What has music done for your life? It's a simple question, but please get as specific as you can in your answers, in terms of your history with music, favorite genres, songs, artists and why they've had an impact on your life. A bit of the history between your relationship with music if you will.... Personally I'd have to say my favorite genre is Ragga, but I've really been getting in to Bluegrass, folk and blues lately. I've always enjoyed them, but lately I've been playing blues and like an alternative folk on my guitar which has just peaked my interest. I can listen to and enjoy any genre of music, so long as it's conscious, perfect example of un-conscious music being todays mainstream rap (ie. I fucked a bitch, got lots of money, ima pimp....all that bullshit). Hyphy is pretty much the epitome of contemporary un-conscious music in my opinion. "Go stupid go dumb"?????....riiiiiggghhht..... Anyways, I've listened to music pretty much my entire life, but I got my first Wailers (I'll never say Bob Marley and the Wailers, Tosh and Livingston are just as important to the group) album in like 6th grade....fell in love immediately. From then on I had to have ragga in my life, the positive vibes, the conscious message....it's the people's music. Well, I've been playing the guitar for a while and it really helps one to listen more deeply to music, understand what's going on and the similarities between genres, artists etc....becomes more clear (just look at how similar ragga and the blues really are...lots of blues scales, just more of an upstroke). I guess I could just go on and on about the music I like etc...but I'd much rather hear what music has done for your life, so I'll end this by saying that music has literally saved my life in more than one way many a time. (please feel free do go even more in depth than I did, as I didn't even scrape the surface in regards to what music I like etc...)
Music has taught me how frequencies assemble and move through the universe. It's taught my about my inner workings, how to flow Because of all the music I've listened to I hear it constantly I can conduct entire symphonies in my mind (especially when ayahuasca is drunk) I've even assembled physicless instruments in my dreams that are played with many hands and the mind together. It's brought me closer to anyone who can play we just flow. It's brought me sustenance. I teach music and engineer it thus bringing money into my life so I can buy food, plane tickets, and medicine. Joy. Intelligence. Lessons. Over and over every single day.
Music has given me a life. The majority of my life is occupied by music in one form or another. When I was in school, all my band classes gave me a reason to be there. The academics were just kind of there...the music was the reason I was there. For all four years of high school, I had 2 or 3 hours of band a day. I could not imagine having sat through all those years, doing academics all day long. I'm not a poor student, but I probably wouldn't have dropped out from lack of stimuli. Music broke up the monotony of the day and filled it with something I can melt right into. I've been a dedicated listener of music since 6th grade when I got my first CD, which was a best of Van Morrison. It's my hobby, my passion, my everything. Listening to the music is only half of the fun (and what a fun half it is ). I love to collect vinyl and CDs, I love to explore cover-art and display my favorite ones, I love to dissect lyrics like poetry, I love to research artist's historys, I love to memorize facts and trivia regarding them. Have you ever seen the movie "School of Rock", where Jack Black makes that webbed diagram on the chalkboard to teach the history of rock? I'd do shit like that for fun. List-making and writing album reviews, all that jazz. If I'm not searching on eBay for an album I want, I'm probalby on a music forum discussing it. Music is also the single biggest creator of nostalgia in my life. Nothing can take me back to a moment in time like a song can. NOTHING. When I hear that song/album/artist again some years down the road, I can recall everything. Where I was, what I was seeing, what I was wearing, the smells in the air, the tastes on my tongue. Songs are such time capsules, and it's fantastic to make your own life soundtracks. It's why I enjoy listening to music everywhere, in every situation. In the background, on headphones, whatever. It is the soundtrack for that moment in my life. A quiet walk down the road can be peaceful, but a walk down the road listening to music can be epic. My favorite genres are all rooted in rock - folk rock, acid rock, blues rock, prog rock, jam bands. I go through lots of phases, but the three artists that have most changed my life are Modest Mouse, Phish, and Led Zeppelin. They all came into my life at different moments when I needed them the most, and forever changed me as a person. These three artists are like best friends. I can always come back to them and be wrapped in a warm musical blanket and shake off loneliness or confusion. People have called my attachment to these bands obsessive/ridiculous/pathetic. Maybe it is. Maybe daydreaming about holding hands with a song is. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I feel sorry for people who have never let something into their soul so openly and vulnerably (be it music or otherwise) that it literally makes you helpless. World music is something everyone ought to at least try out in their life, too. Celtic is my favorite. I see an Irish band each St. Patrick's day, and nothing beats the energy of live Celtic jigs and reels....it is incredible and (maybe this sounds lame) but it energizes my soul. And one of my newest passions/obsessions is belly dancing, which is exciting -- new music to delve into! Now I'm getting into a lot of ethnic, middle-eastern music. World music is a lot of fun. Even tribal Indian chanting, Brazilian pop, anything. It is so rich to listen to. Sorry for the long ass reply. Music truly is my life. My favorite thing in the world is that split second of silence when you first put the needle down a record, that brief moment before the music starts. Nothing like it in the world.
