Wow!!  I can not believe it has been one year already.  The time has definitely flown by and has been an absolute blast.  I never thought I would last very long and so it is hard to believe I am still writing weekly and still enjoying even more now then when I started.

I have met so many interesting people through the blog world and have found some amazing sites.  I do wish there was more time in the day to visit every site that is following me and that I am following, but have found that task to be impossible.  Please know I do try my best to at visit as often as I am able.

The year has been a roller coaster of a ride.  Where the blog has been a blessing and some of the high points, life has dealt me a few blows this year with the passing of my Mom back in August and my Dad just two weeks ago.  The loss of them has been difficult, but the blog has been my way of escaping the harsh realities of life.

One person I need to thank for the blog is my lovely wife, Angie!!  She talked me into doing a blog and without her support, I wouldn’t be doing this still.  She has put up with the time it takes away from her and the girls, the loud music and my constant blabbering about the site and other sites I have visited.  She is definitely my Rock!!

In looking back, I am still amazed people will stop by and visit my site, hit a like button or more impressively, leave a comment.  I have had visitors from at least 96 different countries some of which I didn’t even know were countries.  Here are some of the stats:

• Total Views – over 11,500
• Visitors – over 6,450
• Posts – 270
• Followers – over 190
• My Best View Day was January 13, 2017 at 131 views

Now for some these numbers are low and for others they might be high…I have no idea and for me it doesn’t really matter.  I am just humbled by the fact anyone stops by or even returns!!!

When I thought of commemorating this day, I wondered what were my best viewed posts and what have been my worst.  Well, let us have a look…

The Top 5 Posts on 2Loud2OldMusic.com are as follows:

1. Melanie Martinez – Cry Baby – Album Spotlight – over 376 views (This one I only did because my oldest daughter loved this album.  I found the artwork and vinyl packaging to be exquisite so I wrote about it.  The fact I get hits on this almost every single day is crazy to me).
2. “Hallelujah” by Pentatonix, Leonard Cohen & Jeff Buckley – over 281 views ( I did this post about a week before Leonoard Cohen died and after his death it was crazy how many people came to visit this post for the next couple weeks).
3. The Top 20 Rock Songs of 2016 – over 189 views (People seem to love lists of what the best songs of a year are and this one was no exception.  Still getting views and we are now in April)
4. Def Leppard, Poison & Tesla – Tour Dates – over 184 views (will this one pass the Top 20 Rock Songs of 2016??? It is neck and neck)
5. Bon Jovi – Tour Dates – over 145 views (not as much as Lep, but still pretty popular – maybe I should just post tour dates all the time…No, I enjoy actually putting a little thought in to the posts).

The Bottom 5 Posts on 2Loud2OldMusic.com are as follows:

1. Friday New Releases – May 6th – only 1 view (This series of posts are now a pretty popular post for my loyal visitors I believe.  This post was early on the blog history and not much traffic during that time)
2. Radiohead – New Album May 8th @ 2pm – only 2 views (not much of a post to begin with, just a quick announcement of their upcoming release)
3. Sixx:A.M. – When We Were Gods – only 2 views (simple post of me just saying how much I loved this song – guess the feeling wasn’t mutual with everyone – also timing was early May as well – noticing a theme on the dates)
4. #TBT – Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime – only 2 views (I love this album. This post was the end of April when I still barely had any visitors so not surprising)
5. DC Talk Side Projects – Playlist – only 3 views (I did this playlist in anticipation of some big news from DC Talk, but the news sucked and they weren’t getting back together for a new album)

My very first post was the Road Rage Playlist which you can visit at the recent Revisiting of that post from a request from EclecticMusicLover.com.

My favorite posts have been the Turntables & Vinyl series.  With this series I talk about my journey with finding a box of vinyl in my closet and capturing the magic of vinyl.  My daughter and I went out and bought a turntable and now she is hooked as well.  The collection has grown and the series documents the journey.  There are now 6 posts related to that journey and they are as follows:

1. Turntables & Vinyl
2. Turntables & Vinyl #2
3. Turntables & Vinyl #3 – Mother Lode
4. Turntables & Vinyl #4 – The 80’s are Back
5. Turntables & Vinyl #5 – The Needtobreathe Collection
6. Turntables & Vinyl #6 – “Re-Spin” Led Zeppelin & Van Halen

One of the greatest things about the blog for me has been discovering bands I haven’t heard of before and there have been a couple that I have really gotten into thanks to some fellow bloggers.

The first is Monster Truck.  I have to thank Mike at MikeLadano.com for this one.  If you click on the link it will take you to the review.  I went out and bought this on vinyl and love it.

The 2nd one is The Wild!.  I have to thank Deke at Stick It In Your Ear for this one.  Click on the link and go check out the review.  They are in the same style as Monster Truck and is probably why I love it.  Don’t have the vinyl yet, but won’t be long before it is in my collection.

All my posts go to Facebook and Twitter and I have had a few times where the artists I wrote about has liked or even retweeted my tweet.  For me that was really cool.  I have had Jordan Feliz, Danny Gokey, Delbert McClinton, Hellyeah!, Cavo, Michael Franti, Sister Hazel, Icon for Hire, The Afghan Whigs, Glenn Hughes, The Afters, Steve ‘n Seagulls, and even Dee Snider from Twisted Sister.  I even have Jonathan Cain from Journey following me on Twitter.  The coolest thing happened recently when John 5 actually linked to my review of his album on his own website and quoted it.  Again…COOL!!!

Okay, I have been going on and on about nothing so I will put an end to your misery and end this post.  I hope you have enjoyed my site as much as I have in bringing it to you.  Whether you visit or not, I will still write as music is what keeps me going and if I can share a little of that with the reader, that is what I am going to do. I hope you have found it informative at times, fun and maybe even learned something… that would be cool.

Until next time…