My music

Music might be a key to the soul and certainly reflects a part of the interior. This sounds reasonable as usually nobody would listen voluntarily to music which he doesn't like. So maybe it's true, that the favoured music tells something about the character of a man.
So, now I rise to speak, to introduce some of my personal favourites:

First, some bands and musicians I generally like to listen to...

Mike Oldfield: The honour to be mentioned first is due to him as he is someone who has never left me through all the time. He made a name for himself in the early 70's with his album Tubular Bells indicating directions to rock music. Until now he came up with more then 20 albums - each individual but typical Mike Oldfield.
His music typically is tuneful, imaginative and melodious, apart from Oldfields phase of synthy-pop during the late 80's and early 90's, which hit its painful peak with the with the album Earth Moving. But nevermind! No difference, whether guitars or synthesizers, Mike Oldfield - the alchemist of sound - is noted for playing almost every instrument on his own.
My favourite album: Platinum (1979)
My favourite song: Platinum, Part 3 (Charleston) from the album Platinum (1979)

Andreas Vollenweider bilds a bridge between the past and today. Once this music was among my most favoured for the quiet moments to dream, chill out or regenerate. Today, I don't listen that much to this music, but it doesn't sink into oblivion though due to the roleplaying games.
Vollenweider's instrumental music is often compared with meditation and New Age. Well... Harp music rarely is that enjoyable.
My favourite album: White winds (1984)
My favourite song: Book of roses from the homonymous album (1991)

Kitaro makes imaginative electronic music which I got to know via roleplaying games where it's often used as background music. For roleplayers it's an absolut must-have, but it's also fine in everyday life to relax and chill out.
Some albums of Kitaro are quite similar, some of them tend to bear monotony, so the complete opus might be a little boring.
My favourite album: Kojiki (1990)
My favourite song: Dream of chant from the album Dream (1992)

Gandalf serves the same purpose as Kitaro, but his music is performed with greater virtuosity and diversity and, of course, it is less influences by the far east. Alike Mike Oldfield Gandalf plays almost every instrument on his own. A really nice piece of music...
My favourite album: Magic Theater (1983)
My favourite song: The keeper of the old forest from the album Fantasia (1987)

Torfrock is a band from northern Germany and in this context it's a part of my home that I have to listen to from time to time when I'm longing for it. When you have grown up in (the northern part of) Lower Saxony and you have lived temporary in Schleswig-Holstein you won't get around this music. There's no better way (if you are German) to learn more about northgerman humor and shrewdness. Some songs are in low german, so, unfortunately, foreigners might not be able to understand the message...
In the beginning their music seemed very amateurish, but meanwhile - at the latest since the release of the first "Werner" movie (certainly unknown outside Germany) - Torfrock became a real professional rockband. Their typical humor however still remains. My favourite album: Goiler Tonträger (1994)
My favourite song: Stech den Torf Du Torfstechermeister... from the album Alle an die Ruder (1990)

Alanis Morissette is great! Not only according to her beautiful appearance and her refreshing way of beeing herself, but also because of her brilliant lyrics and pleasing music. (Yes, I also like to listen to "normal" music indeed).
Ok, you shouldn't go back to far into the past of Alanis as her old albums (which, fortunately haven't been released in Europe) contain pop music of a rather mediocre style. But her well-known modern CD's are real great, full of power and poetry - simply Alanis!
My favourite album: Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)
My favourite song: Uninvited from the soundtrack of City of Angels (1998)

Poems for Laila is a Band from Berlin, which I got to know during the time I was about to finish school. It's music combining sonority with expressiveness, telling stories which could happen to anyone and just making you sing along. Well, but I have to point out, that their music became worse and worse by every album. Since I shot the moon I don't listen to it anymore. The first album, however, is still one of my favourites as it touches my soul every time anew.
My favourite album: Another poem for the 20th century (1989)
My favourite song: In my frame from the album Another poem for ... (1989)

Dead can dance again belongs to the category of music for roleplaying games. Or, at least, its appropriate for thia purpose. The mostly dark, solemn, and often melancholic-depressive music might not be good for labile minded people, but the diversity of their songs as well as the influences of medievil or foreign cultures makes it a musical delicacy.
My favourite album: AION (1992)
My favourite song: Rakim from the album Toward the within (1994)

Chris de Burgh also left his fingerprints in my life, although his music doesn't really interest me since the late 80's. That is Flying Colours definitively was the last album I bought.
In his early years, Chris de Burgh was a song-writer of an umcompromising, impassionate and genuine kind, making people think and sing along. Today his lyrics und music are more customary. My favourite album: The Getaway (1982)
My favourite song: die Trilogie Revolution/Light a fire/Liberty from the album The Getaway (1982)

Jean-Michel Jarre also is a relic from earlier days: There was a time when Jean-Michel Jarre's synthesizer music was indispensable for me to get over depressive days. But I barely got to know more than the first three albums. Well, but those I still like.
My favourite album: Oxygéne (1976)
My favourite song: Equinoxe VII from the album Equinoxe (1978)

Besides certain singers or bands there are always categories of music, different styles, which especially attract someone's attention. To me these are the following:

Roleplayer's music is top-ranking. But what is roleplayer's music? Well, at the end, all what's capable to carry emotions or to create a certain sentiment in various sequences of the story line, or that fits as background music.
These sentiments might be of complete different origin: mysticism, danger, sadness or cheerfulness. An important aspect is, that the desired emotions are not destroyed by inappropriate lyrics, so mostly instrumental music is used or the lyrics are sung in an exotic language
I have already mentioned some bands and musicians belonging to this category like Kitaro, Vollenweider, Gandalf oder Dead can Dance, but also especially soundtracks and classical music. Some more "suitable" bands are e.g.: Clannad, enya, Garmarna, Gong or Loreena McKennitt.

