The Songs that Changed my Life

Hi Readers,

For some reason, I woke up today and thought that a cool post would be to write about the songs that have profoundly impacted my life and made me into who I am today. None of these songs are my favorite songs now, but they've all had a concrete impact on me. It's weird to think that some band somewhere far away was able to write a song that was able to influence your life, but I'm glad they did. Without further ado, here are the top songs that have influenced my life in chronological order of influence.

1. Numb, by Linkin Park.
This was one of the very first non-classical songs I had heard (the very first was Usher's "Yeah", in 9th grade)., and it resonated with me a lot. It very accurately laid out my feelings of growing up under the pressure of Asian tiger parents, and feeling like you're not in control of your own destiny. Before this song, I had always known that my parents were very controlling people, but I had always thought that it was for the best. Funnily enough, the song was such a big influence on me because it made me really depressed about life. Its non-conformative message made me into a more independent person later on, and also caused me to resent my parents for their controlling ways. Ultimately this song made me realize I didn't want to live life, being dictated what to do by other people.

2. Everybody's Fool, by Evanescence.
This was the first song by Evanescence that I heard, and I think it's one of their best songs. For this song, it was actually the combination of the song and the music video that did it for me. Watching Amy Lee live a fake life and be miserable in the music video was scary for me. It painted a picture for me, of what it would be like to go through life pretending to be something you're not, and keeping a facade to fool other people. In the Chinese society, that's essentially what you do. Whenever people get together, you always have to put on a facade to fool the other person into thinking you are superior than they are. You must look down from them on your fake pedestal and make them feel bad about themselves. That's a big part of the "pleasure" of these interactions. I always hated it - eternally being compared to other people who are supposedly "better" than me, never being good enough for anything, or knowing that your parents only want you to do something so they can brag about it to other people, not because they really cared about it. This song made me realize I wanted to live life as a genuine person and present my true self to the world, instead of living some facade and being internally miserable.

3. What If, by Coldplay
Oh... where do I even begin with this song? Probably the singular most important song I'd ever heard. I first noticed this song during the depths of my depression in my sophomore year of college, and it's a tremendously big part of how I became as happy as I am now. The important parts of the song talks about the "what if's" of life, and how we cannot know how things will turn out until we try them. "Every step that you take, could be your biggest mistake. It could bend or it could break, but that's the risk that you take...Oooh that's right, just take a breath and jump over the side. Oooh that's right, how could you know it if you don't even try?" The song really helped me to see that there is no "set path" in life, and led to my acceptance of my sexuality. When I finally mustered up the courage to come out to my parents, the lyrics "take a breath and jump over the side" were with me. It's still inspiring me, to base my beliefs and values upon experiences, and to try as many things as I can in life.

So there you have it. Three simple songs that helped shape me into who I am today.

-FCDH

The Music Cultural Revolution

Hi Readers,

Can you recall being moved to tears by a song? Not by the lyrics or the message, but by the actual melodies and harmonies themselves? It's a rare accomplishment when it happens, but when it does, it is magical. You don't know how or why you're crying, you just know that there are tears in your eyes.

When I listened to Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand during a concert at the U of I, I remember sitting there during the flute and piano interlude and having tears stream down my face. It was literally that beautiful. Others may listen to the same thing and say "meh", which saddens me because they are not able to experience a slice of heaven.

It is weird to think about how much music has changed in the last century. Traditionally, music has undergone leaps roughly every century. You had baroque music (Bach) in the 17th century, classical music (Mozart) in the 18th, Romantic music (Chopin) in the 19th, and Impressionism (Ravel) / minimalism (Satie) in the 20th.

However, in no time during history has music undergone such a revolution as between the 20th and 21st centuries. The piano and violin became overshadowed by the guitar and drums, and the regular musical structures that were established in history became obsolete as repetitiveness, arising from musical minimalism, became the norm. Operas are now movies, chamber music are now rock bands, and symphonies are now giant music festivals.

