Editor�s Note

It�s not often that Student Weekly has a classical musician on the cover. In fact, this week might be a first for this magazine.

Having a young, award-winning musician featured in SW got me thinking about my younger days and the kind of music I listened to when I was a kid.

Up until I was about 14 years old, I never listened to pop. Oh sure, I�d hear it on the car radio or be subjected to it by my parents � classic Motown from my dad and stuff like Olivia Newton John, the Mamas and the Papas and Carole King from my mom � but I had a very limited ability to tolerate pop music.

Left to my own devices, I�d retreat to my room and immerse myself in classical music. Mussorgsky�s Night on Bald Mountain and Saint-Saën�s Dance Macabre were two of my favourites, but I also loved Beethoven�s Fifth, Tchaikovsky�s Swan Lake and Gershwin�s Rhapsody in Blue. I also loved movie soundtracks.

Needless to say, I wasn�t a normal kid. I remember my father rolling his eyes in exasperation when I�d tell him that for my birthday I really, really wanted that cool recording of Pictures at an Exhibition and the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack.

But my singular obsession with classical music was not to last. I still remember the shocked look on my father�s face the day I finally responded to the siren song of pop.

Christmas was approaching, and as usual Mom and Dad asked if there was anything special that I wanted. I gave them the list, including the requisite action figures and books on astronomy or dinosaurs or whatever. I�m sure they expected that to be followed by a request for recordings of The Firebird and The Four Seasons � but I had something else up my sleeve.

I know Dad couldn�t have been happier and probably rushed out right then and there to buy the records I�d asked for before I had a chance to change my mind.

That year on Christmas morning I became the proud owner of my first pop records: Men at Work�s Business as Usual and Queen�s The Game. (In my defense, the questionable Men at Work choice is more than made up for by The Game, which is a classic.)

Dad was pretty excited, too. As I disappeared into my room to revel in the newfound charms of �Who Can It Be Now� and �Another One Bites the Dust,� he turned to my Mom with a smile and said: �At last, I�ve got a normal son.�

Sean Vale
Editor
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