I went looking for quotes about music, because it is something I feel strongly about. I thought I could find something interesting to say about it, to write about it, something true that had not been said.
I was wrong. Greater individuals than me have said so much more than I could ever say on the subject, and I have no doubt that their feelings on the subject are every bit as potent and deep as mine are.
I feel that the only way I can show how I feel about music is how I play my music. Whether I'm playing bass in the Christian rock band I'm in, or relaxing on one of my keyboards or a piano, or just simply playing in someone's basement, playing back-up on a simple blues jam for hours, I feel that that is when my feelings for that beautiful thing called music really show through.
I was raised with great music. The first song I remember hearing as a child is "To Cry You A Song" by Jethro Tull, off of their phenomenal album Benefit. My father played in bands since the late 70s, and loved the music he played and listened to. He always of course claimed that Christianity was his religion, but I'll say this: I knew times when he lost his faith in God, but I cannot remember a moment when he lost his faith in music.
The man had over 5000 songs on his computer, mainly from the 50s through the 80s, and mostly in the rock and alternative genres. I had a backing in those songs my whole life. My father bonded with my younger brother while they rode his motorcycle together, and he bonded with my sister in the way that a father bonds with a daughter, but with me, it was all about the music. Not a day goes by since he passed that I don't hear a song he introduced me to and think "Man, I completely forgot about this song," or that I don't hear a song he would like and think "It'd be awesome to tell my dad about this song." I can't, of course, but that's how deeply our relationship revolved around music.
For my 6th Christmas, I came out into the living room to find a cheap Yamaha 61-key electric keyboard. I've still got it gathering dust in a corner in my house. Along with the keyboard was the starter set of Alfred's Piano Lesson books. I was hooked. I worked my way through those books in less that a month. After that, my parents got me lessons. Sort of traditional piano lessons, you know, the kind that make people hate playing piano. I loved it.
When I was 15, a couple friends and I got together and formed what we called a Christian punk band. It wasn't really anything of the sort, just a jam band in a friend's basement, but we all started somewhere. It went from being a Christian punk band, to a Christian rock band, to a Christian metal band, to just a metal band, to breaking up when I was 18. I learned so much from those experiences. What sounded good and what didn't. What people liked at shows and how much practice was enough. Even more important stuff, like how to stand up for myself and how to talk to women.
I became what a lot of people would think is a goth. I loved, and still do love, the color black. I wore everything black back then. Some people at my church started calling me Johnny Cash. The others weren't so good-natured about it, thinking I was becoming a heathen, especially considering the kind of music that I rode around listening to. I thought I was something else honestly. But I never lost my faith. I would sit and debate Scripture, while blaring Highway to Hell out of my stereo, and if any of my more Christian friends said anything about it, I would shrug and say, "God never said anything against good music."
But I'm getting off topic. I fell from the music for awhile. I quit playing, got interested in other things. But my music is more apart of me than almost anything else is.
I'll tell you this. You have never experienced a drug that can give a high comparable to playing a live show for people. The feeling of walking off a stage knowing you did what you came to do. The untouchable feeling of adrenaline you catch when you're on stage and every instrument hits just right and it all comes together to create a wall of sound that moves everyone in the building and gets not just their bodies moving but their spirits moving as well. The joy of hearing someone humming the songs you wrote as you're loading up equipment. And yes, even the crappy diner food you devour after a show, because the club's owner stiffed you on the payment and that's all you could afford. It's all beautiful, and addictive.
A lot of people will tell you that it's out of character for me to join a purely Christian band now, and they're right. But I did it because I spent too long without that beautiful feeling of the music coursing through my veins, shooting out of my fingertips, me becoming one with my instrument, and with the other instruments and musicians around me, and with the audience and the very sound waves that our brains arrange into coherent beauty, and producing music, no matter what the lyrics say.
The music itself is what's important to me, and if I have to perform songs about my other, less popular beliefs in order to get that feeling I will. It's everything to me, and I couldn't give it up if I wanted to. It's an addiction, just like any other, one that I have no problem with never breaking.
There's nothing more I can really say about it. The best thing I can leave you with is to just listen. Go listen to some decent music. Maybe listen to The Rain Song, by Led Zeppelin. Or Across the Universe by the Beatles. Or Love Reign O'er Me by the Who. There are so many great ones out there, too many to name. And I can promise you, you haven't heard nearly enough of them.
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