I am a self-described music geek. It started back with Sesame Street. I loved to sing along with Cookie Monster as he taught us that "C is for Cookie".

That's good enough for me.

My older siblings all were into music. I used to borrow their records and sit in my room and listen to them on my Fisher Price record player.



In 1979, I asked for a tape recorder for Christmas.



Along with that, I received two cassette tapes: the Muppet Movie Soundtrack from my brother, Martin and the Grease Soundtrack from my sister, Barbara.

I listened to those tapes all the time. I knew every song in it's entirety. I knew how long of a space was between each song. I listened to them so many times that I had to replace them both long before the invention of CDs.

And then there was Billy Joel's The Stranger. My oldest brother, Bob, listened to Billy Joel all the time and he had two copies of The Stranger on vinyl, so he gave me one. (I think the one he gave me was from an old girlfriend, but I wasn't going to complain.)

By that time, my stereo had been upgraded to a Sears brand record player/tape player/AM FM Radio.

I wore that record out.

A few years later for Christmas, my grandma decided to give me some money instead of socks. I was so excited because I already knew what I was going to buy with it: Def Leppard's Pyromania.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I walked into Disc Jockey Records with ten bucks in my hand and found both the cassette and vinyl of Pyromania. I remember trying to figure out which one I was going to buy and decided to go with the vinyl because, I argued, vinyl outlived 8-Track tapes and they would probably outlive cassettes also.

(A few years later, after wearing out the vinyl, I purchased Pyromania on cassette...TWICE...and then finally on CD. It still is the only album that I have on vinyl, tape & CD.)

My music collection has grown drastically since then. At last count, I own over 5,000 CDs and I haven't even counted my records and tapes for years.



So what is this all about? Why am I telling you all this?

For the next few weeks, I am going to do some serious writing about why we love music.

• What is it about music that causes us to get up and move?
• What is it about classic rock that causes grown men to play air guitar?
• What is it about music that we grew up with that makes it so much better than today's music?

These are the things that I'm going to be writing about. But a lot more than that.

I'm asking you, the reader, to send in your feelings and ideas.

What kind of music inspires you and why? If you were being interviewed on MTV as a famous rock star, who would you say were your major influences?

I want to hear from you. Email me at musicinmypants at gmail dot com

I'm not trying to start arguments about who the greatest bands of all-time are, nor am I asking for you to try to convince me of the greatness of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I just want to know your feelings and thoughts on music.

I think this is gonna be great.