Whether people are conforming to the conformers or unwittingly conforming to the “non-conformists,” they are still conforming. When it comes to taste in music, it should only be about what speaks to an individual in an honest way and makes that person want to feel something, or maybe learn something – or at least hit something, break something, hold something, or love something. Tastes in music can not only vary by artist, but can also vary song to song – I may treasure a certain recording artist or band, yet be lukewarm on certain songs they create. My respect for the artist will not waiver, however, even if I don’t choose to listen to a song more than once or twice. Songs are subjective, of course, and are inexorably wrapped around our life experiences, memories, and emotions. But one thing that should never be factored in is peer pressure or someone else’s opinion about what you like or don’t like or what is or isn’t perceived as “cool.” The coolest thing you can do in this world is be YOU and be proud of what you like or don’t like. Now that doesn’t mean one can’t remain open-minded and have a willing spirit when it comes to exposure to new musical ideas or genres! But at the end of the day, every song is sending its signal, as if over a specific frequency or antenna, and a person is either receiving on that frequency or they aren’t! Sometimes it seems that every person I know is high on some song, and despite my best efforts, I cannot taste what they are tasting. In contrast, I may also be peddling some song that I’ve recently discovered, and nobody is buying. And that is perfectly OK! So I loved Neil Diamond from the time I could walk and I was only kid in grade school who knew every cut he ever recorded, while all the other kids probably knew “America” if they were lucky. I never felt the desire to please others with my musical interests. Some people only like what is popular, which is limiting, especially when what is popular at the moment, is often without a lot of merit. But equally limiting (and pretentious if you ask me) is only liking what isn’t popular! Rock some indie stuff if you want – that’s great! Found a band that nobody else knows about? That’s fine too. But what really matters is how a song affects you and you alone. I despise genres! In my fantasy world, which I live in too often perhaps, you walk into a record store and the albums are all categorized A-Z and that’s that. Put Mozart right there beside Moby. Find Coltrane and Coldplay right there together. Who cares about categories? I don’t like labels on people, and I don’t need labels on what music I like.
The more difficult question is does one person’s superior knowledge of music entitle him or her to “pull rank” over a person who lacks musical knowledge or experience or training? Since I have a music degree and own my own music school, am I higher on the food chain when it comes to evaluating the worth of a song? “You only think you like that song because you don’t know any better,” says the master. The reality is I may dismiss or devalue a song based on what I know – the beat sounds exactly like this other song, the changes are not very inventive, the vocal has too much auto-tune, not enough auto-tune, boy I wish they had used a different reverb on that snare, why if I had mixed that song, I would have scooped a half decimal off that 2K frequency, blah blah – and everything I’m saying may be true and accurate, and that may well ruin the experience for me. But it may have absolutely no affect whatsoever on the person listening beside me. And after I go to great lengths to explain to that person why the song is not nearly as strong as he thinks it is, he says something like, “Yeah I guess, but my dad used to play it all the time in the car, and my dad’s not around anymore, but this song reminds me of him.” That’s sort of a mic drop moment, right? What does the musical expert say to change his buddy’s feelings? And why would he want to anyway? The truth is that while I may be deeply annoyed by what I consider to be a lot of subpar content being unleashed on an ignorant, unsuspecting army of followers, I am neither the judge nor jury. It is not my job to play Moses and free the Israelites from the Pharaoh, if you follow the overreaching analogy. Because the simple truth is that art is not created to play to the mind, but rather the heart. No measure of detailed analytics on a piece of music can ever stand up against a genuine emotional response, whatever that emotion or response may be.
So I ask only this from anyone reading this blog (and by the way, let’s get more people reading this blog, shall we? Please share and join the conversation): just rock your own taste in music! Don’t like just what the radio stations tell you to like, but don’t dismiss everything just because it’s on the radio. Those tactics are extreme and leave no room in the middle for YOU. There is a vast grey area where we can individually tune into our channel and receive that which we are independently tuned into. Keep your antenna up and your curiosity alive, but don’t pretend you do or don’t like something because of someone else’s judgment of it. I love Van Halen with all my heart. But I also love Air Supply – there I said it. And I don’t care for the Rolling Stones, who are considered the second greatest band by most critics, right behind the Beatles! I don’t hate the Rolling Stones, nor would I show them or their music disrespect. Any band that makes that much music and does it for as long as they’ve done it has my complete and total respect and admiration. But I don’t listen to them, and I don’t feel anything from their music. What’s wrong with me? I don’t know, and I don’t care. It isn’t my flaw, and it certainly isn’t theirs! They have put out their signal over the mystical airwaves, and I am just not tuned to receive it. And then comes the village idiot with “So you don’t like classic rock?” Seriously? How did we just take this leap? Remember every band lives beyond their genre. And every song lives beyond it’s album. In fact, every little measure lives outside of the song which contains it!! I think Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” is a mediocre song, but I’ll be the first to say what a beautiful pre-chorus it has (“Do you wanna play with magic…”).
Let’s start a revolution where we all just like what we like and say what we like. Don’t be shy – step out there on that ledge and recklessly boast your preferences in front of God and country. The songs we love are sacred. Listen without boundaries, without judgement, and especially without worrying about what your friend might think. Make sure the soundtrack for your life is authentic and customized just for you. The rest is a waste of time, a grand illusion. Hey, speaking of “Grand Illusion,” I love the band Styx too. Yep critics are cynical about them, and I even have a few musical colleagues who give me a hard time about that. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what they’re missing, and they it seems can’t figure out what I am getting. Music has power that is not of this planet, and we as spiritual beings are subject to its orphic ways. Turn off your thinking cap and just absorb. Free yourself of stereotypes and ridiculous proclamations like, “Oh I don’t like country music.” New rule: there is no country music. No rock & roll, no jazz, no classical, and no pop. There are now just songs we like, to varying degrees perhaps, and songs we don’t. Closing our minds to entire genre or an entire artist is to deny the opportunity to put that one special song – that one you’ve been missing and didn’t even know it – onto your life’s soundtrack. Clear the mechanism of all the outside noise, the comments from the peanut gallery. Nobody knows you. Know yourself. Nobody feeds you. Feed yourself. Grow in the strength of your quiet convictions. Be brave – it’ll only hurt for a second…