Has there really been such a radical change in people's psyche, that "classical music" (a modern term commonly used to agglomerate the music from the 17th century all the way to 20th century) has so fallen out of favor with the public that it is now looked upon as an "elite" symbol?

I personally feel that the cultural revolution that has stemmed from the availability of technology has completely destroyed the vertical hierarchy of the institution of music. If Tchaikovsky or Mozart lived in the modern world, they'd likely be penniless, with no ability to find a record company willing to take their songs, and no clubs willing to play their music. In technical electrical engineering terms, the signal-to-noise ratio of composer quality has degraded so much in the past century that the signal peaks are all but drowned out in the white noise. All we have left now are mediocre bands who are catering to our tastes and not caring about the foundation of music - the development of the melody, harmony, and rhythm.

Musical exceptionalism has disappeared from the vast majority of music. With the democratization of supply and demand for music, future generations will see the current era for what it is - the lost era of music. It's so sad.

-FCDH

Music Holier-than-Thou-ism

Hi Readers,

First, an update. I'm sick =( boo. Unfortunately last Sunday night I began to cough a lot, and this entire week has been in the cesspools for me. Good thing that the sickness looks like it is subsiding. The only thing that remains is the periodic coughing to clear the phlegm. Eww. Anyways, one thing that I thought I would start writing about is music. Since I've had a lot of music background, I wonder why I didn't start writing about it earlier.

One of the funniest cultural phenomenons that transcend cultures is that of music. It is prevalent over most of the world, though the style and characteristics of the music varies from place to place (obviously). Why did I say "funny"? Because no matter where you travel in the world, people everywhere have strong opinions of music and music styles. And when I say strong, I mean judgmentally-strong.

A generational gap seems to be the most common factor that defines music groupies. Grandparents often like operas and classical music that would induce z's amongst most everybody else in the family. Parents tend to like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, or Europop style old-ish rock songs, but hate the new pop songs. Teenagers tend to gravitate towards pop songs like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber (ick), and Ke$ha and the likes. The funny part is that each older generation will say, "What the hell happened to good music? We had it so much better back then."

Each group will always defend their turf when they feel intruded upon. Go to an LGBT party and declare that you hate Lady Gaga - it's an open invitation to be banned from the next party. Ask a music hippie what their favorite bands are, and 99% of the time you'll be treated to a list of obscure indy bands, and while you nod and say "cool", you're pretty sure 99.9% of the world has not heard of them. Want to piss off country music folks? Tell them their music is always about them driving their tractors or their wives leaving or their dogs dying. Want to piss off other music folks? Tell them that country music is better than their music. It is like trolling in real life, but you troll at your own discretion.

Part of this is of course related to the associations of the music genre. Many people feel that their music collection is an extension of their personality. In my opinion, what a person likes to listen to is a pretty definitive guide to their lifestyle and their beliefs. For example, if someone likes dance-y music like Rihanna or Kesha, then I'd peg partying and clubbing as one of their hobbies. Indy fans tend to come across as kinda pretentious and rebellious at the same time, since they almost always reject mainstream music for "better" stuff that's not well-known. Classical music people claim that all other kinds of music are lame and less sophisticated.

In a sense, all of these observations are kinda correct. I personally like alternative rock better than all other types of music, and I tend to identify myself better with those that listen to the same type of music. I think it's a matter of personality. In general, people who like Radiohead or Coldplay or other alternative rock music are more chill and relaxed, while those who like Katy Perry or Rihanna tend to crave social interactions like bars or dancing or partying. I'm sure people have noticed this about other people, and even use it as a judge of the other person's personality before even getting to know them. For example, looking back now - I'd say my initial judgments on my first roommate was pretty accurate, based upon his posters of Incubus and Rage Against the Machine.

Ultimately, I think the big arguments that always come up during music bickering extends out to a bickering of what type of personality is better. It's not about whether the music is better or worse, but rather about which personality is better or worse. And when the issue at hand touches your own personality...well, it's expected that people would claw each other's eyes out over it.

Just a bored and not-intellectual observation for this week. Till the next post!

-FCDH