GlendaleViper
Yep, words.
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2006
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I had a long drive last night which meant I had about 5 hours of car-listening all to myself. After listening to Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, I was overwhelmed with sadness and it got me thinking about the musicians who have really spoken to me.
Now, the purpose of this thread is somewhat different than you might expect. It is intentionally and intensely personal in nature and it's for this reason that I decided to try and get a discussion going on it. What I want to know is which artists have touched you the most deeply - I'm talking about the very fabric of your own personal identity and sense of morality. Below, I have listed the three most important thinkers in music to me. These are not necessarily my favourite musicians or lyricists, but what they have in common is the ability to appeal to my most basic sensibilities and as a result, dredge up the deepest of emotions and spark curiosity. In some ways, these are philosophers first. Thinkers who reach out to find common ground.
I look forward to reading what others have to say on the matter. Since we are all so different in both extreme and subtle ways, I expect a mix of consensus and drastically differing responses. All I ask is there be no judgment. We are all who we are and it is something to be respected. I hope this topic will help us to better understand one another and offer perspective in the unlimited variance of the individual human spirit.
Without further adieu...
John Lennon: Out of the three I list here, Lennon is by far my least favourite musician (as a solo artist) but remains the most beautiful. I enjoy his guitar work and to some degree his voice, but it was his heart that shone brightest. A perpetual idealist, the man tackled the immense subject of love, unity and self, and presented it as a challenge to the world. Through deep introspection and constant questioning of the most basic aspects of human identity, he captured the minds of so many, it's hard to quantify just how deeply he impacted the world. Think of it: how many other artists cite John Lennon as one of their most important influences and then think of how their own music has affected their audiences. Now repeat the process and it spreads exponentially. Lennon constantly challenged us to look into ourselves, think for ourselves, to leave self-loathing and blame behind and to replace resent with positive change, channeling our spirits into love for our fellow man. The untimely loss of John Lennon leaves it unanswerable as to the true impact his mind would have had on the generations to follow. It's a testament to his spirit that, more than any other person alive or dead, my mind swirls with activity amidst a deep pit in my stomach knowing that we were unable to follow him to the true end of his journey. I can only be thankful that I was blessed enough to be touched and have access to the footprint he left behind. (As a short digression, I want to note that between Lennon and Jim Henson - worthy of another thread altogether, I fear we have lost too soon two of the most gentle and honest spirits I'll ever know in my lifetime).
Brian Wilson: The impact of Brian Wilson on my life is almost as profound as that of Lennon, but for completely different reasons. His music earns a place in my heart forever simply for the range of emotion this man is and was willing to pour out. This is a man who can make me feel profound sadness and revel in it - play with it, even. He reminds me that it's okay to feel, to be. There is tragedy and innocence lost, rambunctiousness and joy, desire and heartache, confidence and meekness. He wrote music for no other reason than to make us feel - and in one case, just to make us "SMiLE". There is a simple beauty to his mind that I can't properly express and it's this free-flowing of emotions running the entire gamut that makes him so special to me.
Greg Graffin: In stark contrast to either of these men is a part-time professor of life sciences at UCLA and a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology. Front man for Punk band Bad Religion. This man alone is responsible for my skeptical spirit and passion for absorbing as much about the world as I can (most specifically the environment, the global community and indeed, even a hobby-like passion for quantum physics). Preachy but very well researched, his lyrics often beg for Cliff's notes and it's this pretentiousness, this unabashed scholarly presentation standing in stark contrast to the aggressive, simple nature of the music that makes his message so effective. Quite frankly, there are better punk acts out there. After nearly 30 years as a band, there has been little progression so the question has to be asked - why do I still listen, as so many of us still do? For me, it's the challenge. Bad Religion without the lyrics of Greg Graffin would culminate in a legacy of mundanity the likes of which no band of similar "vintage" could match. Every line in every song begs research for better understanding of the underlying context. This promotes further reading and, if I wasn't so damned lazy, action. Where Lennon is the spirit and Wilson the heart, Greg Graffin is the mind.
