yet name. I was still freshly introduced to the nuances of this genre of music, to realize that Guns N' Roses was one of the last straws - The final bands of Classic Rock. I went to the local music store and bought their Best Of GNR cassete. I fell in love with their tracks. Slash was coolness personified, and Axle was a master performed (I hadn't heard of Freddy Mercury yet). Guns 'n Roses, along with Slash and Axle Rose became my new gods 

Must Hear: Estranged, November Rain, Don't Cry, Civil War, Patience, Used to Love her, Sweet Child of Mine, 

It was also the time that I flitted across Megadeth, Iron Maiden and Metallica. There were some offhanded good songs, but I found myself struggling with the music, trying to grasp it. Ages later, I am able to appreciate the sheer energy of Hallowed be Thy Name by Maiden or A tout le monde by Megadeth.  But apart from their "Best of" CDs, it is still music I find difficult to comprehend. Heavy metal is not my cup of tea. 

What I seemed to be waiting for was the kind of music that would change my life. As I soon found out, my kind of music happened to be classic rock.

But this revelation would come to me after two great discoveries. One, a tribute band called Led Zeppelica. And another, a movie called The Doors, by Oliver Stone.

Led Zeppelica, a Led Zeppelin tribute band played at IIT saarang Chennai. We had smoked up before the concert, and their music changed my perspective of music was all about. Back home, I downloaded all of Zeppelins music. Saw all their videos. It began with "Stairway to heaven", like it usually does, but the fixation stayed while I discovered the high pitched stanza 2:15 minutes into "Going to California", when Robert Plant croons, 

The fixation stays even today, as I head to BB Kings at Times Square, New York, every time a Zeppelin tribute band plays.

There is something about Led Zeppelin, that makes their music so indelible. The folksy haunting guitar work and the screeching voice of Robert Plant forms a combination that along with the stoner trip lyrics make it an out of world experience to listen to their stuff. What other band could have written a line that says, 

Must Hear: No Quarter, All of My Love, When the Levee breaks, Rock 'n Roll, The Battle of Evermore, Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Ramble On, Good Times Bad Times, Fool in the Rain, Dyer Maker. 
The second milestone event was discovering The Doors. It introduced me to the baritone voice of Jim Morrison and the often cynical, often simple words that made his songs fabulous.

It was a time of realization that some of the best music came from the 60s and 70s. The retrospective era. The era of The Doors.

Be it the cheerful melody of "Love me two times" and "Love her madly", or the more aesthetic "The End", it was the kind of music that would make one fall in love with it.My personal favorite - "L.A. Woman".