Unless you’re already a sanctioned record nerd, or well on your way, you may find yourself entrapped by some predictable progressions upon entering college. Some of the most common (boring) phases are: the Pink Floyd Phase, the Bob Dylan Phase, the Jimi Hendrix Phase (if it didn’t take in high school), or, God forbid, the Bob Marley Phase (resist the temptation to grow dreadlocks, especially if you are white). If you do experience symptoms of such a phase, embrace it but keep it brief, and don’t make a big deal about it—no posters on the wall, no excessively talking people’s ear off.
As a rule, music talk should generally be avoided, unless you’re saying something to the effect of “Have you heard them/he/she/it?” or “Yes! I love them/he/she/it. Put it on!” or “No, I’ve never heard them/he/she/it. Let’s hear it” or “No, they/he/she/it have/has never really done it for me.” Always admit when you don’t know an artist, record, or song; anyone who would judge you for not knowing is not worth your time, and it’s often easily exposed when you lie about things in such uncharted territory. Plus, you’ll never learn it if you pretend to already know it. If you must jibber-jabber about music for any length of time, watch it with the genre names, bub. Half the time they mean something different to everyone involved, and using them just makes you sound like an ass-hole music critic, and no one wants to hang out with those dudes.
Once you have expediently processed your Bob Dylan Phase, investigate his superior alternative Leonard Cohen, starting with Songs from a Room, and ending long before the second half of his discography. Pink Floyd? Chuck everything but The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Hendrix? You can go wherever you like after Jimi, but keep all of his records because he is a God. Marley? Put the bong away (or in the trash if it features a skull and/or jester likeness) and get yourself in touch with Desmond Dekker, who traded more in rocksteady, which you should be listening to instead of reggae anyway—it precedes Marley, it’s slower, and it’s better. Also, get onto some classic dub records—King Tubby’s At the Controls is an excellent start.
Where to See Music if You’re Not 21
Vera Project is the one to know about, because they book some serious national talent—Shellac of North America, Future Islands, and WHY?, to name a few coming up—and it’s always all ages. It’s in Seattle Center (the park below the Space Needle). Other venues include Q Cafe, just south of the Ballard Bridge; Cairo, an art gallery/clothing store/DIY warehouse on Capitol Hill that features excellent lineups of quality local and touring bands; and Ground Zero in Bellevue (that city on the other side of Lake Washington). But there is a new development in the all-ages music scene, and you are HELLA STOKED on it. Seattle Theatre Group, which books some of the best shows in this city, has recently reopened the Neptune Theatre in the University District as an all-ages-friendly (bar with ID) venue with a capacity of 850 to 1,000. The sound system is tits, and the sight lines are great—it used to be a movie theater.
A Note About Fake IDs and Getting into 21+ Areas Before You’re 21
Don’t do it. Not only are you fucking over everyone who works there (the venue and its employees are liable if they even let you inside), but you’re fucking yourself over in the future. Seattle’s bar workers all know each other.
Where to Buy Music
Get the fuck off the internet, put your shoes on, and walk/bus/drive to a real-live record store. Here are some of the stores you’ll want to check out: Easy Street Records (Lower Queen Anne, West Seattle): Knowledgeable staff, great selection—the Queen Anne location is bigger, but the West Seattle one has a cafe. Both host semiregular, free all-ages shows with quality acts. Sonic Boom (Ballard): Also a great selection and knowledgeable staff. Loads of 7-inch vinyl that you want to own. They also host great and free all-ages shows. Bop Street Records (Ballard): A giant cavern of mostly used vinyl. Let someone know where you are going and when you should be back, because you could get lost in the basement. Be prepared to haggle over unpriced vinyl. Jive Time (Fremont): Clean used vinyl that they actually go out and find and bring to the store. Few places do this. Singles Going Steady (Belltown): More select punk, metal, and rock selections than you can shake a stick at. Totally nice folks. Neptune Music Company (University District, directly under Neptune Theatre): Mike “Moose Knuckle” Nipper, our resident record-buying elitist, says: “I haven’t been there forever, but I know lots of people have pulled rare stuff… good stock.”
