Tone Deaf America
Silence echoes off the mountain tops, the oceans play no soft melody to soothe pain, and corruption begins. People commit suicide and others die of loneliness. A misunderstood teenager goes to jail for expressing the pain he had deep inside that no one else can feel. These are just a few of the horrible things that would happen in a world without music. I interviewed two completely different people asking them asking what would the world be without music and received basically the same response; the world would be a lonely and boring place.
The First question I asked was “what kind of music do you listen to daily?” both people gave a few examples of their favorite artists and genres of music. Some of the examples were; TV on the Radio, Titus Andronicus, No Age, Aesop Rock. Also Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Jedi Mind Tricks, Lupe Fiasco, Joell Ortiz, Korn, Static-X, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Nirvana etc. In between these two music lovers the list goes on and on.
The Next Question I asked was “Do you listen to different types of music when you are in different moods?” I will quote both of their answers directly. Interview #1(Senior in high school): “Yes, when I’m angry I tend to play things like Jedi Mind Tricks, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine or something else heavy. It chills me out and makes me realize that I’m not the only one that feels like this and that is no reason to overreact. When I’m trying to relax I’ll play Zero 7, Interpol, and D’Angelo or something more light.” Interview #2(Economics Teacher): “It depends, I’m generally pretty level mood-wise, but if I have a particularly stressful day teaching I’ll put on something that mellows me out. Occasionally, I’ll put on a record that reminds me of a certain time or place. For instance, I always think of springtime in Champaign Urbana when I listen to M83’s Before the Dawn Heals Us or Las Vegas when I listen to Walkmen’s Bow and Arrows even though those records came out 4-5 years ago. I’m still excited every time I go to the record store to get something new more than a decade after really getting into music.”
I then asked the final question “What would the world be with out music?” I will directly quote the answers to this question as well. Interview #1: “In order to answer that question you would have to also take away the things the come along with music. Like Dancing, Singing, and Inspiration all of these would be gone as well, leaving the world to be a pretty empty and dull place.” Interview #2: “This is an incredibly broad question, but the world would be really boring, historically different, and not in a good way. Music is a way of mass, participatory communication, before the advent of recording technology, all music was live, and popular music was music that people would play and sing together. Music had been protest and resistance, like slave songs or early blues, that supported and promoted social movements in crucial times in history (e.g. the Great Depression or Civil Rights Movement). The world would be tone deaf and significantly less soulful and dramatically more repressive without music.”
Both of the young men that I interviewed, in their own ways, both said the same thing; the world would be boring, empty, dull, and tone deaf without music. I agree with both of their opinions, as a dancer I could not survive without music. It is the best form of therapy. What do you think?
Rica Mitchell
Silence echoes off the mountain tops, the oceans play no soft melody to soothe pain, and corruption begins. People commit suicide and others die of loneliness. A misunderstood teenager goes to jail for expressing the pain he had deep inside that no one else can feel. These are just a few of the horrible things that would happen in a world without music. I interviewed two completely different people asking them asking what would the world be without music and received basically the same response; the world would be a lonely and boring place.
The First question I asked was “what kind of music do you listen to daily?” both people gave a few examples of their favorite artists and genres of music. Some of the examples were; TV on the Radio, Titus Andronicus, No Age, Aesop Rock. Also Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Jedi Mind Tricks, Lupe Fiasco, Joell Ortiz, Korn, Static-X, Metallica, Foo Fighters, Nirvana etc. In between these two music lovers the list goes on and on.
The Next Question I asked was “Do you listen to different types of music when you are in different moods?” I will quote both of their answers directly. Interview #1(Senior in high school): “Yes, when I’m angry I tend to play things like Jedi Mind Tricks, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine or something else heavy. It chills me out and makes me realize that I’m not the only one that feels like this and that is no reason to overreact. When I’m trying to relax I’ll play Zero 7, Interpol, and D’Angelo or something more light.” Interview #2(Economics Teacher): “It depends, I’m generally pretty level mood-wise, but if I have a particularly stressful day teaching I’ll put on something that mellows me out. Occasionally, I’ll put on a record that reminds me of a certain time or place. For instance, I always think of springtime in Champaign Urbana when I listen to M83’s Before the Dawn Heals Us or Las Vegas when I listen to Walkmen’s Bow and Arrows even though those records came out 4-5 years ago. I’m still excited every time I go to the record store to get something new more than a decade after really getting into music.”
I then asked the final question “What would the world be with out music?” I will directly quote the answers to this question as well. Interview #1: “In order to answer that question you would have to also take away the things the come along with music. Like Dancing, Singing, and Inspiration all of these would be gone as well, leaving the world to be a pretty empty and dull place.” Interview #2: “This is an incredibly broad question, but the world would be really boring, historically different, and not in a good way. Music is a way of mass, participatory communication, before the advent of recording technology, all music was live, and popular music was music that people would play and sing together. Music had been protest and resistance, like slave songs or early blues, that supported and promoted social movements in crucial times in history (e.g. the Great Depression or Civil Rights Movement). The world would be tone deaf and significantly less soulful and dramatically more repressive without music.”
Both of the young men that I interviewed, in their own ways, both said the same thing; the world would be boring, empty, dull, and tone deaf without music. I agree with both of their opinions, as a dancer I could not survive without music. It is the best form of therapy. What do you think?
Rica Mitchell
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