Now, the purpose of this thread is somewhat different than you might expect. It is intentionally and intensely personal in nature and it's for this reason that I decided to try and get a discussion going on it. What I want to know is which artists have touched you the most deeply - I'm talking about the very fabric of your own personal identity and sense of morality. Below, I have listed the three most important thinkers in music to me. These are not necessarily my favourite musicians or lyricists, but what they have in common is the ability to appeal to my most basic sensibilities and as a result, dredge up the deepest of emotions and spark curiosity. In some ways, these are philosophers first. Thinkers who reach out to find common ground.
I look forward to reading what others have to say on the matter. Since we are all so different in both extreme and subtle ways, I expect a mix of consensus and drastically differing responses. All I ask is there be no judgment. We are all who we are and it is something to be respected. I hope this topic will help us to better understand one another and offer perspective in the unlimited variance of the individual human spirit.
Without further adieu...
John Lennon: Out of the three I list here, Lennon is by far my least favourite musician (as a solo artist) but remains the most beautiful. I enjoy his guitar work and to some degree his voice, but it was his heart that shone brightest. A perpetual idealist, the man tackled the immense subject of love, unity and self, and presented it as a challenge to the world. Through deep introspection and constant questioning of the most basic aspects of human identity, he captured the minds of so many, it's hard to quantify just how deeply he impacted the world. Think of it: how many other artists cite John Lennon as one of their most important influences and then think of how their own music has affected their audiences. Now repeat the process and it spreads exponentially. Lennon constantly challenged us to look into ourselves, think for ourselves, to leave self-loathing and blame behind and to replace resent with positive change, channeling our spirits into love for our fellow man. The untimely loss of John Lennon leaves it unanswerable as to the true impact his mind would have had on the generations to follow. It's a testament to his spirit that, more than any other person alive or dead, my mind swirls with activity amidst a deep pit in my stomach knowing that we were unable to follow him to the true end of his journey. I can only be thankful that I was blessed enough to be touched and have access to the footprint he left behind. (As a short digression, I want to note that between Lennon and Jim Henson - worthy of another thread altogether, I fear we have lost too soon two of the most gentle and honest spirits I'll ever know in my lifetime).
Brian Wilson: The impact of Brian Wilson on my life is almost as profound as that of Lennon, but for completely different reasons. His music earns a place in my heart forever simply for the range of emotion this man is and was willing to pour out. This is a man who can make me feel profound sadness and revel in it - play with it, even. He reminds me that it's okay to feel, to be. There is tragedy and innocence lost, rambunctiousness and joy, desire and heartache, confidence and meekness. He wrote music for no other reason than to make us feel - and in one case, just to make us "SMiLE". There is a simple beauty to his mind that I can't properly express and it's this free-flowing of emotions running the entire gamut that makes him so special to me.
Greg Graffin: In stark contrast to either of these men is a part-time professor of life sciences at UCLA and a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology. Front man for Punk band Bad Religion. This man alone is responsible for my skeptical spirit and passion for absorbing as much about the world as I can (most specifically the environment, the global community and indeed, even a hobby-like passion for quantum physics). Preachy but very well researched, his lyrics often beg for Cliff's notes and it's this pretentiousness, this unabashed scholarly presentation standing in stark contrast to the aggressive, simple nature of the music that makes his message so effective. Quite frankly, there are better punk acts out there. After nearly 30 years as a band, there has been little progression so the question has to be asked - why do I still listen, as so many of us still do? For me, it's the challenge. Bad Religion without the lyrics of Greg Graffin would culminate in a legacy of mundanity the likes of which no band of similar "vintage" could match. Every line in every song begs research for better understanding of the underlying context. This promotes further reading and, if I wasn't so damned lazy, action. Where Lennon is the spirit and Wilson the heart, Greg Graffin is the mind.