A Note on Vinyl
Sure, MP3s are great for when you’re walking around alone or on the bus, but to truly experience a record, you must get a turntable. Every audiophile everywhere will tell you that vinyl sounds better. This is actually entirely true. 
You dismissed “A Saucerful of Secrets”!?
You, Sir, are a scoundrel.
Pistols at dawn!
Also, don’t eat LSD and then listen to the Brain Salad Surgery album by Emerson Lake & Palmer.
That’s what a friend told me, anyway.
“resist the temptation to grow dreadlocks, especially if you are white”
Desmond Dekker > Bob Marley? Leonard Cohen > Bob Dylan? You’re fucking insane. Kids, DON’T LISTEN TO A CRAZY OLD MAN.
The Why? concert at the Vera that you mentioned was cancelled before this article went to print
@4 Another “journalist” who loves him some false equivalencies.
So one good FE deserves another: Whatever moments Cohen reaches that Dylan does not, Dylan far makes up for it in volume, which Cohen couldn’t possibly match, even if he doubled his lifespan.
@6: I didn’t equate anything. I called Cohen a “superior alternative.” In short, shut it.
I’ll hold onto my Pink Floyd, thank you.
for god’s sake, don’t let anyone, especially a journalist, tell you what you should and shouldn’t listen to. decide what kind of music you like for yourself.
What CB said. The worst decision you can make it to let someone else tell you what is good and what you should and shouldn’t listen to.
Music is personal. What speaks to you speaks to you. If you want to listen to Stairway to Heaven 100 times in a row, do it, and to hell with anyone who looks down on you for it.
And they can take my Dylan when they pry the records from my cold, dead hands!
But one good point. If you are white please don’t grow dreads. As Lea DeLaria once said, every time I see a white person with dreadlocks I have the urge to give them a nickel and tell them, “here, go buy yourself a culture”.
Once in high school, I put “Stairway to Heaven” on repeat all night on my new CD player. When I got to school the next day, they played it on the morning radio address. WEIRD.
A music guide for college kids entirely based on alt-rock and elitism over dead people. b-o-r-i-n-g.
not a word hear about music based on beats.
There is no basement at Bop Street. They moved. A year ago. Also, in addition to being prepared to haggle, you must also be prepared to for them to have non-consensual sex with your wallet and maybe your face.
Dear “Schmucky,”
Neither Dylan, Cohen, nor any of the members of Pink Floyd are deceased, and I called Hendrix a God. Please learn how to read.
Sincerely,
Grant Brissey
Dear “Grant”,
Syd Barrett and Richard Wright, the original lead singer/guitarist and keyboardist for Pink Floyd, respectively, are both dead.
Please make a note of it.
Sincerely,
A Stranger, from the internet
They live in my dreams.
THAT’S NOT GREEN LAKE THAT’S ROOSEVELT ASS HOLE
I wish I’d started going to shows earlier. If only I’d read the Back to School issue while I was in school.
@16
Yeah. Mine too.
Let’s hug it out.
@19: You have a deal.
Nowhere is there warmth to be found
Among those afraid of losing their ground
Rain gray town known for it’s sound
In places small faces unbound
Or even
Hiding underground
Knowing we’d be found
Fearing for our lives
Reaped by robot’s scythes
Grant,
i seem to recall a post on lineout a few months ago where you encouraged people to go buy something at Everyday Music (http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/a…), but you can’t give us any love in your back-to-school article? what the fuck man? which of those other record stores are gonna take all those promos off your hands?
Dear jh,
You were in the version I submitted, but CF cut it out due to space limitations. I blame him!
Definitely smoke pot and go through a rolling stones phase. Start with beggars banquet on vinyl and play it LOUD.
Vinyl is not better. Only pretentious douchebags claim that it is.