Immersed In Music

I went to a gig last night, it was for a band known as Turisas. Most people will not know of them or heard any of their music, but I was watching them and it got me thinking, thinking about music and its impact on me and my life as a whole.

I have a huge variety of music loves, there are a lot which tread into the heavier end of the spectrum and a lot which go the other way too.

In terms of the heavier end of the spectrum, this goes into rock, metal and many of the ranges within this field. A lot of people have dubbed this as loud and aggressive and I've even had it coined to me as scary music. Its interesting to note different peoples concepts and ideas when it comes down to music, especially the metal genre. I mean, why is it considered scary music? Sure its loud, sure theres shouting and screeching and screaming within it, but scary? I'm not too sure. Any music genre could be considered as scary, it's entirely a matter of perception and up to a certain degree the persons mood at the time.

I love my music and what I listen to, naturally (I'm hardly going to hate it now am I?). There are several reasons for this. It's down to the expressions which can be shown through the music itself. Sure metal for example comes across as loud and harsh and aggressive but that perception just doesn't sit with me. Areas of it yes, but contained within it are expressions of love, hate, happiness, ecstasy, sadness and disillusionment amongst many other emotions. Dependant on my mood, I can really connect to what the music is playing and what the band are emoting.

This doesn't stay with the heavier end of the spectrum either, many different genres of music show various themes and emotions which I can connect to, it's why I love it so much. Sometimes there is nothing better to have something heavy and beat driven playing like say, Soulfly. By the same way though, there are many occasions where I can find nothing better than to be listening to music almost minimalistic in its nature and design such as the early ambient works of Aphex Twin or the trance based works of Sasha or Deadmau5. Hell I even own Dido and The Cranberries in my collection amongst many others, like I say I have music tastes which are diverse as anything.

The one thing here is that I don't conform to the normal standard of liking a brand of music and thats it. Some people do and that is fine, but for me I like to branch out and get a taster for other areas too. This does however mean that in terms of conformity, what people see and view of me differs to what is generally considered to be the look for a genre. Example in point, most people to look at me would not immediately think that I liked metal music whatsoever, namely as I have no tattoos or piercings, my hair is short etc. This isn't to deride those who do look like that by any means, some cool people I know have what would be considered to be the atypical look of someone into that style of music. The same applies to other genres too.

But I quite like that though. I quite like the fact that I don't conform to the social norms, the fact that people will be and have been taken by surprise at what I'm listening to at any time. Its what I am, I'm not anything else other than just me.