No need whatsoever to apologize for that. Honestly, I don't really need to say much else other than I understand. Those who claim you're attachment to bands and music is "obsessive/ridiculous/pathetic" simply don't. Many thanks for sharing that beautiful way in which you view and associate with music.
Believe me, that was the shortened version! I could ramble forever, which is why I tend to talk a lot with people online about music. All my friends/family are only casual listeners. Casual fans of music don't really care to hear about the ravings of diehard ones. You said you didn't even scrape the surface of what you could have. Feel free to write more, I too enjoy reading about the relationships other people have with music. I think it's one of the best hobbies/lifestyles to have, because you'll never get bored with it. There is always new music to discover. I throw about 90% of my waking life into it, and I still feel like I'm only discovering the tip of the TIP of the iceberg.
Hey, me too. It's a source of never ending amusement for my friends that I do that sort of stuff, but Im fascinated by the way music has progressed over time, and the cultural factors caused it. What is your favourite cover art work? Anyway, about what music has done for me: It sounds really corny and I hate saying it, because it sounds so clich'ed, but music more of less saved my life. I was a big music fan as a kid and I was always into my parents records (They had cool taste: Pink Floyd, Joe Jackson, Creedance etc.). So, because I was so interested in music, my parents bought me a guitar and I made a fairly half arsed attempt at learning to play it. As I got to my early teen years I sort of lost interest in music a bit and stopped playing. I was picked on at high school and I began to develop depression when I was 16. Looking back on that time, it seems like I was a totally different person. I hated everyone and everything. I was hurting myself and looking for ways to die, mainly because I couldnt fit in. Anyway, one day, when I was 17, I bought myself a copy of an Epitaph Records sample disc for some reason (cant remember why). It was the first time Id really listened to punk rock before. Id HEARD punk rock, and I knew what it was, but Id never really listened to it properly. Admittedly, most of the Epitaph bands are pretty tame and they were pretty tame back then as well, I guess, BUT it made a big impression on me: Here were people who didnt fit in at school either, who were probably picked on and were angry as well, and they were making some seriously kick arse music. They didnt give a fuck what other people thought of them. They were proud to not fit in. Hearing that, it was like a signal to me that I wasnt the only person on earth who felt that way. I wasnt alone and there was nothing wrong with me. So, I began to play my guitar again, formed a band with other like minded kids, and life improved. Ive no doubt that it was all due to that music that I heard. If I hadnt have heard them bands, I dont know where I would have been. Anyway, Im older now, and Ive developed a much wider taste in music. Im not as interested in the message the music has these days, as I am in the idea behind the music: As a result I now really like bands like Throbbing Gristle, Black Dice and the Fuck Buttons. Music that most people hate, but I love the ideas behind those artists. Ive still got a soft spot for punk, but Im more discerning about it: Dead Kennedys, PiL, Gang Of Four, Mission Of Burma etc. are some of my favourite bands. Also, earlier this year, I travelled in the Caribean and heard heaps of reggae and dub music (we dont hear much of it here in Australia), so Ive really been getting into that as well. Im facsinated by the way music is so interlinked: Listening to my dub records, it's amazing to think that these artists inspired bands like PiL and Gang Of Four to develop their sound into what it is. It sounds so dissimilar at first, but if you listen, you can hear it in their work. So yeah: All that probably sounds really clich'ed and not that exciting, but that's the way it is for me. If it wasnt for music, I probably wouldnt be here now, and now that Im here, I devote almost all my time to music.
Through music I have found the soundtrack of my soul. I know what song/artist goes where in my life by feeling it. Like a tuning fork, the vibrations hit home deep down inside, like past experiences and feelings resurfacing for the first time in this incarnation. Music has helped me to evolve into the person I have become, and it continues to guide me in whatever endeavor I am doing. Music is that ever-present companion...I can always count on it being there whenever I need it. Its my best consoler, and my best party companion. So what has music done for my life? Music IS my life.
listening to it has made me want to play it... take it and make it my friend... sometimes it's the only one i have... it's always kind
I collect psychedelic/60s cover art most. Some of my favorites are Ten Years After - Ssssh Led Zeppelin - III, Houses of the Holy King Crimson - Lizard, In the Court of the Crimson King The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed (get stoned and look for all the faces hidden in it...I lost count) Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold As Love Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale The Zombies - Odyssey and Oracle
Yes. I really love the cover for Led Zeppelin 3. Something about makes me want to look at it for ages at a time. Id never seen the artwork for Days of The Future Past until a second ago. Nice one! Quite fitting. Im a fan of the late 70's British futurist album covers. If you've ever seen a picture of the Buzzcocks Harmony In My Head single, you'll know what I mean. I like the simplicity of them.
