A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article detailing the variety in music taste of Liberty staff and students. Across a couple of days, I asked dozens of people what genres, artists, albums, and songs they preferred. I had varying responses both in fondness and in length. While some gave only a couple of short responses, others dished their likings in great detail. By far the longest response I got came from none other than Coach Wheeler. 

Wheeler proudly stated that he makes the playlist for the cafeteria. 

“There are over 500 songs on there,” he said, adding proudly, “and all of them are school appropriate.”

When Wheeler was in high school in the ‘90s, grunge and west coast gangster rap were all the rage. He appreciated them both, still does.

In his upperclassman years, pop (including the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and the Spice Girls) began to become popular. Wheeler wasn’t as much a fan of this. He stayed close to his preference, being a fan of Nirvana, the Beatles, Sublime, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage, Alice in Chains, and Tool. He especially liked rap from artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, namely their song together “Nothin’ but a G Thang”, which he credits as one of his all-time favorite tracks.

“It’s me and my daughter’s favorite song,” he admitted. “She has it set as her ringtone.”

Wheeler feels that music nowadays has lost its meaning, and he’s not alone. 

“It’s got no soul,” stated Mr. Weis as he walked past. Wheeler agreed.

“It’s so overproduced and full of autotune,” he said with disappointment. “It’s repetitive, [modern artists, namely rappers] just repeat the same words and phrases over and over again. Some of it is okay, but most of it is just impure and annoying.”

Wheeler reminisced on the reunion concert for Guns N’ Roses back in 2017. He named it as his favorite concert of about 20.