Last night, I had people over after our improv comedy show. It was just a relaxing hang out. We made a small fire and talked about music and literature. There were some people there that I had never really sat down and talked with--but my close friends were there as well.
We arrived on the subject of music by usual means--I had a record on in the background--so we moved up into my room. One of my friends grabbed my acoustic guitar and we both started playing songs we had written. Another friend, about a half hour into the small concert, made a comment that I completely agree with.
"You know, I see all those people on MySpace that say 'Music is my life' and that just bugs the shit out of me."
I can't stand those shirts that are just "[Blank] is life," because it gives such a one-dimensional view of life. Music is a huge part of my life--but it does not equal life. "Is" is just a synonym for "equals"--in this sense. Life is something that is bigger than all of us and bigger than the sum of all of us--so I find it pretty absurd that our generation can boil the entire concept of "Life" down into a simple sentence.
Music is not life. Basketball is not life. Even love is not life.
Those sayings are only futile attempts to have a form of identity. That same night--we were looking through my old yearbooks and saw a picture of a girl who said that music is her life. She was photographed lying on the ground--CDs strewn about in the perfect messy-yet-completely-controlled formation. The problem--that we all noticed--is that the CDs were either Greatest Hits albums, "Now!" compilations, or just flat-out blank. I had a good laugh.
Even for somebody like Bob Dylan--who has been making music for fifty years--music is not their life. Other issues are present that cannot be qualified or quantified, and I hate that our generation now feels the need to make a statement about "how much we love music." It's almost as if we have to prove our love for things. Not just things, even--people too. Facebook recently added an app that tracks what people enjoy. You can become a fan of "Music," or "Sleeping," or probably fucking "Breathing."
Music is a form of expression. It is a medium for conveying emotion through form. It can touch our souls and our lives--but being so focused on one thing is quite detrimental to the actual form of life.
Has our generation really lost our concept of identity to the point where we need to shout it from the rooftops and across bandwidth just to make sure that others know who we are?
I do not have to prove my love. Yes--music is a huge part of my life; so is theatre--but I associate myself with people whom I feel don't need proof.
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1 comment:
i agree. i also hate the phrase "music is my boyfriend."
i think it's great to have lots of interests and passions, but a person is more than the sum of all those things.
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