Wednesday, February 23, 2011

My Cultural Identity


            My individual culture can best be described simply with an mp3 player. I have grown up with music being a key part in my life. My father being a musician, played music nonstop since I was born. When I listen to music I listen to each sound and beat, reading the lyrics in my head as the song plays. The newly learned ideals being remembered, only to be sorted later while in deep thought. Many of my morals and ideas come from the music I have heard throughout life.  Not following popular culture is a philosophy I have adopted from understanding music. I feel that some forms of popular media can control culture, and I think it can destroy some individualism. With every song played I gain knowledge and distrust society more and more. Without music I would not have thought about how people are used as pawns so other people can live comfortably without worry.
            While growing up I have gone through many phases and each phase can be recorded with the introduction of a new artist or genre. From my discovery of punk to my new found love of classic rock,  each leap of direction is started by profound life experiences. Even today when I play Nirvana my memory of my child hood flashes before my eyes. I remember it playing on my clock radio as I bounced around my room in a state of total anarchy, flinging legos about and screaming at the top of my lungs. As I started school pop music was the thing to love, and like any fad I was pulled into the stream unaware of the lameness. As I began to question my surroundings as I grew older and wiser. While in middle school I discovered the punk ideology and rebelliousness. I continued hating rules developing a strong disgust for the government.  Shoplifting and being untruthful were daily things I were involved with. I still feel a strong dislike toward society and the laws I was forced to abide by.   As I entered high school I changed my mood toward classic rock and became accustomed to the more relaxing music. Listening to this music made me feel closer to my parents who grew up with classic rock.  As I started smoking sensimilla, I began listening to sublime gaining much insight from their music. With each step in complexity and simplicity I gained knowledge. I became completely vexed by the inciting beat of the drums. With each change in tempo, my mood shifts.
            As I go through the day I think of the musicians life and what their life lessons can teach me. I think of the lifelong struggles they may have faced, and how I can use them to free me from my life's prison. I  am an individual who is full of energy. Music helps me set my problems aside, get up and go.  Each day helping me escape my peers and the boring lifestyle they are accustomed too. Music gives me that tingly feeling in my gut that tells I can do anything. To me it is the fuel that bounces me to work or to school. As I listen to music it reminds me of the time I first listened to it. I feel the mood and see the surroundings as if it were dejavu.
            Music is the best form of philosophy because music isn't bias. The sounds draw you in and trap you, letting the words rip at your mind. Attention is always focused on the melody while subliminally processing the meaning. We challenge or ideas and remake our beliefs while stuck following the rhythm. My culture is always changing with every realization and every conversation. I chose an mp3 player because as I grow so does my library and my memories.

33 comments:

  1. Very astute observation man. You could also say up that we use mp3 player to cover the ugliness of our world.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah music is definitely mood altering. It can totally change the way I react in a situation depending on what I'm listening to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree entirely.
    Music is a great 'escape from reality' for everyone.
    And with the amount of genres there are, its quite easy for everyone to be able to enjoy some type of music.
    Nice post

    ReplyDelete
  4. agreed. music seems to always be on my mind. There is always a song in my head when i'm at work, taking a test, or trying to fall asleep. I think it goes like that for everyone - some people just don't notice it

    ReplyDelete
  5. Music alters perception, and it's an extremely powerful thing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Like alcohol and drugs, music is one of those things that will help you through certain periods of your life.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yep, our cultural identity is what defines us as a person.

    ReplyDelete
  8. its good to know someone else who appreciates music for its complexity, instead of just "oh yea, thats cool sounding"

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree, keep an ecletic playlist for an eclectic life.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've always been into music in a big way but never actually connected with it, until I started taking in Led Zeppelin a few years back. Some music you feel rather than just listen to.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think that this describes my own life completely. You know me better than i know myself! Definitely followed :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Music is the best form of philosophy because music isn't bias. The sounds draw you in and trap you, letting the words rip at your mind. Attention is always focused on the melody while subliminally processing the meaning. We challenge or ideas and remake our beliefs while stuck following the rhythm. My culture is always changing with every realization and every conversation.

    Music, the great communicator, use three stick to make it in the nature - as RHCP say.

    People tend to forget that the speach and language is tamed sound, thus more rigid then music and not the other way around. Just found a great artist on a blog I am reading/following. Check out Nicolas Jaar [not sure if the blogger that posted about him is related coz of the same last name ;) ]

    Cheers
    Be well

    ReplyDelete
  13. Very well written. I think the same way but I never could've written this.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Music is the best thing known to me, I enjoyed reading this post! I'm a musician myself and my life circles around it somehow.

    ReplyDelete
  15. My musical tastes also shift depending on my life stage.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bloody deep post there! Wasn't ready for that.

    I couldn't live without music, it definately plays a major part in my life.

    Following

    ReplyDelete
  17. Music is a very imporant part of my life too mate!

    ReplyDelete
  18. as they say, put on headphones and ignore the world. great post was intriguing

    ReplyDelete
  19. i've read a very interesting book about that, its french, 'Les Identitées meurtrières - Aamin Maalouff

    ReplyDelete
  20. I can trace my personal evolution through music. I sometimes listen to music from my past and think of how I used to be back then and how that music influenced me.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Pretty true, I agree with you there.

    ReplyDelete
  22. ya different music depending on what your doing or your mood.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Deep stuff. Great post. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Some anthropologists believe music ie rhythm is one of the missing links in evolution. I have to agree as music reaches deep into my soul. Nice post.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I agree! Good post, you have my support.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Music is definitly not bias. Good call i like that. I was raised on music so much more than TV. I am now a musician in several bands and play multiple instruments. i want to play forever.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Music is a drug and an art. It can change you at the current time, or/and change you over time in different ways

    ReplyDelete

analytics