This is the first in a series of episodes examining the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and their possible applications to the understanding of popular music. In this episode, I prepare us for a discussion of Nietzsche's first book The Birth of Tragedy by examining three of Nietzsche's predecessors: Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Arthur Schopenhauer. We investigate some selected aspects of their aesthetic and metaphysical thought--aspects that I will try to demonstrate either influenced Nietzsche or stand in marked contrast to what he tries to accomplish in his writings.