When you hear Prince, David Bowie, The Doors, Joan Jett, James Brown, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin I think we can all agree they were very...
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good.
I think we also can definitively say of the aforementioned music groups that they were very, very....
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influential.
And the final thing we can all agree can be said about them is that they are...
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dead.
These mythic figures of the music scene who are still revered to this day as the founding mothers and fathers of rock and soul have departed the world. Some for more than 50 years.
Yet people hold on.
Despite the decades passing and music pushing forward, so many still cling to the music of the past as if it was every bit as relevant and powerful as music made in the modern age, music that has grown out and evolved from these foundational compositions.
An analysis conducted of Spotify users found that, on average, a person's favorite song in their adult years was released when they were just 13 or 14 years old. That means you have people in their 30s rocking out non stop to 90s alt, while Gen Xers are still doing the runnning man to the Smiths.
This phenomenon we are seeing (and accepting as normal) is that the tastes and emotional state of our youth is the optimal state for us to continue adhering to for the rest of your life.
Now when you ask someone about their favorite song or album they will usually attach some greater outside importance to the music when it came along in their life.
For example:
My parents were going through a divorce and I was having a rough time with that, but Simple Plan really helped me through. I went to see them on the 2005 Warped Tour and I remember while being in the middle of the crowd surrounded by a few friends and a few thousand raging fans it was the first time I felt truly happy since my parents first told me they were splitting up.
I had just broken up with my girlfriend and for some reason I decided to put on Strangeways, Here We Come and by the time 'Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me' came on I was bawling my eyes out. I now listen to that album whenever I am feeling down and it brings me calm.
I was feeling pretty alienated and alone at the end of college and all of a sudden I had a urge to start listening to the Beatles, like all the time. I would watch their live performances and video clips from their movies while performing the songs. I would do this for hours and hours.
One of those is me, the other two are drawn from what I have observed from others.
The point is though that the attachment each person has to these musicians and album was centered on a trauma. They (or I) were hurt, in a twisted emotional state without a clear exit, and by some miracle, the music we found gave us some reprieve from these thoughts and feelings that were often overwhelming.
But should they still do that?
The difficult times and situations I have to navigate these days are much different from what happened to me over a decade ago in college or grade school. I now have need more mature, and perhaps I may even say, contemporary solutions. When I go through heartbreak, or loss, or isolation I cant rely on my past to pull me through. What was relevant to my emotional state when I was 13, 18 or 21 is not necessarily relevant to me at 27, 33, or even beyond.
That's why I say...
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BURY IT.
Let go.
You dont need to be listening to that album that spoke to you when you had lived less than 1/2 or 1/3 of your current years.
Because if you don't I can assure you that you will...
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DIE.
Yes, you read that correctly. You will die.
Not literally, but musically. You will forever search for music that makes you feel the exact same way you felt in that very specific moment.
But what about the current moment? What about music that directs how you are supposed to feel right now? Why not focus on that. Why demand trauma before you can fully connect with music?
Look, we are all going to go through bad times and good times. No escaping that in this life. We are all going to need music to get us through. But as we ask different questions of life, we shouldn't return to the place that will give us the answers we already know.
The next time there is a tragedy in your life, dont go back to the same album or artist you always do. Instead I implore you: find something new.
FIN
To give you a start, here is some modern music that might be able to give you what you need when you are going through a state. Each playlist is just around 1 hour and should be listened to in order.
Mood: Anxiety
Mood: Ennui
Mood: Alienation
Mood: Mortality
Mood: Early 20s Nostalgia
Mood: Heartbreak & Moving On