What does music mean to you?

[Hades]

As I get older I've increasingly come to love music of all genres and all decades. Sometimes I can absolutely lose myself in it. We are so lucky to be able to find any song we want online now. When I was younger I'd just be restricted to the songs I'd managed to afford and find on a record... or what I pinched from my brother

Nowadays if I want to listen to something it's everywhere. I can stream, buy, look on you tube, use spotify, amazon prime, etc. Music drives my moods. It can be uplifting. It can be a depressant. It can make me feel fantastic. It can bring back memories of certain times in my life. It can help me get through tough times. For a negligible cost I can listen to almost anything recorded at any time in history. We're so lucky to be able to experience that.

 

[G-MAN2004]

The difference between sanity and insanity.

 

[redline]

Life without music is a life with a vital part of its heart and soul missing... all the arts are important for our sanity, but music digs into our soul like nothing else IMO. Of course it can be negative too, but that is whole other matter

I do like the fact we can access music more easily than ever before, but I also like owning hard copies of my favorite artists work in vinyl or CD... and Autorip FTW allowing me to be impatient and get a copy 'now' until the postie delivers the real thing

 

[Rroff]

For a negligible cost I can listen to almost anything recorded at any time in history. We're so lucky to be able to experience that.

I've though a few times recently how easy it is to take things like Spotify for granted. Likewise music can drive my moods.

 

[Caged]

I'm not a massive fan of the way that Spotify tends to want to act as a curator, I think it removes somewhat from the process of finding music that you like. However, music blogs are alive and well so I don't think there's a reason to panic yet.

As for what music means - it embeds itself into memories in a way that other mediums cannot. You will always remember where you were and what you were up to when you first heard a particular song.

 

[Oranjeboom]

You can listen and assume and declare that you like music because you chuck something on in the car, or you can feel it, get goosebumps from it, hang on every cymbal crash, every cleverly used lyric. You can lay back in a chair, close your eyes, become a musical sponge and uncontrollably find yourself nodding and tapping and being transported to different times and places. You can feel regret for the songs you may never hear, yet, at the same time, sit back in your chair in awe that a random click on youtube produced something you would take to a desert island or want at your funeral......or you can chuck something on in the car.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Music to me?

Oldskool jungle
Oldskool rave
Hard house
Hardstyle
Hardcore

Never lost his hardcore

 

[bloodiedathame]

Music for me is mostly an artistic choice, i listen to stuff that challenges me and speaks to me. I dislike the consumable nature of music these days, whilst the abundance of music is good, artists get shafted. And don't get me started on mainstream/popular generic music, the beige noise designed to make money, I've no time for that.

 

[sniperone]

Music to me?

Oldskool jungle
Oldskool rave
Hard house
Hardstyle
Hardcore

Never lost his hardcore

This is me minus the Hard House.

Old skool to the end.

 

[Ninco]

Music instantly brings back a memory.

If you see a film (say on television) you choose to watch and if seen before; You watch and the film will bring back a known recollection of a time.. (when you went to the cinema etc...)

Whereas with music, a song could be listened to in the most 'random' situations, however ends up filed away.

When you hear the same tune months/years later - Instant memory recollection! Although it works both ways either either great or carp memories!

 

[Adnams Drinker]

Can't say this is something I'd actually thought about before, but I would have to say two of the most powerful effects music can have is a) as others have mentioned, the recall of memories and b) the stirring of emotions. A couple of examples from my own life experience:

Memories: I was in my teens in the 80s, so whenever I hear certain 80s tunes (Two Tribes by FGTH a case in point), it takes me back to the awesome family holiday we had in Cornwall in 1984, where my Dad, brother and me all took up surfing. We'd be in the sea most of the day, then go back to the B&B, before heading into St Ives for a meal out in the evening. Two Tribes was on repeat in virtually every bar in town, so we were almost surrounded by it.

Emotions: When I wrote my eulogy for Dad's funeral, I was listening to the Gladiator soundtrack - an odd choice in context I know, but I've always found it inspirational. Listening to it in that circumstance reduced me to tears which in turn released a lot of emotion I'd bottled up since Dad died a few days previous - I cried like a child for five minutes solid, but it was incredibly therapeutic and enabled me to keep the proverbial stiff upper lip on the day of the funeral. I cannot listen to that soundtrack or watch the film without those same emotions welling up again, even now 10 years or so later

It's quite strange really when you break it down - music is really just a series of sounds/tones arranged into a melody - but it's fascinating when you consider the powerful effects it has on people

 

[CircleFaust]

music has been my life for many years now.
it's shaped the friends i've met and hung around with and places i've been. brings memories back, makes me emotional still (thankfully)
there's clearly something physically going on in the music lovers brain, some deep connection to sound waves. for better or worse i'm one of those folk

 

[RobDogDog]

Escapism. When you're tapping along to your favourite song there's nothing else. You get drawn in.

 

[signs]

a lot! can't beat having a beer and playing some vinyl