My favorite thing about Led Zeppelin III's cover (and Physical Graffiti) is that they're interactive, lol. I love that you can change the pictures and spin the wheel and all that jazz. I know it seems a silly thing to get excited over, but it's something you miss with a CD. Not to mention the size of album covers is so wonderful....its what got me looking at "Days of Future Passed" in more detail. I first saw it on CD and thought nothing special of it. I saw on vinyl, studied it for awhile, and realized there are dozens and dozens of faces in what I thought was a meaningless blob. I looked up the album cover you like, too. Out of curiosity, do you like the cover of Radioheads "The Bends" too? I know what you mean about simplistic though. One of my very favorite album covers of all time is Phish's "Farmhouse", which is just a picture of the moon carving on the door of an outhouse. But it really makes a beautiful album cover that fits the music like a glove. Also love "The Ugly Organ" by Cursive. I could talk all day about the great artwork artists choose to decorate their albums with.
Yeah, I really like tha artwork that you get where you notice more and more in it everytime you look at it. Ill often sit and study the liner notes and artwork of an album while Im listening to it, and I love the idea of finding something new in it everytime you study it. So, in that, I really like Radiohead's artwork. I love reading all the half sentences and diagrams they scatter through out the liners, because so much of it relates back to the music. In that, you could almost say that their artwork is almost interactive, in the way it tempts you to look for small fragments of it within the music itself.
It's probably been one of the main influences on my sense of identity. It was 90's punk that started things for me and I still have a soft spot for Green Day and the Offspring, even though they are both mainstream as anything else and have been for the past fifteen or so years. Getting further into the whole punk ideology laid those core beliefs about the world and about politics, art theory, individualism and counterculture. It allowed me decide what I wanted to do with my life - write. Later on, bands like Mars Volta, Radiohead and Godspeed You Black Emperor got me into 'experimental/avant-garde' type music and showed me what can be done when people push the boundaries of the norm.
I love all that 60/70s stuff like The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix, Zepp, etc. In terms of relatively modern music I love trance such as Infected Mushroom, 1200 Micrograms, etc.
Wow! I loved reading everyone's replies I can relate to much of it too. 'nothing you can do that can't be done' I guess Music also saved my life. 2000 was a vile and sucky year for me, starting with a horrid trip to mexico with some highly snotty people who didn't feel it was enough to hassle me on the trip they sent e-mails around (so kind of them to cc me) about me. sigh Friends died, I lost my job, I got influenza or soemthing and my cat went nutso and had to be on prozac and hiding away from my mom's cat so he wouldn't kill her. Which meant he and I slept in the basement for months. What a depressing place that used to be!!! I was constantly getting the message from everyone that whatever I was or wanted to be it wasn't 'enough'. Earlier I had purchased a Generation pennywhistle and a book. Since i couldn't get any nice sounds out of it I put it away. Well, in August of 2000 I was in an Irish shop and a little voice bugged me into buying an Irish whistle(why should I buy an Irish one if I can't make the English more expensive one sound good?-but I lost the argument with the little encourager fortunately) I put it away too. But when I was in the basement thinking of tidy and unpainful ways to end it all. Like how to do it without leaving anybody a mess, the little voice was back with a suggestion to get out the Irish whistle. So I did and was hooked! I was so depressed that I probably didn't get out of that bathrobe for six months but I HAD to play every day! Even when I played so much that my jaw hurt and I thought I had TMJ I kept tooting. In February of 2001 I took a music question to my friend and she thought it was so cool that I was teaching myself an instrument that she started giving me free lessons!! Woohoo! So I am still a tooter The music I like to listen to is a bit eclectic. Sorry but I am not into rap or country though. I do like folk from many countries, 60-early 80s rock especially Doors, Hendrix, Santana, EAgles, etc and lots of Celtic and Elfy sounding things....and Asian and middle eastern and Aztec and Incan and and and! Thank the Goddess for music! bb Delfynasa
In my life so far. i think ive been almost everywhere in genres.. 6th grade got into all the punk. very good music i think. up tell 9th grade i listened to it. 9th grade started all hardcore and grindcore. very good music also lol. 10th grade was just mostly Grindcore and Death Metal. over this last summer i have been really interested in Reggae, some rap, and Techno. i love the music when i blaze. 2 pac is one of the most amazing artists ever i believe. If any of you ever have a change i would tell you to go check out Collie Buddz, Andre Nickatina, lil wyte. Right now there on the top of my lists. thanks for reading PEACE
IT kept me alive. I was a shut-in with only two friends who lived far off. I used to listen to Carry on Wayward son and a bunch of music by Boston and it kept me so upbeat that I didn't off myself because in Wayward son it gave me the thought that if I don't give up better days will come around. And they did. I have real friends I never thought I'd have and they are the truest friends I'll ever have. These days now are the best days of my life.
