I’m at a loss. I went from a steady diet of Dillinger Four, T.S.O.L., and Dead Kennedys to Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello almost over night. And to be honest, I’m pretty excited about the change.

Both Dylan and Costello are names I’ve always known, but paid little attention to. I always viewed them as old musicians making old music for old people who have nothing to offer or say to me. That is until I heard Costello’s Watching the Detectives. Being a bass player, I was immediately drawn to the riff of the song. It’s fun, it’s poppy, it’s interesting, it’s a great song. This first interest in Costello’s music expanded from there into an all out loving of his music, but to be honest, it wasn’t much of a stretch for me to get into his music. He writes pop music, so it’s easy to pick up on his songs and get into it. Dylan, on the other hand, is out of left field for me.

I can’t exactly pinpoint what caused my interest in Bob Dylan, but I can say it’s culminated in an almost fanatical collecting of his discography. I believe the catalyst of my Dylan interest was simply to find out what all the fuss was about. All the music forums and websites I’ve been a part of put him on the king’s pedestal, and based on my limited listens I couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t until I bit the bullet and did my first full album listen (Blonde on Blonde) that the spark was lit. How could this guy who sings so poorly keep me listening so intently? And why am I listening to him more often than Jello Biafra now?

The transition from Hardcore Punk to Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan has been interesting to say the least, but I’m very glad I’ve begun to expand my musical taste beyond the releases of BYO Records and Dischord. Currently I’ve picked up 4 Costello albums and 5 Dylan albums, and have my sights set on full discographies for both, but perhaps first I’ll get Frankenchrist to finish out my Dead Kennedys discography.

What bands have you collected or plan to collect a complete discography of?