I listen to music about 3 or 4 hours a day and a lot of that time not in the background, but listening to it only and doing nothing else. It's been at the centre of my life since I was a teenager (as for many other people). Of course, I also listen while I'm doing other things and out and about. I love train journeys and one reason is I just put my earbuds in, close my eyes and put music on, occasionally opening them to look out the window. The longer the train journey the better. When I got an iPod (pre-smartphone) and could listen to music outside the house it changed my life. Before that I had a Walkman but the external noise was too loud, and I didn't like to use it on trains, buses etc.
I was 6 in 1970 and 16 in 1980. So the 1970s were a formative period for me musically, but also in other ways, politically etc. It was a revolutionary period in pop music. The 1970s started with prog rock (I especially liked early Genesis) and The Beatles, and just a few years later ended with punk. By 1980 I was still a long-haired hippy who liked prog rock but also punk and new wave. Music was very sectarian in those days so it was quite unusual to be in both camps. Those from either camp didn't like that I liked music from the other one.
As a teenager, I bought a music paper on the way to school and pored over it. It was a highlight of the week. I think it came out on Thursdays. Then everyone in the class would borrow the paper before I took it home. I was the class music geek. There wasn't an obscure new band I didn't know about. I listened to the John Peel show every night between 10 and midnight, recording most of it on my cassette recorder (on C60 and C90 cassettes that I had to turn over mid-programme), playing them back on subsequent days. I heard many later successful bands get their first play on the Peel show. I had to get up early to catch a train to school, so was always sleepy through the day after being up to midnight with Peel. My school reports weren't great.
Music kept me going through my teenage years. It gave me something to belong to and believe in, heroes and heroines, and great poetry, politics, and sounds I loved. Pop music and youth subculture was only a couple of decades old. Before that adults and youth listened to the same music. It took Bill Haley, Elvis Presley, and their influences and peers to break this up. Having something that spoke against conservative older generations and the establishment meant a lot to me.
Music at home was also important. My parents liked jazz, folk, classical, and country, all of which I listen to now. I have broad tastes. And I do listen to music from beyond the 1970s. Although that was (for me) where it all started.
I made a list of my top 100 tracks a few months ago. It actually only took me 2 or 3 hours as I already had a playlist of 1000+ favourite tracks. I just needed to narrow it down. I've been back to it many times and the top 80 or so have stayed solid. So I got it pinned down pretty quickly, much faster than I would have imagined. I'll post about the tracks now and then over the next few months. It won't be in any ranked order, just randomly when I get the urge to write about the songs.
I was quite surprised at artists and genres I would have expected to be in my top 100 but didn't make it, although as I go through these blog posts maybe some of the bottom 20 or so will change around. Certain periods dominated, perhaps predictably. I'll probably write a post at the end looking back at the patterns, surprises, inclusions, exclusions, and meanings of it all.