On the power of music
I have life updates to post (most of them good, actually) but this deserves its own post.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the power of music. I listen to lots of different bands, and check many radio stations, but of course I have my favorites, and it's pretty obvious who they are if you read my lj.
I find it interesting how some bands can stay with you for the long haul, as it were- and some last only briefly. As an example, I will present you with Our Lady Peace and Creed, 2 bands I discovered around the same time, with very different results.
I found Creed back in February of 2000. They were on the radio a lot by then, but as I didn't own a car or a radio, and lived on campus at my school, I wasn't listening to the radio much at all. I saw them perform "Higher", which, though somewhat overplayed on the radio, was probably one of my favorite Creed songs of all- and still is. It's got that hook to it, that grabs you and makes you want to listen again and again. Anyway they did the song on the AMA Awards or somesuch that I happened to watch one night..and I really dug the song. I had heard *of* Creed but basically didn't know anything about them. (remember that the internet was still fairly new to my life at this time, though I was learning the advantages of an ethernet connection pretty quickly. ;) ) So I proceeded to hunt them down online and listen to all of their songs and learn what I could about the band. I also went and bought their 2 cds that were out at the time and listened to them relentlessly until I knew every word of every song. I bought tickets to see them in concert. (and I could have gotten floor tix, but little naive old me didn't realize how COOL that would have been and opted for actual seats. oh well, live and learn, LOL)
Finally the big day came (I actually had a countdown going to the concert) and I got to see them live. AND WOW, it really was a great show. Say what you want about Creed (and they did get annoying later on) but those dudes could put on a concert. Their music lends itself to arenas, with the sweeping guitars and the catchines of the tunes. Scott Stapp (before he got preachy and obnoxious) was a very charismatic frontman and the show was totally worth every cent I paid to see them. 'Nee and I had a wonderful time and I left that concert even more in love with Creed, if you can imagine such a thing.
Over the next year and a half, I listened to them probably every day (on average), I went to another concert- which was just as great as the first one.. it was amazing. I became a memeber of the Creed message board and chatted daily with other fans about anything and everything. It was wonderful, and I couldn't wait for their 3rd album, which was set to release in November of 2001. That album was pretty good too, but it wasn't the same. The music still meant something to me, but suddenly not as much. Then I saw them in concert again in '02- they actually played with OLP and it was such a difference that I can barely explain it, even though OLP was the "opener". Scott Stapp was preachy and talked over the awesome beginning of some of the songs, including one of my favs- "Stand Here with Me" and at that point I pretty much realized that my brief but intense love affair with Creed was over. Their music lost its stranglehold on me and they no longer had my attention or my fandom. It just wasn't there anymore.
This is only coming up because Creed is back together and has a new song out. I can still listen to their old stuff and I will think- "yeah, that's still a cool song" but it doesn't GRIP me the way it used to. It doesn't make me feel anything, and I think that, above all, for music to really last, it has to make me feel something. With Creed, it's just fuzzy memories about how I used to really like them. The new song is like that. It's like- "Oh yeah, it's Creed. I used to like them.", not "WHOA Creed has a new song! This is great, can't wait to hear the record!" (which, if you've been paying attention, was exactly how I felt when I realized OLP had a new song.)
Which brings me to the counterpoint of this discussion- Our Lady Peace. I discovered OLP rather by accident. I think I've talked about it here before.. but this was how it went down- 'Nee and I wanted to see the Smashing Pumpkins before they retired. She found a show in Barrie, Ontario (north of Toronto and not too far from Buffalo) and bought us some tickets. I heard that it was a festival put together by Our Lady Peace, who I had heard of but didn't really know. I had a friend who'd played some of their songs for me and recognized a few from the radio but it didn't really hit me.. yet. I actually bought a scratched copy of "Clumsy" from the used cd place for like $2 and listened to it a bit before the show to have an idea of what was up. I thoght they weren't bad and I was looking forward to checkin them out. I tried to tell 'Nee that they were good but she would have none of it. Raine's voice was too weird for her and she was too into Billy Corgan and being sad about the Pumpkins to really think of anyone else who might be at that show. Ohh.. how things changed that day.
