Stumbled onto, well, music

 

I know what you are thinking. If every time she listened to music we got a blog post, the feed would be overflowed. That would be the case were I a regular listener of music, which I am not. I think it is fair to say that since July 4^th I have listened to nothing but Hamilton. That is the only intentionally chosen music for my hearing pleasure. And prior to Hamilton it must be about two, maybe three years that I have abandoned music for the sake of podcasts. But it used to be the case that I was a music fanatic. It used to be a fear of mine that this blog would only revolve around music (see first posts). It used to be that I frequented over the NME site to discover new bands and catch up on which Gallagher brother had the more inspired insult that week. But those are all things of the past and I can now vaguely remember the difference between ‘Wake Up’ by Arcade Fire and ‘Wake Up’ by Rage Against the Machine. But one day, as I was walking the dog, I caught myself singing a tune unrelated to the American revolution and the founding fathers.

The reason I stopped listening to music still holds. Stress. I found music left a bit too much free space for the mind to wander and this mind tended to wonder to very stressful places; people died, it wasn’t pretty. Podcasts, on the other hand, occupy a lot more attention as they are novel, informative and rarely induce any negative emotions (hold ‘The Wilderness’, which attempts to understand/explain Trump’s rise to power). I am aware of how pathetic my abstinence from music sounds, but it really hasn’t been all that bad. Conan O’Brien had Dave Grohl on his podcast the other week, which, I’ve convinced myself, is music adjacent. The other reason I haven’t gone back is that I feel there is now too much ground to cover. Since I abandoned music, indie rock has formally given hip-hop the revolution mantle and I never deeply understood hip-hop. Also, members from fluffy boybands have shifted from generic pop to critical acclaim and Billie Eilish apparently has more than three songs and I am therefore very confused. As I said, it is just too much ground to cover.

I have found it, as of late, very difficult to explain what kind of music I listen to or provide any examples. Having been that inactive, I am stuck in between being a member of the ‘I have no opinion on what we listen to’ and the ‘I judge people that don’t like Radiohead’ clubs; I don’t deserve the second membership. But I do remember that I love Radiohead! After my walk featuring internal sing-alongs of Alt-J, and Wolf Alice, and We Are Scientists I couldn’t stop thinking that none of these bands would exist if it weren’t for Radiohead. But once again, fears of pretentiousness prevent me from using Radiohead as a compass to my taste in music. You can’t go around telling people that you want to listen to ‘Everything in its Right Place’ and sometimes you don’t want to either; it does sound like the soundtrack of a psychotic, old man bathing with a rubber duck. There is a time and place for it, is what I am saying. I used to point to Muse, my long-term favourite band, but they have rather screwed me over with their Second Laws and their Drones and I now have to follow up and specify that they acquired the ‘Favourite Band’ title back in Absolution times. I could say Rage Against the Machine but my presence does not immediately signal ‘Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me’ and it gets people confused. I could say Foals, but then people think I am cooler than I am and I can’t have these sorts of misaunderstandings. I could say the Smiths, but I am not fifty, at least in objective years. And lastly, I could say Marina and the Diamonds but I am not that sexually liberated. And that is one sexy woman. The whole thing is a minefield!

I came back from my walk with Leyla (aka, the dog) with a newfound sense of excitement (Pun not intended. Pun not necessarily understood unless you know Leyla’s breed). I vowed to listen to music. Maybe listen to some as I work out. Maybe organise my desk at the same time. Maybe just sit back and enjoy music in a ceremonial manner. I did nothing. The prospect quickly seemed incredibly boring, so I put on another podcast. And then spent a good 30 minutes laughing at My Dad Wrote a Porno. And then googled some random fact from No Such Thing as a Fish. And then began making up excuses about why I didn’t enter this long-awaited music trance. For example, I am behind on my podcasts and so close to finishing up His Dark Materials and have about 20 videos queued up on YouTube. Who has time for music? Especially with no concerts on the horizon. Nope, it wasn’t fear of entering an emotion provoking situation, not at all.

I might not be ready yet to indulge into rhythm and melody and instead opt for time-consuming comedy podcasts, but maybe, just maybe I can convince myself that it is safe to listen to the Dandy Warhols and not contemplate on every choice I have made since adulthood. I mean, ‘I got it woohoo got it, got it’ is not likely to break me, is it?

Also, decided to make a Spotify playlist to accompany this post, as procrastination kicked in and writing a blog post just didn’t take up enough time. So enjoy some music from a thousand years ago.

 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6MbUFec5ZpKJnItVzARXlM?si=QmalsNJyR7qiEDofVHsw5A