Here I sit with Iron Maiden’s Powerslave album playing in my ears. The groove, the transparent basslines, the solos, the easy-on-the-ear drums! This is the album I listen to whenever I want some metal in my life.
Growing up as a teenager in the 2000s, I listened to a lot of pop-punk. That was the only option even slightly rebellious people with no previous exposure to rock music and the internet had. It was pop-punk that introduced me to guitar driven ‘rock’ music. Along with two or three pop-punk icons, I had access to chart-topping alternative rock songs, and a few popular songs by Metallica, Pantera, Black Sabbath. Fear of the Dark and Hallowed Be Thy Name were the only two Iron Maiden songs I had listened to. But I will be honest, I didn’t ‘really’ enjoy heavy music for a long time.
And then the internet came into my life!
With access to google and websites like last.fm, I began exploring all sorts of music. Life for a long time after that became all about the artists I discovered and the lyrics I wrote on my notebooks or printed. I even learned the art of music listening!
It didn’t take me long to move on from pop-punk and I began delving into soft punk rock and then deep into the core of punk. I discovered crazy artist — not just musically but also ideologically.
I was addicted to music exploration. I tried almost every genre available on the internet. From weird electronic sounds from Germany to African rhythms. From happy jazz to black metal. I eventually ended up in the science, philosophy and theory of music, where there was much thinking and less music (feeling).
But in between the internet exploration and the theory phase, I wasn’t listening to a few songs — I had to listen to the entire discography. I had moved out from Fear of the Dark and Hallowed Be Thy Name. I had heard the first song from Maiden’s first album and the last song from their latest!
But that was soon to be a problem. The more genre and artists I discovered, the less I listened to them carefully. I had no patience. If I didn’t like a piece of melody, a riff, the drum sound, or the lyrics, I skipped and moved onto the next genre or artist. This was different from earlier days where due to the limited supply of music, you not only listened to a song a million times but also searched for perfection in whatever was available.
Soon the oversupply became a big problem.
I lost the ability to sit through a song without wondering if there was a better genre or a better song from the same artist or a better artist. This way I jumped around tracks and artists: hearing everything but listening to nothing. As I sit here and look back on that time, I see myself searching for the perfect piece of music and the perfect artist. Of course, there was no perfection and so I skipped and hopped. This went on for a long time.
Music had fallen out of my life. I even wrote this:
Music is dead (for me). It once made me feel alive. Today, it… | by Adesh Acharya | Medium
But here I sit today with Iron Maiden’s Powerslave album playing in my ears. Enjoying basslines, solos, drums.
In the article above, I talked about music being the soundtrack to a philosophy. And I also talked about the absence of any philosophy in my life for music to become irrelevant for me.
So, what has changed recently? Has there been a new philosophy in my life or have I gone back to a limited supply of music?
It is not the latter because I am listening to Maiden on the internet using a more sophisticated music listening tool: Spotify where there are even more options hence, more distractions.
A new philosophy then? What is it?
Yes.
But it is more a desire than a philosophy. A desire to experience diverse feelings. A desire to feel. A desire to live. A desire to love. A desire to enjoy.
Turns out, I have written a lot about it in the past few months:
So here I sit with Iron Maiden’s Powerslave album playing in my ears. The groove, the transparent basslines, the solos, the easy-on-the-ear drums! This is the album I listen whenever I want some metal in my life.
And these days I am wanting metal in my life just like I am wanting pop-punk, extreme punk, metal, classical, etc.
I am wanting them because I am finally rediscovering emotions in my life. I am finally coming out of an abyss called theory (or rationality).
A long time has passed since the days of just having to listen to pop-punk or other popular stuff. Today I can listen to them for nostalgia (which is crucial for my emotional wellbeing), but without having to be confined to them. Today, I can listen to Hallowed Be Thy Name but that’s not the only Maiden track I have to listen. Today, I can observe my mood and choose what I want to listen. This way I am saved from temptations to skip and explore. All this has been possible due to changes in two things: me and the internet.
Now I am left to answer a couple of question more:
- What about the science, philosophy and theory of music, where there is much thinking and less music?
- What if this philosophy is back?
Allow me to leave to go think about them!