I've written about that day before in this lj, about how OLP just seemed to GRAB me and enter my soul and really, they are still there. They never left. 9 years and 4 albums and 12.5 concerts later, I still love them just as much (if not more) than I did when they were fresh and new. Their music still makes me feel things, makes me feel good, or ache (in that good way that only certain music does, right on the edge between crying and laughing and really there are no words to describe it, you just have to feel what I'm talking about) and it's all still there. ALL Of it. I got that feeling standing among 20,000 other fans on a hot day in August with a band I had only sort of heard of, and I got it in the front row of a sold out club in Cincinnati, staring Raine Maid right in the eye while he sang my favorite song from "Spiritual Machines" (Right Behind You), and walking in late to skanky X-Fest in Dayton a few weeks, hearing my favorite band in my "home" city, their familiar tones coming from all around me and even though I couldn't see them yet I could picture them in my mind and the music was really all I needed. It was all still there. When I heard about their new album and listened to the new single back in May I was euphoric for days.. I downloaded it and burned it to a cd so I could listen over and over in my car.
I NEED Our Lady Peace in my life. Their songs are an integral part of the last 9 years of my life. I have many memories associated with their songs and evven though I've listened to each song countless times, I still get excited when I hear "Starseed" or "Clumsy" on the radio and my heart still beats faster when I see the bent microphone stand that is Raine's trademark on stage.
I don't think I'll ever stop loving them, and I don't think their music will ever stop meaning something to me. Maybe one day it will diminish a little but I think it's pretty timeless. I plan to share it with my children (if I ever have any) in the hopes that they can see what I see and feel a bit of what I feel (and have felt) when I listen. It's beautiful, and wonderful and while a part of me is sad that I no longer feel it for Creed, it's comforting to know that OLP is still with me and seems to always be.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the power of music. I listen to lots of different bands, and check many radio stations, but of course I have my favorites, and it's pretty obvious who they are if you read my lj.
I find it interesting how some bands can stay with you for the long haul, as it were- and some last only briefly. As an example, I will present you with Our Lady Peace and Creed, 2 bands I discovered around the same time, with very different results.
I found Creed back in February of 2000. They were on the radio a lot by then, but as I didn't own a car or a radio, and lived on campus at my school, I wasn't listening to the radio much at all. I saw them perform "Higher", which, though somewhat overplayed on the radio, was probably one of my favorite Creed songs of all- and still is. It's got that hook to it, that grabs you and makes you want to listen again and again. Anyway they did the song on the AMA Awards or somesuch that I happened to watch one night..and I really dug the song. I had heard *of* Creed but basically didn't know anything about them. (remember that the internet was still fairly new to my life at this time, though I was learning the advantages of an ethernet connection pretty quickly. ;) ) So I proceeded to hunt them down online and listen to all of their songs and learn what I could about the band. I also went and bought their 2 cds that were out at the time and listened to them relentlessly until I knew every word of every song. I bought tickets to see them in concert. (and I could have gotten floor tix, but little naive old me didn't realize how COOL that would have been and opted for actual seats. oh well, live and learn, LOL)
Finally the big day came (I actually had a countdown going to the concert) and I got to see them live. AND WOW, it really was a great show. Say what you want about Creed (and they did get annoying later on) but those dudes could put on a concert. Their music lends itself to arenas, with the sweeping guitars and the catchines of the tunes. Scott Stapp (before he got preachy and obnoxious) was a very charismatic frontman and the show was totally worth every cent I paid to see them. 'Nee and I had a wonderful time and I left that concert even more in love with Creed, if you can imagine such a thing.
