Image is a huge factor in rock music.  For lack of a more articulate term, I typically observe musicians and performers constantly attempting to appear “cool.”  Why bother?  It seems like being a talented musician and performer should be effortless once the musician is confident in his or her career.  Why are people not just comfortable being themselves?

Rock musicians are only suffering on a bigger scale from what we all face.  When we talk to other people, are we constantly thinking to ourselves, “what does this new person think of me?”  The image we project becomes the part of our personality that will be the first impression.  So we try to perfect this impression, and end up sometimes agonizing over it.  We are control freaks who want absolute control over our image.  Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing or controlling what others’ impressions of us will be.  So instead of dropping the whole idea, we hyper analyze and obsess.

I was watching a video promoting a certain band’s new live documentary of one show.  The members of the band are fantastic musicians.  And yet, all the editing is clearly geared toward making the band members look as absolutely good and polished as possible.  So the video ended up making me suspicious of what the editing is covering up, and also feeling an urge to see rock musicians stop caring about image.  Of course, anyone who is able to live in the public eye comfortably must have nerves of steel or something; a certain confidence that isn’t born overnight.

As a society, we trip ourselves up when we demand perfection from others.  If we all forgave others’ awkwardness and mistakes and didn’t expect a flawless show all the time, we would be easing the pressure on ourselves too.  Part of something appearing cool is that it tries to appeal to others in a certain way.  In this commercial, consumer-oriented society, we want our personality traits to appeal to others, and we want to only see what is appealing in front of us.  This type of vision leaves a lot of important factors about life out.  In my personal, ideal world, individuals would be comfortable and effortlessly be themselves, even when there is an audience.  I think as a society we can demand more:   Not more perfection, but more acceptance of imperfection.

The source for the first image is here. The source for the second image is here!

Maybe it’s just me, but people seem to rely on music to unleash some of the emotional neediness that arises in everyday life.  We interpret as we please, and seek reassurance in the cryptic lyrics.  The haunting melodies evoke either energetic times or sorrowful times, pensive times or forward-moving times.  We chose what we listen to, but maybe we can’t always control how exactly a particular song will affect us on a particular day when we listen to it.

When I listen to Mates of State, I feel a lot of energy from the upbeat piano lines and drum rhythms.  I want to feel enthusiastic about something when listening to Mates of State.

When I listen to The National, I want to be thoughtful in a dramatic way.  It’s funny that just the lead singer’s deep voice can lend extra elegance and seriousness to the music.

When I listen to Sleater-Kinney, I want to be a brave, strong woman who is not afraid to wail lyrics, and play heavy bass and guitar riffs.

Listening to Radiohead, life becomes a mournful state, very bleak, on its way to some type of post-apocalyptic destruction that is too depressing to fully express.

These disembodied voices and instruments, due to the recordings of excellent production quality, feed a sense that there is a way to reach true perfection.  Life is shrink-wrapped and hygienic, plastic with easy-to-read instructions.  When my own perspective is messy and disorganized, I hold it up to an unreal ideal that is created by the way society wants everything certain, safe, attainable, glossy-surfaced.

So there is always a disparity that somehow demands improvement to close the gap.  Music allows us to take three minutes to feel caught up in the moment.  A good song can seem to hold your hand and help you continue on your journey.

I can’t say I ever feel comfortable or at ease on stage.  But I still value music performance, because I believe it is an opportunity to share.  I spend a lot of time working on songwriting in the privacy of my own living room with a notebook and a guitar.  The process is not really complete until I share the song with a few listeners.

I played cello in youth orchestras in middle school and high school.  I became comfortable with performing to a certain extent; i.e., with a group on stage.  It is still very difficult to face the silence of a stage, with just your cello or just a piano.  One time, as a youth, I made the mistake of wondering whether or not the audience was bored while I was performing, and that taught me a lesson.  From then on, I decided to imagine playing for the audience members who are enjoying the music, whoever those people may be (you really can’t tell).

At a certain point, I just became confident enough on piano that I didn’t mind playing in front of people.  I felt confident, and I didn’t need anyone’s approval of my playing for my ego, because I already had an idea of my strengths and weaknesses.  When I graduated from college, I began playing with different bands.  I found that even my mild skills on cello were an asset, so I hauled my cello around with me and started creating cello parts to accompany the music I heard.

