Listening to music is one of the first memories I can recall. Since the very beginning of my life history as a listener I have liked rock music. Of course, I can remember myself (when I was really young...) listening all the inevitable "euro-trash" songs of the late 70's (such as Boney M, Joe Dassin, Rafaella Karra, etc) but about the time I was able to buy music on my own, I have been fatally attracted to the rock genre. Of course we're talking about tapes and vinyl, because cd's were more of science fiction at the time.

I use the term "rock" as an umbrella term. I think it would be useless to go further into sub-categories, (one could ask what the real meaning and boundaries are of such terms as "alternative", "gothic glam" or "hard rock"?). The way I see it, a person who is familiar with this kind of music, invents his/her own categories and that is because listening to music is no doubt a profoundly personal activity: everyone has a personal soundtrack of his/her life. Needless to say, that anyone associates specific tunes, tracks and sounds with very particular emotions, experiences and memories.

This taken into account, I believe mostly in the subjective perception of music and not in its simplistic, "commercial" aspect. To give an example: for me Brittney Spears is not "mainstream music" - its just crap. I respect the fact that someone else around the globe considers Brittney Spears to be an "artist", but the way I understand this is that we have to do with different perceptions of the words "art" and "artist" altogether.
Being more specific, I would say that 80's were my favorite musical decade. I was fascinated by the power of punk music (Sex Pistols, Clash, etc) but the most influential music for my personal identity was the so-called "dark new wave" (God...I do hate etiquettes...). Groups and artists like The Cure, Bauhaus, Meccano, Siouxie and the Banshees, Echo and the Bunnymen, Sisters of Mercy, The Smiths, Birthday Party, Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, Tuxedo Moon and many-many more I can't recall this moment, left a unique stigma on my personality.

Anyway, I don't like to hear myself grumbling like an old man about "good old times in music", - deep down I know that this isn't because of music was "better", but because I was different. Music continues to be fine, but I don't think that I will be able to listen to music with my "17years-old ears". That would certainly be an abnormality, anyway. However, one thing can be ascertained: the very production and distribution of music has changed dramatically. The music industry changed, the music information sources have changed and due to these changes, the way audience "listens" to music has changed. I'm convinced that in 80's things concerning music industry were definitely better, because it was less commercial. Information sources were limited, meaning that you had to seek for information by yourself and on your own means. The lack of information bombardments from everywhere (MTV, MCM or other 24-hours music channels, millions and millions of radio music stations, magazines and newspapers), meant that you were more determined to find the music that appealed to you and consequently, you were more "devoted" to music and much more than a passive "music-consumer". Of course, I admit that this aspect is heavily influenced by my personal experiences, since there are still some new musical genres, which are more underground and not easy to find (such as electronic trance music which is not so widely distributed in the market and is mainly produced on the "spot" of the so-called dance parties).

One important thing I have to mention about my relationship with music is that for long time I was a musician myself. This period was from 1983 to 1991 - almost a decade. The first name of our band was "Metallaktikoi Epikindynoi" (the English translation of the name would be something like " The Dangerous Mutants"). We kept this name for two years till 1985. During this period the band was made up of 6 persons and our music could be described roughly as "industrial experimental" with Greek lyrics. The headquarters of the band was the city of Ioannina. For the years to come, we were based in Thessaloniki (the second biggest city in the north of Greece), the group members were reduced to 4 (with additional session musicians for short periods) and our name changed to the shorter "Metallaktikoi". The music we played at this time was "rock" (pure rock: guitars, bass, drums and vocals). We gave a great number of concerts all over Greece, we released 1 LP and we recorded a second one, but the group gave up few months before this second LP hit the music stores. During these years I could definitely say that I had some of the best times in my life, because we've been part of a blossoming music community of Greek rock bands in 80's. Sometimes now, when I look back, I think that this was a different life altogether - it seems so far away and so close at the same time.

In this section you can find presentations of groups or records that I like, but not mp3's yet (I'm planning to add some in the near future). Although I often download mp3's, I'm not so sure that this is good for the artists (I don't care if it's good or bad for music companies - they've always been exploiting the global audience for their short-minded profit considerations, anyway...). The reason I have these doubts about mp3's, is that I believe musicians should be able to survive on the music they produce, so that they are able to continue to produce it. I think that there's an obvious need for finding a new way of music distribution through the Internet, without the useless services of all these go-betweens, whose sole contribution is to keep increasing the prices of all music products.
I would love to have your feedback on this issue, so if you feel like it sent me your comment.

Listeninig to The Cure...

Listening to Nick Cave...

Listening to The Smashing Pumpkins...

Listening to Placebo...