Over the next year and a half, I listened to them probably every day (on average), I went to another concert- which was just as great as the first one.. it was amazing. I became a memeber of the Creed message board and chatted daily with other fans about anything and everything. It was wonderful, and I couldn't wait for their 3rd album, which was set to release in November of 2001. That album was pretty good too, but it wasn't the same. The music still meant something to me, but suddenly not as much. Then I saw them in concert again in '02- they actually played with OLP and it was such a difference that I can barely explain it, even though OLP was the "opener". Scott Stapp was preachy and talked over the awesome beginning of some of the songs, including one of my favs- "Stand Here with Me" and at that point I pretty much realized that my brief but intense love affair with Creed was over. Their music lost its stranglehold on me and they no longer had my attention or my fandom. It just wasn't there anymore.
This is only coming up because Creed is back together and has a new song out. I can still listen to their old stuff and I will think- "yeah, that's still a cool song" but it doesn't GRIP me the way it used to. It doesn't make me feel anything, and I think that, above all, for music to really last, it has to make me feel something. With Creed, it's just fuzzy memories about how I used to really like them. The new song is like that. It's like- "Oh yeah, it's Creed. I used to like them.", not "WHOA Creed has a new song! This is great, can't wait to hear the record!" (which, if you've been paying attention, was exactly how I felt when I realized OLP had a new song.)
Which brings me to the counterpoint of this discussion- Our Lady Peace. I discovered OLP rather by accident. I think I've talked about it here before.. but this was how it went down- 'Nee and I wanted to see the Smashing Pumpkins before they retired. She found a show in Barrie, Ontario (north of Toronto and not too far from Buffalo) and bought us some tickets. I heard that it was a festival put together by Our Lady Peace, who I had heard of but didn't really know. I had a friend who'd played some of their songs for me and recognized a few from the radio but it didn't really hit me.. yet. I actually bought a scratched copy of "Clumsy" from the used cd place for like $2 and listened to it a bit before the show to have an idea of what was up. I thoght they weren't bad and I was looking forward to checkin them out. I tried to tell 'Nee that they were good but she would have none of it. Raine's voice was too weird for her and she was too into Billy Corgan and being sad about the Pumpkins to really think of anyone else who might be at that show. Ohh.. how things changed that day.
I've written about that day before in this lj, about how OLP just seemed to GRAB me and enter my soul and really, they are still there. They never left. 9 years and 4 albums and 12.5 concerts later, I still love them just as much (if not more) than I did when they were fresh and new. Their music still makes me feel things, makes me feel good, or ache (in that good way that only certain music does, right on the edge between crying and laughing and really there are no words to describe it, you just have to feel what I'm talking about) and it's all still there. ALL Of it. I got that feeling standing among 20,000 other fans on a hot day in August with a band I had only sort of heard of, and I got it in the front row of a sold out club in Cincinnati, staring Raine Maid right in the eye while he sang my favorite song from "Spiritual Machines" (Right Behind You), and walking in late to skanky X-Fest in Dayton a few weeks, hearing my favorite band in my "home" city, their familiar tones coming from all around me and even though I couldn't see them yet I could picture them in my mind and the music was really all I needed. It was all still there. When I heard about their new album and listened to the new single back in May I was euphoric for days.. I downloaded it and burned it to a cd so I could listen over and over in my car.
I NEED Our Lady Peace in my life. Their songs are an integral part of the last 9 years of my life. I have many memories associated with their songs and evven though I've listened to each song countless times, I still get excited when I hear "Starseed" or "Clumsy" on the radio and my heart still beats faster when I see the bent microphone stand that is Raine's trademark on stage.
I don't think I'll ever stop loving them, and I don't think their music will ever stop meaning something to me. Maybe one day it will diminish a little but I think it's pretty timeless. I plan to share it with my children (if I ever have any) in the hopes that they can see what I see and feel a bit of what I feel (and have felt) when I listen. It's beautiful, and wonderful and while a part of me is sad that I no longer feel it for Creed, it's comforting to know that OLP is still with me and seems to always be.