Loving music is like loving your partner. It’s actually deeper, because you always know where music is, and how it’s going to make you feel. It’s a constant that remains unchanged in a constantly changing world. It’s the ground work that pulls you back where you need to be in the event you float up and away. You can always count on music to take you to another place, another world, and let you feel the way you wish you could feel every day of your life. It’s the safest drug on the planet. If used wisely.
So it’s not a total surprise that my love for music has actually saved me from doing things I would’ve morbidly regretted. I’m sure there’s millions of people who would agree. Music is art, translated into melodious ear porn that is understood a little differently by everyone, yet received exactly the same. Music is film and television liquidated into audio bliss. Music is the most beautiful vision of life. But all me to digress back to my point of this article..
New genres pop up every decade and it’s hard to keep up. My musical evolution began in the early 80s when MTV was born. I’m lucky that way. I was able to see the birth of many talents and their rise to stardom via the likes of MTV and radio. The 80s are when rap and hop-hop was created through rap icons such as RUN DMC and Big Daddy Kane, establishing heavy ground-work for enormous artists like Jay-Z and Kanye. New wave was dictating poofed-up hair and complimenting the skate-boarding, long-black-coat-wearing, dark lip-sticked, mod phase that everyone wanted to be a part of at some point. Madonna was born and is just still – Madonna. I give her her own category, to be at all fair. And all of these genres touch a different part of everyone; some more than others, but nevertheless, the feelings we got from Depeche Mode, Erasure and NWA were all denominated commonly.
However, there is one group of music that (IMO) will never lose its overwhelming mass appeal and sense of unity and understanding. Hard Rock and Metal sought its ground-breaking festival of legends in the late 70s/early 80s. The word “rock n roll” is thought to have originated from several variables. But the term was officially coined by DJ Alan Freed after listening to the song “Sixty Minute Man” by the Dominos. Then as time progressed, the term morphed into simply “rock” , which will describe what’s known today as anything that includes sick electric guitar riffs, bass and drums. (“Where Did The Term Rock n Roll Come From”, Yahoo-http://voices.yahoo.com/where-did-term-rock-n-roll-come-from-845463.html).
Today, “rock” has become a spawn of masterpieces from heavy death metal to progressive rock. “Rock” is the grandparent to all that’s considered “hard”, “heavy” and “thrash”. And if you were to go to a typical rock or metal concert, you are assaulted with mindless hysteria, passed atop cluttered crowds of screamers, just begging to be sweat on or spit at by those worshipped on stage. However moving towards the back of the show, you’ll find heavy-set older men with beards to their bellies and scars on their faces matching the scars in their hearts. They’re the kindest, most gentle humans I’ve ever come across, but from their physical exterior you wouldn’t want to cross them in a dark alley. Those are the types of people who not only listen to but live and breathe metal and rock. Misunderstood, misguided, ostracized humans whose only wish since high school was to fit in, and be loved. If you listen to (many) lyrics of metal music, you will find those same genuine people who are the authors and artists behind even the heaviest songs. And it’s this community of people with whom I’ve always most identified. When I felt lost, I know most metal or rock songs will appease my depression or turmoil. I do agree that Britney Spears can also lift your spirits (Til The World Ends= one of my favorite songs ever), however the depth and insightfulness one can achieve from metal or rock is unparalleled.
So what’s my point here. My POINT is that “rock” music can never leave us, because we need it as a society, for confirmation that everyone is going through the same things. We need it as our drug on which we’ve become wildly dependent, and its absence would send us into a deep depression that society could not handle. Knowing that you are not the only one who’s misunderstood, that just because you have tattoos, pierced nose, split tongue, ear gauges, or pink hair has NOTHING to do with who you are as a person, your level of intelligence or emotional stability. If more people could be rock/metal lovers, maybe there’s be a little more peace and overall kindness in this world. I’m hoping for that day to arrive. But until then, I’d say that rock (n roll) is here to stay.