Singing in front of people is another fear to get over.  One’s singing voice is really a source of ego obsession and pride for a while until you stop and think of it as another instrument to add to the mix.  As a part of the band The Raspberry Campaign, I had to get over my doubts about my voice in order to feature my songs at their best.  Sometimes, you have to go out there and perform, without the best mic or the best reverb on your voice.  The little places we would play rarely had any real sound technicians.

I have no room for ego with my guitar playing, because I have only been picking at chords for a few years.  I can strum chords, but have no greater guitar skills.  So I can find the chords I need for songwriting, but I can never show off on guitar.  But this works out, because I can’t really attempt to compare my guitar playing to anyone else’s.

I keep talking about performing in terms of ego and pride.  I think the best performers in music set those elements aside.  They bring their honesty and skills as a musician instead, and decide to share what they can with an audience.

The source for the 2nd image of the empty stage is here.

In high school, I listened to Fuel and the Foo Fighters and Live and Counting Crows.  In college, my freshman year, I would listen to A Perfect Circle and Tool.  Later on, I would listen to The Shins and Elliott Smith.

I’ve listened to R.E.M. for many years, and their songs have stuck by me through good and bad times, thoughtful and emotional times.  The first R.E.M. album I got was New Adventures in Hi-Fi.  Because of my age, I was joining them late in the game.  It has been a treasure trove of albums to discover.  I admire how unique R.E.M.’s career has been and how they seem to continually challenge themselves to keep being creative. Of course, besides the music and instrumentation, I am a huge lyrics person.  My ears always strain to make out the singer’s words when I’m listening to any music.  Michael Stipe’s lyrics and delivery never fail to be poetic.  One of my favorite songs is “Find the River,” the last song on Automatic for the People.  In high school, my favorite R.E.M. song was “Strange Currencies.”

R.E.M. does not seem to fit into any mold.  I am glad for my sake that they have had so much commercial success.  Of course, a favorite band is a very personal thing.  It’s nice to know that sometimes unique and eloquent music can be widely recognized.

I’ve been to two R.E.M. shows, at different amphitheaters.  I especially have fond memories of the first one, in the late 1990’s it must have been.  My friend and I stood in the crowd watching from the lawn.  It was the tour for the album Up, with a backdrop on the stage of a fun neon lights collage.  The place was packed with people and the crowd’s energy was amazing.  R.E.M. performed encore after encore, at least three encores if not more.  I remember they even performed “Sweetness Follows” because Michael Stipe mentioned on stage that it was one of Peter Buck’s favorites.  Partway through the performance a really drunk woman in the front row had to be removed at Michael Stipe’s request.

Peter Buck, live, with R.E.M.

I think I was completely mesmerized during the entire concert.  I must have been in high school, that age when you are still particularly prone to awe-inspiring experiences that you didn’t quite know existed.

What can I say?  Life is rich and wonderful.  I’m just so happy that a group of accomplished musicians has been sharing some of the beauty of life as they see it for so many years.

This is Belle’s 2nd post for meandthestereo! You can also check out an article she did on Pop Music, here. And check out her “duel” review with Renato, here! Look out for more of Belle every Wednesday where she discusses lifestyle and music!

I think Pop music is able to translate its message, whatever that may be, easily to many, many people.  You’re allowed to interpret.  You’re even allowed to sing the words wrong, guessing at unintelligible syllables and creating your own sentences that go along with the catchy melody, and then interpret this patchwork song with any meaning you really chose.  Maybe you think it’s about the songwriter’s own breakup, or maybe you personally identify with it.  Maybe, as Better Than Ezra lyricizes about in one song, a Pop song identifies with a particular memory or time period of your life.

The whole idea of anything being rigid and untouchable by a typical person is off-putting to me.  I feel like in my own life that is how the classical music world has appeared.  Someone, somehow declared the “right” way to play Bach and Beethoven and the rest, and everyone since has started to break their backs trying to live up to an impossible classical music perfection.  I loved playing cello in youth orchestras throughout my, well, youth, but I was certainly never good enough at it to have the confidence to dedicate my energies to it whole-heartedly as an adult.  It is great that classical musicians are able to perfect Mozart before the tendonitis sets in, but there is something wrong when most people feel left out of the process.  Rigid ideas stifle creativity.

