When I was a teenager, the only music I would listen to was country . . . pure country or nothing. As I dove headlong into my 20s, I started becoming more of a fan of classic ’60s and ’70s non-country stuff and of the ’80s hair bands, as well as a hodge podge of bluegrass and southern gospel. But ’80s and ’90s country was still the first thing I listened to.

This summer, I’ve found myself listening to ’70s stuff, the ’80s rock and hardly ever listening to country. Aerosmith, AC/DC, Bob Dylan, The Eagles and Jimmy Buffett are on my iPod way before George Strait or Garth Brooks or Alan Jackson. I’ve been a big fan of Buffett, the Eagles and Aerosmith for a long time. But I never would’ve expected to replace Tim McGraw with AC/DC  . . . I’ve even got a Joan Jett song on there somewhere. Who would’ve thunk it?!?

It gets worse. Last week I loaded up my still-kinda-new EnV3 phone with MP3s, and didn’t include a single country song. I’m back-sliding. Now, I still have room for Bill Gaither and the Cathedrals and the Kingdom Heirs and the Isaacs . . . I’m not going to replace those, nor am I going to replace Doyle Lawson or The Grascals.

Is this the result of turning 30? Some might say I’m trying to recapture my youth by going back to when these bands were at their best. But I turned 30, not 40. When the hair bands were parading around in their hair spray and Spandex I was still in diapers.

For what it’s worth, I haven’t completely reformed. I’m still not into the heavy metal of the ’80s, and never will be. (In fact, I’ve been informed that I use the term “’80s hair bands” too loosely, because a lot of people don’t consider AC/DC or Aerosmith “metal enough” to be part of the ’80s hair movement, and Aerosmith was more ’70s than ’80s anyway. So sue me. I’m not a music expert. But then you knew that.) There will always be a place reserved on my iPod for Strait and Ledoux, but Garth and McGraw might have to go.