Hello world, Hello blind world!! we meet again.
If you have not read part one of this blog post, i have to advise you do so.
Continuing from Part-1, where i basically had to play numb to some shallow opinions by certain friends regarding my music of choice and how they basically tore me apart for it, by means of mockery and jibes.
Now after their frivolities, and there was a degree of sanity in the room, we sat back to continue where we had stopped on our conversation. I initiated the first question and this question was; why or what makes you call my music of choice satanic and yours non-satanic ? whats this satanism attached to what i listen to ?
First answer i got said the album arts on the cover of the albums are extremely dark and holds a high degree of esoteric meaning and cannot be regarding as mere art, that they pass some evil message into the minds of listeners and whosoever sees the image. Things get worst on the second answer which is, the sound of the music is extremely aggressive and violent, and the guy who is supposed to be singing is screaming as if like a man possessed by some demon or evil spirit and it's very violent in act, and this violence can be associated with the devil that has possessed him. So the reason they say, that makes their music not satanic is because it's calm and talking about love, pleasant to the ears, melodious, groovy, and mostly just about life, having fun and enjoying yourself. This is as shallow as people can get!. I smiled at their responses, took a deep breathe and told them i have to make them know something they don't know, how to put it ? what they are blind to, especially regarding art.
I begun by first making them understand that you can only attempt to understand or explain a work of art from your perspective of things, and from this subjective view, conclusions cannot be attained. To fully understand any piece of work, the author most first share with you the spirit of the work, and the intended meaning. So to apply this to the art form 'Music" (i believe music is an art form), i related this ideology to the album arts, and how wrongly people are quick to judge music and the desired intent by album covers/imagery, instead of appreciating the aesthetic and creative mind that birth such art, because in the end it all just art. The intent is not to scare, but to build an ambiance that does not conform to the orthodox system of the average society, not as unto rebellion, but as to make clear the point "this is a different territory, you'll have to let go of your orthodox views of things and be willing to have an open mind and be willing to appreciate this art form in its entirety, by so doing possessing a different view of things", this is one way to put it (i will talk about the unorthodox mind in another post i will be posting soon).
Now to the sound of the music. As much as we have cultural and even religious differences in the world today, we still learn to accept these differences and still co-exist. Although with the recent rise in Terrorism, Ethnicity, Religionism and other racial abuse cases in the society , peaceful co-existence is now under a degree of threat. This diversity is seen also in the music industry as regarding genres. There are a lot of musical genre's in the world today, even some i am not aware of. But going as far as to label a particular genre as the "Devils" music based on how it sounds, is about the most absurd thing that one can do, no matter how gloomy or violent the music sounds. Do we label "Horror" movies as satanic ? we say and believe because we know its just a movie, it's all acting, and it's all on a script. Why can't we understand music in this vein. Why can't you see the lyrics of a piece of music as the script and the different instruments as the different characters, and the overall sound as the picture you see as likened to seeing a movie. Why can't we have this view on music ? especially this music you call the "devils" music because of your aforementioned reasons.
When i said these things to them, there was quiet in the room and i could see on their faces a little display of wrong judgement and how they have been plagued by ignorance all these while.
They might not be at fault here, cause this mindset i believe is what might have been passed on from some of their other friends, brothers, and even parent. Yes, parents play a role in this. I remember a friend telling me he is not allowed to play a particular kind of music while at home, because his parents don't approve of it, and they gave him similar reasons like what my friends gave me.
I want to ask a general question, what do you consider as evil, or satanic, or devilish, about a piece of music ? the lyrics ? the sound ? imagery ?
Should meanings to songs be subjective ?
Do we disregard Authors and give it our meaning ?
Should music be seen as just art or it's more serious than that ?
Are parental judgements the best regarding what and what not to listen to ?
Be sure to give answers to any of the above questions in the comment section under this post. I will like to hear from you regarding this. I want to learn from you too.
First, I have to ask, what was the first song you played? I have to know what this potentially evil music could be!
I am not sure evil has edges hard enough to be defined, but for me, music can be unpleasant sounding, but I would call it reductionist to say music could be evil and good. Music is in some ways, what you project on to it, but it also can give you insight into another perspective. It is the beautiful harmony of souls, that of the artist, and of the listener, in the same way that is true of art and literature.
I would also point out the juxtaposition of some music and lyrics. Happy pretty sounding doesn't mean it is, surely that is something they should fear more, the loose morals and reckless living embodied in so much pop music...?
It is arguable the intention of the artist is the be all and end all, if a kid draws a picture, it is of what ever they say it is, regardless of what it actually looks like.
The never ending quest to understand the subjective, I mean, people can actually hear music differently, different parts of the brain are trigger by different music in different people, so in some ways they could hear evil. What ever that means to them.
Sorry for the somewhat over enthused far too long comment :)
I love your comment on this subject. yeah the truth is exactly what you mentioned in the last paragraph.
btw the first song i played was " wait and bleed" by Slipknot. the band's mask was annoying to them, although i can say the mask are quite a thing to get used to, but there very interesting artistic meanings to the masks.