The 80's were characterised by easy pop music, electric instruments and dancable rhythms, Music for good fun and easy going, mostly without a big demand. In general it was composed by vocals, guitar, keyboard and drums. The colourful dresses were fancy, fickle, showy and glittering and - most important - shrill!
Somehow, this is still my music, which is not very surprising, as the 80's was the time period I started listening to music. That formed me, of course! So Surely I feel young again, when today I listen to songs like: Big in Japan (Alphaville), Doctor, doctor (Thompson Twins), Mad world (Tears for fears), Tainted love (Soft cell), Fade to grey (Visage), Come on Eileen (Dexies midnight runners), This is not a love song (P.I.L), My soul unwraps tonight (Savage Progress) or Din daa daa (Georg Kranz).

"Neue Deutsche Welle" (translation: New German Wave) this is a subset of the 80's which developed in Germany and reached its maximum in the early 80's. Having a party in Germany it is still popular to play some of the NDW hits. There are only a few songs of this period that made it to the english charts, one of the most famous must be 99 red balloons by Nena (original title: 99 Luftballons) .
The music was characterised by simple and clear lyrics with minimalist poetry, scurrile noise mixing into easy and popular melodies, subtle jokes partly combined with subliminal protest and, first of all, by the courage to sing in german language.
The complexity of the music and also of the lyrics varied quite much, but that was exactly the fascinating thing: to reach people and have success with the most trivial songs. The fact is, that trivial doesn't automatically mean mediocre! My absolute favourites of that time are: Puppen weinen nicht (Combo Colossale), Major Tom (Peter Schilling), Hohe Berge (Frl. Menke), Codo (DÖF), Der Kommisar (Falco), Herbergsvater (Joachim Witt), Die Sennerin vom Königssee (Kiz), Da da da (Trio) and Eiszeit (Ideal)

Irish folk somehow touched me and gave me a kind of predilection for the "land of green" long time before I first went there. And I haven't been disappointed by Ireland. Nevertheless, my passion for irish folk droped a bit.
The music is stamped by yearning but also by pride and somehow also by the love of life. It's the tin whistle, the Uillean pipes and the Bodhran which make irish folk that distinctive. Although e.g. The Pogues demonstrated the irish folk sometimes also could be a little harder.
Besides the Pogues (Young Ned of the hill, Dirty old town, ...) there are also, for example: The Fureys (The lonesome boatman, Red rose cafe,...), Davy Spillane (Atlantic bridge, Walker of the snow,...), The Dubliners (Blantyre explosion, The wild rover,...) or Fiddler's green (Lannigan's Ball, The beggarman, ...)

Kuhmühlen music is a collective term merging sundry danceable music, that once had been played in a dingy beatclub called Dream Machine in the unknown hicksville of Kuhmühlen. Kuhmühlen was more than just a discotheque, it was an absolut must, it was cult, it was a certain awareness of life, which was only present at this place. But non-fanciers probably never will understand this...
The music was rock, was guitar and rhythm, was message, especially was long lasting and perfectly fit to the sweetish flavour that filled the air. Typical "'mühlen songs" were e.g.: Gamma Ray (Birthcontrol), Am Fenster (City), Whole lotta love (Led Zeppelin), The only one I know (charlatans) or Radar love (Golden Earring)

Riepe music is something quite similar, just the music played in the "Padam" (just in Riepe). Regrettably, I can't say, whether or not the music there stayed the same since then (end of the 90's). But for me, "Riepe music" always has been a class of it's one. I'll remember it, the way it was then...
In Riepe the music was a little more pop than rock, the light was brighter, the air was cleaner and the guests were a little younger than in Kuhmühlen. Classical "Riepe songs" are e.g.: The great song if indifference (Bod Geldof), Mind fresher (Diethelm und Famulari), The story of the making of 'The fire still burns' (and tanks to an attentive internet user, now, at last, I know, that this song was played by Russ Ballard...) or Freiheit (Marius Müller Westernhagen)

And then, of course, there are...
...these special songs, which always remind me of certain situations:

Sunshine-Reggae by Laid Back for instance reminds me of a certain summer day once at school (Hi Suse!)
Über Nacht by Element of crime means something special to me, due to the lyrics. Somehow, this songs reminds me of myself.
Losing my religion by REM is a song which I connect to a return from Kuhmühlen and therefore also with Babette (kind regards!)
Am Fenster von City also was a typical gem of Kuhmühlen. In any case another Suse-song...
This is how it feels by the Inspiral carpets recalls a very frustrating day once in Munich but then again a lovely, pleasant sunshine called Babette.
Kein zurück by Wolfsheim is less connected to some memories from the past, but rather to your dreams, you still haven't satisfied. Lyrics worthwhile to be considered, but in german language...