It's What's Music to my Ears

Hey everyone!

Happy Monday and here’s to a great week! Hope you had a fun weekend, mine was covered in snow and then quickly replaced with exhaust-stained slush. At least I’ve always assumed that it was car exhaust that turned the snow black. More than likely it’s just the dirt and mud kicked up from the wheels but the idea of the exhaust being the culprit is a bit more dramatic, don’t you think? I’ll give it a quick Google search once I’m done with this post. Anyway, it’s looking like it’s going to get chilly in my neck of the woods this week. Not looking forward to that, I’m much more of a summer and warmer weather guy myself. That’s not to say that the winter doesn’t have its perks, it’s just that summer is a far superior time of year and frankly I hate being cold. I will say that I have begun to enjoy the views, especially in wooded areas where the snow cakes on the sides of trees and on branches. So long as I’m in a heated car it’s a nice and even soothing time. I can’t complain about the food and drinks either, chicken soup and hot chocolate are delicious, but something I obviously wouldn’t touch in warmer weather. All in all, I still prefer the warm weather with its beach fun, cookouts, and how full of life that time of year is in comparison to winter but over time I think I’ve developed an appreciation for the colder time of year. On a different note, I recently had dinner at a Hard Rock Café with my family. It was the first time I was eating there, and it was fantastic. The service staff were great both in conversation and in their work. The food was far better than I expected. Even at barbecue-oriented restaurants I find it rare that any place has good barbecue food. I had ordered ribs and pulled pork and let me tell you, wow what meal! Easily the best sauce that I have tasted and the meat itself was cooked perfectly; I could slide the bone out of the meat without any hassle. The coleslaw was good too but I’m picky with my slaw, so I didn’t go crazy over it. Finally, I loved the atmosphere and décor, especially seeing different posters, covers and pictures of all the various musical artists, predominantly rock of course. Then of course was the music that was playing, I couldn’t find a song I didn’t like! Now of course music taste is subjective, and rock isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I think most people would be hard pressed to dislike the music. So, with the stage set lets dive into today’s topic!

I was a huge fan of rock and its various incarnations and offshoots when I was growing up and even today, I still listen to it. Some of the earliest music I can remember listening to were from bands such as Rush, The Beach Boys and Green Day. As I’ve said in a previous post, I also listened to Rob Zombie’s music as well. For a long time, Green Day was my favorite but then I moved on to other bands. Linkin Park took the favorite band position for a time, then it went on to Ozzy Osbourne and then Three Days Grace in middle school. That last one was definitely a trend based on how many people I’ve met who have said the same thing. Talk about everyone being edgy. It would tone down as I got older and listened to various other artists. Some examples would be The Black Keys, Bon Jovi, Collective Soul, Michael Jackson, and many others. I even started listening to classical music thanks to a close friend of mine. I will admit though I never took to rap in my early years, I always turned my nose up at it. It wasn’t my aesthetic, not my sound. At least that’s what I believed and told myself. Nowadays I do find some rap tunes that I listen to and I’m always happy when I find more but overall, it’s still a genre I’ve yet to submerge myself in like I have with other genres.

Do soundtracks for films, shows, and games fall into their own genre, or do they fall into existing genres? I suppose the argument could be made to say both, but I’ll take the side of them falling into their own genre that just so happens to be inspired by existing genres. Although it could be said that soundtracks are a subgenre. A discussion for another day I suppose. I happen to enjoy soundtracks from several different games, shows, and films. I think I may have listened to the soundtrack for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy too much because I can pick up just about any song just from hearing the first few notes, but Howard Shore did an amazing job with the soundtrack, so I don’t feel bad about it. You can find another great soundtrack from The Witcher 3. I’ve found myself listening to that soundtrack just as much as I have with Lord of the Rings. I also enjoy the soundtracks from Tron: Legacy and Blade Runner 2049 which are a big difference from the previous soundtracks I’ve listed with the use of more electric sounds as opposed to more “classical” instruments.

I think part of what’s driven me to listen to more artists and different genres is my experience with playing music. As a kid I was in chorus however with the onset of puberty my voice went from something decent to nails on a chalkboard. I also played guitar for several years, but I was never any good and I certainly didn’t take to it. Honestly, I just wanted to play songs that I listened to. A bit later in life I played drums in a band and loathed it. Then I even experimented with piano as a leisure activity. Reflecting on my experience with playing music my answer was simple, I wanted to be great immediately, and I sure as hell didn’t have the patience to put in the sheer amount of time to develop the skills. Even today I still don’t. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised I never got bitter about the whole thing. It turned out to be quite the opposite in fact. I respected all musicians so much more for their dedication to their craft; to me it was amazing. I wished to find something that I could be passionate about like they were about music and thankfully I have.

Music is certainly fascinating. I mean, it’s just wild how sounds from various objects and people mixed together can evoke certain emotions from us. For me, power metal makes me feel optimistic, like I can take on the world, meanwhile “fantasy” music fills me with a sense of wonder. Taking a step back to think about it, the question crossing my mind is “why?” Why does music make us feel certain ways? Why do we prefer some music over others? Is it something akin to learned behavior or just the way our brains are hardwired? I guess I’ll have to give this a Google search as well. If anyone has the answer, please leave a comment, I would love to learn why.

Let’s wrap this post up, shall we? Have any of you played or currently play an instrument? Tell me about your experience with it in a comment! Also, feel free to leave a comment about what music you like, and if you have any song/band recommendations let me know! If you’re anywhere that’s getting hit with the cold and the snow, stay warm! If you like the snow – enjoy. I hope you have a great week and thanks for reading.

Best,

Aaron Kirby