On music and discovery
In a not-that-long-ago conversation, we chatted about the Beatles. I mentioned my lack of interest regardless of their fame and cultural impact, and was open to listening to a set of recommended songs. And although I enjoyed most of them, I haven't listened to them again.
I asked myself why for a time. Was it the songs themselves? Or does my disinterest come from something else, the fact that they are everywhere, inescapable? Going back through my life, I've never been drawn to the bands at the top. But I wasn't sure if that was principle or just habit, so I went through a process of elimination.
I know it is not me going against what’s popular, even though that seems to be the pattern. I watched Game of Thrones along with the rest of the world when it was out. Same for other TV shows or movies. Maybe it’s different for music?
My first instinct was to say yes. That film is entertainment, while music is art, and so I hold them to different standards. But this conclusion was lazy and unfair. Film has its own artists, its own purpose that exists beneath the noise of the industry.
Industry. That was the root of it. Both film and music have taken the shape of a business. Their value is measured in revenue. This was my real distaste. Not popularity itself, but music made without anything to say. A template of chord progressions, catchy arrangements, and superficial lyrics. Kitsch, art made to sell rather than say something.
Now this conclusion is also a gross generalization. There are popular songs out there, beautifully arranged, that aim to express a feeling or thought from the composer. It is a complicated thing, to separate the art from the business. In truth, one does not need to separate them, as they are not mutually exclusive. And having an elitist point of view is just as distasteful. The idea that music is there to be enjoyed regardless of its characteristics is just as valid.
Journey
Then there was also my prejudice against people that just liked what’s popular, a prejudice that I don’t subscribe to anymore. Not that I thought less of them in any way. Instead, that they took a quick glance at what was out there, and found comfort in the first thing without thinking to themselves: what else is out there? That question drove me through genres and sub-genres, experimenting to find what actually resonated. Perhaps one would buy a random CD from a store, listen to the radio, explore Bandcamp or simply seeing where you landed in the algorithm of a music service.
This is also a journey of self discovery, and an important one in my opinion. You are looking for something that you cannot yet express. Music is the catalyst, a mirror that offers a glance at your very essence. A multifaceted truth, given your experiences, how you feel on a given day. A single melody could bootstrap the first words that would describe your emotions. Music would not give it a shape, but instead reveal its contour to you.
Years ago, one of the first groups I stumbled onto was The Parlour Trick. Even after all these years, their melody still echoes. And from time to time, during nights when I refuse to sleep, I return to them. Like pulling a treasure out of a chest just to admire them, fearing that if I listen to them to often, their effect in me might wear down.
Purpose
Music has always served the same purpose, regardless of time or region: expression. From Gregorian chants tied to religious rituals, to percussion and strings used in ceremony, to whatever synthetic or digital output is used. The form changes, the function doesn't.
And through that purpose is that its application has expanded, and it will continue to do so. A praise during a religious event, a catchy rhythm to listen to when doing chores. Everything goes.
That being said, the surface is not the whole story. If you slow down and listen past the arrangement, past what's familiar, there is a whole world underneath, elusive by nature. I found things about myself through that process that I wouldn't have found any other way. Maybe you will too.
AI Music
Definitions change, for better or worst. Language adapts to humanity, and not the other way around. That fact is something that I embrace no matter what. So I’ll simply say this:
Any work that is meant to express and that is not intrinsically human, I don’t care for, and never will.