Food for Thought

I have been thinking.

I can hear the the gasps of amazement and horror caused by this breaking news have toned down, so I'll continue.

All this cerebral activity started after reading a couple of threads at the herzeleid.com and megaherz.com forums; the other was about popular music and how those listening to it are somehow doomed to be lower creatures than us better people, the thread at the megaherz forum was simply named What does music mean to you?

Believe or not, those two topics got me into some deep pondering about the human nature and the dynamics of the modern society. We all know the basics, right? That despite the fact that humans are social animals, I'd love to use the term pack animals but it's not exactly the same, is it, even if we do share some of the characteristics of a hierarchical pack. What do I know, I'm not either a psychologist nor a social scientist. I'll just ramble for my own amusement.

Anyways, the big conflict of our lives comes from the fact that we have to be as individual as possible all the while maintaining a socially accepted role in the society, which ultimately does require sacrificing some of the most extreme individual traits in our personalities. According to Terry Pratchett, my ultimate favourite author, chaos will conquer over order because it's better organized, but I personally would not want to try that theory out. We have all seen the results that can come out of large scale, nationwide social experiments, haven't we?

So there I am, quietly sniggering at the opinions voiced by some of the herzeleid.com forum users, that pop music fans would somehow be beneath us real fans, representing the famous "more-than-10-people-listen-to-this-band-therefore-it's-commercial-shit" school of thought - yet these same people all listen to Rammstein, Marilyn Manson and Slayer, all of which are known for their underground status and a small, loyal fan base. I used to be like that, I admit it, but then I fortunately grew out of it. I like music X, someone else likes music Y, and while I do think that Celine Dion screams something awful she appeals to some people and if that's what they like to listen to, fine. The biggest problem I have with the pop scene is the attitude that since someone at, for example, Radio NRJ, says that this here is the biggest hit song ever we are all supposed to like whatever they play without any criticism. If some day they'll play some white power thrash metal we all just headbang happily away without one thought in our heads. Scary.

But back to topic, if there ever was one. So there we are, poor bastards, trying to fit in to the society and at the same time trying to stand out from the throng. The sad thing is, that most of the usual methods of declaring our individualism are already used; there's the punk uniform, the hippie uniform, the "alternative" uniform (you know, dreadlocks, piercings, skirt and trousers worn at the same time - if you can't decide what to wear, don't go outside at all, say I) and so on.

I totally understand that people have the need to belong to some group (of individuals, hah) but there's always the one taking things to ridiculous extents. That's when the "How can you listen to that utter shite" comments start. Music is, in my opinion, one of the easiest ways of defining our personalities, and of course, also one of the easiest ways of telling ourselves apart from the masses and the worst possible monster ever to haunt our nightmares: the Mainstream. Of which we are all part of, whether we want to or not. Listening to one type of music does not, unfortunately, make any of us a part of any other elite group than the one we have created in our imaginations.

*Sigh*

What I try to say, I think, is that poor us, constantly having to try and find our place in this ever-changing world. I use music to define who and what I am, that's one of the most obvious tools for me. Interesting that previously it was books, now music, I wonder what'll it be in ten years?

But I promised a Rammstein piccie, didn't I? No good going round not keeping promises... Not pyrotechics, I'm afraid, and one of the boys is missing, but one helluva photo nevertheless.



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