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I remember, growing up, my father listening to Paul Simon, Warren Zevon and The Kinks in the car as I drifted off to sleep on the way to grammar school. I remember the summer I was a camp counselor, sitting on the bus with The Who and "The White Album" blasting out of ear buds into my ears. I remember lying in bed listening to Pete Yorn the first night I knew heartbreak. And I remember dancing to Interpol with my closest friends as we waved goodbye to the life we knew in high school.
Music can create a map of our lives; it can be in our very blood. But so often I think we overlook it as nothing more than a background distraction.
Music has always been an important part of my life, one for which I have always held a certain kind of bewildered reverence. I attempted to learn how to play the piano, and for years I convinced myself I could sing (imagine a deaf humpback whale trying to hit Thom Yorke's falsetto). But soon enough I realized my place is in front of the speakers, in the crowd, singing along with tunes loud enough to drown out my droning.
Music holds a special place in my heart, and I imagine it holds a special place in most people's hearts. I believe music of any kind is an intrinsic human characteristic, right up there with the ability to love and the inclination to deceive.
Music is the essence of our being in so many different ways. It is a mirror of our dreams, desires, heartaches and passion.
Music has the ability to stir up memories that bring someone back to the place where he or she was deeply affected by it. Each one of the artists I listed in the first paragraph can bring be me back to those places without warning, without any attempt on my part.
My mother never really cares what is seeping through the speakers. She always lets me control the radio dial as she drives. Yet each time Rod Stewart's "Maggie May" plays, she'll sit in the car until it's finished. She loves that song more than I've ever seen anyone love a song before. I'm sure she will make her first Jazz Fest appearance in years in hopes that he will play it.
As Craig Finn of The Hold Steady puts it, "Certain songs get so etched into our souls."
This summer I attended the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. Music drove more than 80,000 people to one farm in Manchester, Tenn., for three days, void of showers, beds, shelter (save for tents) and running water. It was all so these people could watch in awe as their favorite artists played the one thing that, at least for me, can be more powerful than anything else in this world - live music.
Rapper Eminem describes his reason for playing music as, "That's why we sing for these kids who don't have a thing/except for a dream and a f*cking rap magazine ... Or for anyone who's ever been through sh*t in their lives/'Til they sit and they cry at night wishing they die/'Til they throw on a rap record and sit and they vibe."
The philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche puts it a little more elegantly, claiming that "Without music, life would be a mistake."
Whether Justin Timberlake, AFI, the Arcade Fire or Lil' Boosie is your favorite, music surrounds us. It permeates almost every activity in which we try to take part. To see a football game without hearing Queen's "We Are the Champions," Blur's "Song 2" or Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out?" is a crime. And to begin the game without our National Anthem would bring anarchy.
Whether or not we like to admit it, music is a part of our souls. I love music, and I hope I always will.
Because the day I stop loving music is the day life becomes a mistake.
And here is a list of media you should appreciate.
MUSIC
February 20
Or Give Me Death by Aqueduct The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse by The Besnard Lakes Strength In Numbers by Calla King For a Day by Bobby Conn City Beach by Jill Cunniff You Can't Win by Dolorean All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone by Explosions in the Sky Tones of Town by Field Music The Cost by The Frames Atlantis: Hymns For Disco by k-os The Return To Form Black Majick Party by Magic Numbers Slightly Sorry by PG Six Dressed Up for the Let Down by Richard Swift Sex Change by Trans Am
MOVIES
February 14
NATIONAL Music and Lyrics Daddy's Little Girls
LIMITED Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Close to Home
February 16
NATIONAL Ghost Rider Breach Bridge to Terabithia
LIMITED Avenue Montaigne The Last Sin Eater Starter for 10
DVDS
February 20
American Hardcore Babel Crossover Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing Flushed Away For Your Consideration The Godfather of Green Bay Going Shopping Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Keeping Mum Lunacy Man of the Year The Prestige Zerophilia
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