DC's View: Music World

By DC Cueva

@DC408dxtr

With the American Music Awards taking place tonight as I write this on Sunday, November 24, it's safe to say that music is one of the good handful of things I'm most into, along with sports, television and social media. I've been avidly following this world since back in high school (this goes back to the late '90s) and, though I'm not a musician myself, something always gets to me every time I something with a rhythm on the radio, my ipod or on TV.

Unlike some music fans who are into just one or a few genres, I am into the entire musical spectrum, able to handle pop, hip-hop, rock, R&B, EDM, even some country, classical and jazz too. Every time a multi-genre music event takes place, whether I'd be a music awards show (Grammy's, AMA's, VMA's & Billboard), a festival concert or even just the weekly radio countdown shows or viewing videos on my ipad, it always makes for appointment viewing or listening for me. Tonight is one of those nights with the AMA's, which I'm gonna be tuned in tonight. Often times when we have family parties at our house, including what we'll be having on Thanksgiving coming up on Thursday, we would typically put on music DVD's: any one of my parents' music DVD's from Earth Wind and Fire, Mariah Carey or Journey, or the Live 8 & Live Earth DVD's that I have with a ton of artists.

For myself, the way I consume & get my music has evolved over the years. I've devoted three iPods to my regular music listening - my iPhone and 2 iPod Shuffle's, a new 2GB & old 1GB - with which to rotate my listening around. I did have a CD player that until this year I put inside a CD bag that I wrapped & carried around my body when I go places, but I recently retired it after my recent Vegas trip since I used it only twice. I do continue to buy CD's for the principal reason that I can transfer to MP3's easily, along with buying digital tracks if I'm not into getting a full album just yet while also keeping an eye on that bank account.

For my radio listening, though I listen to sports and to podcasts a lot, I'm probably one of the handful who, for his music listening, would prefer a top 40, contemporary hit radio format over other music radio. Yes, pop radio. To me and a lot who work in the music industry either in radio or those who handle the charts, it's the most accurate barometer of what's the most popular music right now. This format has been around since the '60s and is . No music radio format features all of the biggest artists and the most popular songs of the moment like contemporary hit radio. And in a given market, no other station features the best of pop, rhythmic, hip-hop, rock, R&B, EDM and a couple country tracks too, like pop radio stations. When I go to the iHeartRadio or Radio.com apps on my iPhone, or if I travel out of the Bay Area, I would generally check the pop radio stations first over all others.

For you would think that because I'm a huge music fan that I've been to a lot of concerts, but I've been to just one. That would be in 1998 at a now-defunct radio station concert in San Jose where top 40 acts performed. I literally don't remember who performed that night since it was a long time ago, but it's safe to say that I'm well overdue to go to another one. Shouldn't be that far off. But then again, of course, there was that night nine years ago in 2004 when I met Linkin Park. I devoted a blog post to that ultimate fandom moment of mine and it still ranks as a top 5 moment in my life.

And I can't mention about my music relationship without mentioning about my brother in law. He is a part-time DJ and does some music composing on the side. In fact, three of the Vegas trips I took in '07, '09 and '11 were DJ gigs that he hosted. And because in every instance told him to bring along speakers and his DJ rig, we obviously took the long road from the Bay Area to Las Vegas. In '07, he was asked upon to DJ an event at the Flamingo, then in '09 he DJ'ed at Planet Hollywood following the Pacquiao-Cotto fight, and in '11 he DJ'ed a party at Tuscany.

Lastly, you all want to know, which artists are my favorites and what's in my iPod? Well, of course, because they're my favorite band, Linkin Park has the most tracks of any artist on my iPod including all of their albums. But aside from Chester, Mike & company, I've got a lot of the staples of top 40 radio on my iPod: Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Jason Derulo, Eminem, Imagine Dragons, JT, Pitbull, Drake, Maroon 5, Adele and even 1D (sometimes people have their guilty pleasures, right?). And among them, those are among my favorites right now along with a whole slew of others. I can thank getting the NOW That's What I Call Music CD's and checking the current charts for helping me get my fill of what I should my music mix with. And because I'm into a lot of music, it's hard for me to single out some favorite track as well. I'm that deep of a music fan who's into everything, even including production music that's used in television and movies, as well as some classical & jazz if I'm in the mood.

Okay, so that's that. There are a good number of television events that I always look forward to watching, and music awards shows are one of them. And it should be another fantastic night of music coming up tonight with artists who I'm looking forward to watching, as always. It's one of the very few nights where I have to cut out of watching Sunday Night Football, even with this big Manning vs. Brady matchup, for events such as this. So, time for me to grab that popcorn & get set. Talk to ya on twitter when I live tweet the big show coming up shortly.

- DC