🎧 Musical Interests 🎧

Genre(s): Disco, Pop, Europop
Years Active: 1972-1982, 2016-Present
Best Album: Voulez-Vouz
Top 3 Songs: My Mama Said /// Chiquitita /// SOS
Salty Says: If you don't know ABBA, then I guess you've been living under a rock. I mean, come on, it's ABBA. But seriously, I truly believe ABBA is the greatest pop band of all time. They did some amazing stuff recording- and production-wise in a pretty infantile time for synthesizers and electronic music in general. Their production masterpiece is a track called, "My Mama Said." Their live recordings are pretty damn good too for how demanding some of their songs are to perform.

Genre(s): Garage Rock, Indie Rock, Slacker Rock
Years Active: 2010-Present
Best Album: Double Vanity
Top 3 Songs: Highly Unintentional /// Big City Boys /// Fantasy Boys
Salty Says: Broncho is my favorite band of all time. They are criminally underrated and often only examined by their TV commercial song, "Class Historian." Don't get me wrong, that song is great and I'm glad it gives them some royalty income, but it does their artistic growth since 2010 a huge disservice. There is just something about their music that deeply resonates with me and just shatters my soul with each listen. I have seen Broncho many times live, chatted with them about their process, and am simply enamored by everything that they do. Double Vanity is tied with Pet Sounds for my favorite album of all time, but all of their albums are truly great. Ryan writes the most beautiful, haunting songs that I've ever heard in my life.

Genre(s): Trap, R&B, PluggnB
Years Active: 2017-Present
Best Album: Heaven or Hell
Top 3 Songs: Backend /// What You Need /// Kryptonite
Salty Says: I listen to a lot of trap and pluggnB, and Don Toliver is the most refreshing artist I've heard come out of the genre in a long ass time. He has such a great voice and he commands AutoTune better than the genre's pioneers. He writes the most beautiful vocal melodies, and I have loved every project he's done since I heard his "Donny Womack" mixtape back in 2018. If you like modern trap coupled with some snazzy, slick ass vocal melodies, then Don is your man. Also, his new album "Hardstone Psycho" is really good.

Genre(s): Pop Punk, Skate Punk, Alternative Rock
Years Active: 1987-Present
Best Album: Nimrod
Top 3 Songs: Coming Clean /// Prosthetic Head /// Jaded
Salty Says: Green Day is the first band I ever loved. They taught me how to play the guitar, how to write a song, and how artists don't have to fit in one little box and stay there. Despite how you may feel about "pop punk" and that whole can of worms, we all have to give Green Day credit for initiating a huge movement of bringing punk sentiments to the mainstream and exposing a ton of people to their "true punk" influences. Nimrod absolutely blew my mind when I heard it for the first time, moreso than Dookie or Insomniac. It just felt so envelope-pushing and far out for a coked-out, queer punk band to produce. I really enjoy every single album up to 21st Century Breakdown, but anything after that is not really worth your time. I can't believe these bastards have been putting on shows since the '80s.. I saw them about a decade ago and they played for three hours straight; it was fucking awesome.

Genre(s): Nu-Metal, Rock
Years Active: 1994-2006, 2010-Present
Best Album: Toxicity
Top 3 Songs:

Genre(s): Country, Bluegrass, Country Pop
Years Active: 1989-Present
Best Album: Home
Top 3 Songs: Hello, Mr. Heartache /// Long Time Gone /// Goodbye Earl
Salty Says: The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) are the most punk band to come out of the States since, well, forever. They have always been personally outspoken against assholes, and they are confident and masterful in their artistry despite working in a male-dominated, conservative genre. They are STILL banned from country radio because of the incident that happened in the early 2000s, but they continue to sell out shows across the world and are one of the best live bands, personally, that I've ever witnessed. There would be no Miranda Lambert or Taylor Swift without The Chicks. They are by far the best "country pop" act of the '90s and '00s, and their first two albums are solid all the way through. My personal favorite is their bluegrass masterpiece, "Home." Six-year-old me also thought Emily, the banjo player, was soooo hot.

Genre(s): Trap, Psychedelic Hip-Hop, Rap
Years Active: 2008-Present
Best Album: Astroworld
Top 3 Songs: CAN'T SAY /// Coordinate /// Way Back
Salty Says: Travis Scott is definitely my favorite rapper. Don't let his McDonald's meal and Fortnite concert fool you: this man means business when it comes to setting trajectories for what modern hip-hop sounds like. I love every single album he's released since Rodeo, and his mixtapes before that were good, too. I love his post-Kanye acid-trip take on modern trap. He's not afraid to use whatever whacky ass synth sound Mike Dean comes up with, and he's good at picking features. Despite his controversies and countless cash grabs (all billionaires are complete psychopaths; he is no exception), I truly love his music and artistic aesthetic. Astroworld is one of my favorite albums of all time, front-to-back.

Genre(s): Alternative Rock, Pop Punk, Lofi/Noise Rock, Indie Rock
Years Active: 2008-Present
Best Album: Afraid of Heights
Top 3 Songs: That's On Me /// Linus Spacehead /// Honeycomb
Salty Says: Wavves were such a great band to come out of the "pop-punk" answer to the whole Burger Records/DIY era of lofi rock coming out in the early 2010s. Their first couple releases are extremely blown out and lo-fi, but don't let that fool you. They really came into their own and recorded an absolute classic "post-tumblr stoner kid" album, "King of the Beach." If you like snotty, self-deprecating pop punk then Wavves is the band for you. "Afraid of Heights" is my favorite record from them; it is a lot more grunge and a big step up in production quality. Their newest records are also really good and deserve a listen. They're also a great live band; I've seen them 5 or 6 times at this point.