I think my point is that it is okay for something to be understandable and accessible to many.  Pop music is not something for some type of imaginary elite; it’s something that is personal and universal at the same time.  The musician was inspired to jot down lyrics and chords, took the time to take that idea to the studio, and then the listeners eventually get to hear and interpret the song themselves.  Of course, there is still pretty real elitism in music unfortunately, as individuals try to out-do each other by naming obscure bands.  Everyone wants to have a special connection to some band, even if it’s only because they have taken the time to listen to the music and seek out albums by that band.

Pop music brings out creativity in its own creation.  Songwriting opened avenues for me just by allowing my bits and pieces of musical knowledge to be swept up in the ideas and creativity of the present moment.  Sometimes lyrics I string together give me insight into life the next day, when I interpret them again in a different way.  Probably my only listeners will be close friends and my Mom, but I still enjoy that songwriting’s pure creativity is able to bring out something vibrant in life for me.

If I can say anything undermines music, maybe I would have to say that music, even Pop music, is undermined by artists who can’t really claim to be musicians, but are really just performers.  Maybe there are some performers out there who make tons of money in the music world, but who are not at all musicians.  But hey, if music can inspire a performer to dance and put on an entertaining show for fans, that’s okay.  I guess I would just make a distinction between musicians and performers.

Listening to music is a very personal experience, probably even more so now in the era of ipods and ear buds.  The sounds, the melody and instrumentation, feel like they materialize directly in your own brain.  I love any excuse to stay up late at night, sit back, and let a particular album or a set of songs carry away my thoughts and emotions.  Maybe I listen to the lyrics, maybe I think my own thoughts and get carried away by the emotions evoked by the music itself.

I don’t really envy the responsibility that very popular musicians face when they have thousands of fans hanging off their every word.  That has got to be intimidating, if not outright frightening.  I admire any well-known person who can stay down-to-earth while still having the power to change more about the world than the average person.

I think many people have a vague idea that music is so universal, it somehow transcends the mundane details of everyday life.  Any time an individual is allowed the creative space to be as expressive as possible, it is inspiring for anyone.  However, I think the 21^st century is at risk of being one of the most cynical eras yet.  It is easy for one person to spend just a few moments tearing down artistic, creative work that someone has put so much energy and effort into.  I am not an expert on any of the Decemberists’s albums, but I was still chilled by an article I read in Slate that tore down the lead singer as being completely pretentious.  One of the problems with a global, online community is that we have the choice of being as judgmental and critical as we like, and then putting our foolhardy judgments online for anyone to see.  Many do not want to bother to be kind because they are guessing they will never be in the same room with the person they are being critical of.  I think true artistic freedom means we are trusting others to be at least somewhat respectful.

Music is certainly able to capture something special about life that is difficult to describe.  Pop music maybe tries to appeal to as many people as possible, but that’s okay.  If I can feel something from a catchy love song, or a fast-paced heavy, angry song, I don’t mind that anyone can hear it and feel something similar.  It is difficult to think up a strict definition or reason for the purpose of any art form, music included.  If I had to guess why art forms are important, I would guess that it has to do with individuals sharing part of the human experience with each other.  An art form like music captures a feeling about how it is to be alive that is difficult to express in daily, random interactions with others.  Unfortunately I think many of us can count on both hands the number of life changing, inspiring conversations we have had with others, but music can break down barriers between people with its expressive honesty.  There is a Nanci Griffith song with the lyric, “if you can’t find a friend, still got the radio.”  A lot of human connection these days is long-distance in some way or another.

Throughout life, each of us stumbles upon music that is inspiring to us.  Maybe one person loves Josh Groban’s music, another person loves music by Tool, and someone else is obsessed with Of Montreal.  I want to respect that you can make your own personal choices.  I also want to have faith in each individual to be able to go out, get a cheap guitar, and start hesitantly strumming some chords.  Sit down at a piano, get past feeling foolish, and express what you’ve been feeling for quite a while.  There is nothing elitist about raw creativity; there is nothing wrong with trying to express what life is like for you, whatever medium you may choose.