For as long as I can remember music has been more important to me than oxygen. I live, breathe and shit music. It may interest you to know that most of my blog titles are either song names or lyrics.
Now I'm not talking about playing music. My guitar is certainly an important part of my life but truth be told I could live fine without it. Listening to music on the other hand keeps me alive. If I ever go deaf I'll have a hard time not committing suicide.
Music is a life force. I love everything about it. I love how listening to just one little song can completely turn your day around, send you from crushingly depressed to overwhelmingly hopeful. I love how some songs seem to be written specifically for me. How their lyrics sum up exactly how I feel, or tell stories that appear to be from my own life. I love how a catchy riff or beautiful melody can get stuck in my head for weeks at a time and become the soundtrack to that part of my life. I even love arguing with people about genres and personal taste.
Music brings people together. You can be standing in line to get into a gig and start up a conversation with the person next to you, and your shared love for the artist you're about to watch erases the shyness and awkwardness often experienced when talking to strangers. You may only have one band in common, but that mutual taste will make you the best of friends, and even if you never see them again you'll remember them for the rest of your life. Some of the best friends you'll ever make will be at gigs, and you don't even have to know their name.
Music is personal, especially the lyrics. When you listen to the lyrics you're listening to something true. Someone wrote those lyrics to tell a story, maybe about their life, maybe about someone else's. Maybe they're just describing a particular feeling. Maybe the whole song is just a joke, something written for fun while inebriated. Whatever they're about, when you really concentrate on those lyrics you can know the person who wrote them better than you know some of your friends.
Music is comforting. When you're sad a sad song will make you feel better. Knowing that someone else once felt just like you helps you remember that things always get better, no matter how bad the situation you're in is. Songs can give you hope, even if it's just a little bit. Enough to get you through the day. Angry music helps you vent. Turning the volume right up and letting out all you're anger is better than any punching bag or stress ball. Quiet music relaxes you. Just plug in the headphones and walk. It doesn't matter which direction you go, just walk and listen and feel the stress slip away.
In my opinion the best way to listen to music is by yourself with your headphones, or at a live gig. As fun as music is when you're surrounded by your friends, I think you can better enjoy it when you're on your own with no distractions. It seems more personal then. As for live, there's nothing better than seeing the actual musicians who wrote the songs you love performing them for you while surrounded by thousands of people who love them too. The way artists feed off and interact with their audiences is just amazing.
I would truly be lost without my music. It's helped me through so much, and my mood and emotions are so in tune with what I listen to that I'd be a completely different person without it. I'm going to tell you about a few of my favourite songs.
(*fin) - Anberlin: This is my absolute favourite song of all time and will be for the rest of my life. I love everything about it, from the melancholic acoustic guitars to the biblical crescendo to the quiet, sad second half. This song is my life. The lyrics are beautiful and the four separate stories come together under one theme that I can relate to on such a deep level that it still astounds me. In essence the song is about Stephen Christian's (lead singer/songwriter in Anberlin) struggle with his faith, something I've been through. Even though the lyrics are on the surface far from happy, the whole song has an undertone of hope that's impossible to ignore and can cheer me up no matter what mood I'm in. The build up from slow acoustic start is amazing and when the climax comes crashing in my heart soars. When the choir starts singing the backing vocals it gives me goosebumps every fucking time. When it finally slows down you start to get your breath back and think it's over, but the drumbeat continues, sporadic guitar comes out of nowhere, and all of a sudden Stephens haunting, high pitched vocals fill your head. This entire part of the song was all improvised during the recording. None of it was written or planned and no one knows what the actual lyrics are, which only makes it more amazing.
Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap: I am forever indebted to The Temper Trap for getting me through my exams last semester. I was feeling pretty damn shit and unable to concentrate on anything other than my depression. I couldn't study or revise, all I could do was sit and stare at the computer and I eventually gave up. Then I went and sat on the steps outside the cafe. I put my iPod in and started playing this song, and everything got better. It wasn't an instant change. I sat there for several hours just listening to this over and over again, with the volume turned way up, and eventually all the shit drained away and I felt happy again. And incredibly hopeful. Not for anything in particular, I just felt like anything could happen and that all my problems would work out in the end. I think I said it best when I said "This song played at top volume with headphones in is like alcohol without the negative side effects." Seriously, do yourself a favour and put this on your MP3 player of choice, plug in a decent set of headphones and turn the volume up as high as it can go. Right from the start the whole song is uplifting. The delay-soaked guitar riff, the falsetto verses and the soaring chorus all fit together perfectly.
Sum 41 - Fat Lip: This band will always be my favourite band, even when I'm old and wrinkly. This is the defining song of my teenage years, and the song that turned me from "fan" to "obsessed". It's just so much fun. It's not a song to be taken seriously but the perfect song to listen to when you're feeling slightly rebellious. Lyrically it's about giving the middle finger to society and anyone who tries to tell you what to do, musically it's just a really fun, bouncy pop-punk song. It also has an awesome music video.
I could go on for ages but I wont. I don't expect everyone to feel the same way I do about those songs, everyone has their own taste, but I hope you check them out so you can understand what I'm talking about.
