Breaking out to get into the new
After a while,
or rather, an age, I realize that people tend to grow attached to one form of
music or another. Yes, that is you West Coast Swing DJs! Not everyone, just a
few guilty ones. *death glare* you know who you are.
 |
| Lost in a moment...Heh |
Regardless of
the decade you grew up in, everyone has a music tell.
People around
my parents’ age have music that range from the Beach Boys, Barry Manilow, DeepPurple, Elvis, to the Rolling Stones or Led Zepplin for
the more rebellious. Which brings me to
the point of this post – what is your music tell and how the hell do you break
new music in?
You don’t have
one? Tsk, tsk... What song pops into your head when you’re stressed or need
something to sing to or are driving? A lot of people turn to the music that
they grew up to and that is the music that often soothes them. A lot of dancers
I know have a few pieces that they practice to, but that’s it. Once they are
out of the practice room, they actually listen to a lot of music to prep
choreography, incorporate different styles add flavor to their pieces.
Not many
people actually break out of the musical genres that they love. I am guilty of
this too. A child of the 80s, I grew up in a family that loved live music,
Motown, rock, blues and slick funkadelic sounds. Music was about the beat,
groove and voices that influenced generations of musicians and
audiophiles.
I loved and
still love all my pop confections. They grew into a love for the 80s rockers,
the gravelly angst of grunge and then in the 90s it was hello Britpop and where
the hell did all these awesome bands come from? There were the happy-sounding
beats but what made it so different was the lyrics were smart. There was no ‘I’m so lonesome I could die’, instead it was
about girls who liked boys who need girls who are boys or boys who wanted to wear my face like you, Shiseido MAC and Maybelline and OMG, Take That! A boy band with a member who actually
wrote their lyrics. Damn! Thanks to friends, I let more influences in by
attending a shitload of concerts and musicals. I also briefly worked for a
local music outlet whose staff resembled the staff in Empire Records. The HighFidelity characters where what we eventually grew up to be. Some of us still
make mixed tapes, we have lists for almost every mood and some of us can only
express our feelings through the songs of others, because, who else can be as
eloquent?
But breaking
out of our staid musical cycles is a journey of discovery. Only you will know
what you like…I tried several times to get into the Radiohead madness but all I
liked were three or four songs. I can’t fathom dance music and all its
different genres, some country makes me glassy eyed and classical music, let’s
not go down there.
To break out
of your cycle, I’d suggest listening to as many different types of artists that
you can. Spread yourself out to different genres, ask your friends what they
like and see if you like it too. Who knows what you’ll find? I found artists
like Florence + the Machine, Mumford & Sons and M83. Recently, I've recently rediscovered my love for blues and am tracking down some new artitsts.
So, don’t get
stuck in a rut. Try some new music today. Just like this fella...
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