music

Yesterday I posted a reference to a song by Porcupine Tree, a band I’ve recently started enjoying. I listen to a lot of music from various genres, being a musician and a lover of music; for me it’s relaxing and edifying.

But one thing stands out: I don’t really limit what I listen to, outside of my tastes. There are forms of music that I don’t care for – I’m not much into hip-hop or rap, for example, and electronica has limited appeal for me, and some forms of speed metal are boring.. as is most Christian music.

The limits aren’t really on words, as it turns out; there are some songs I find distasteful because of their content, but for the most part, if it’s written well, it has a chance to resonate with me.

So I find that I probably won’t appreciate a song that shrieks how “God is so terrible, why didn’t I get my Barbie doll, where’s my Jaguar,” there’s nothing that says that I wouldn’t appreciate a song that shrieks how God is so terrible, how could He let something happen?

I can handle an expression of pain that results in a rejection of God – I can find the art in that. I don’t enjoy an expression of greed or arrogance. To me, that’s usually not art, that’s just foolishness.

So I find I can handle Rush easily: intellectual music, performed fantastically, even though the artists are atheists to the best that I can tell. They’ve largely rejected the notion of God, but they are rational about it – and the things they condemn in religion are many of the same things I condemn in religion.

I can handle Yes easily: excellent musicians, writing in purple prose (the music wins over everything), and their spiritual searchings are exactly that: searchings for meaning in spools of random color. As a band, Yes has trouble defining things objectively… but I can deal with that, even while (hopefully) holding objective reasonings myself.

I can handle Tool easily: excellent musicians, writing very angry content. Their rejections of God end up being Jeremiads, fierce considerings calling God to task for what the world is. I can understand (and even share) that sense of anger, even though my final conclusion is not to reject God.

I can handle AC/DC: simple musicians, perhaps, but the music is all Freudian id. I find much of their music laughable in content, but the force behind it is a pleasant association.

Led Zeppelin. Hendrix. Porcupine Tree. Matisyahu.

I guess the point behind all of this is that I don’t have a problem dipping my toes into non-Christian water – because it’s all part of the world in which I live, and to me it’s part of what makes the world what it is for me, a setting in which I can appreciate and glorify the Name of God, even though there are things in this world that attempt to demean the source.

Yesterday, my son and I were looking for some appropriate Hanukkah music (as, of course, Hanukkah is upon us.) We listened to Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song, as well as digging up the Maccabeats’ “Miracle” on Youtube, which was really pretty neat. (He liked Sandler’s song best, of course.)

However, the Maccabeats’ song makes a reference to Matisyahu. I don’t know where Matisyahu is in the Maccabeats’ video, but I’ve listened to a few songs of his, and decided to show my son some as well.

“One Day” came up first on Youtube’s search.

I think I nearly cried through it, which can happen with some songs (Rush’ “Closer to the Heart” is one, for example)… but not many.

It focused my attention on the other stuff my son listens to – Drake, Ke$ha, Li’l Wayne. I don’t mind his music (much) – I don’t appreciate it, but he’s got his own path to find.

But what stood out to me was what Matisyahu does with similar beats and approaches, against what the… for lack of a better word, typical popular artist does.

Reggae stands out, first.

The main thing, though, is the focus of the music. Matisyahu makes reference to himself, because he’s using his personal point of view, but he’s not talking about himself.

Compare this to some of the other music my son listens to. “I’m bad, I stole a car, I’m dangerous, check my grill, my car, my woman, my crib, my tats, my prison record.”

It’s about the artist, directly, and it’s focusing attention on attributes that glorify only the artist or his aims.

In the grand scheme of the universe, these are very small concerns.

I have a reasonably nice vehicle, but I can’t imagine singing about what it is to other people – regardless of how nice it might be. I can’t imagine glorifying myself, because I’m not that important.

What Matisyahu does is more respectable: he’s looking at issues that matter (peace, mutual benefit, glorification to God) and using himself only to personalize the topic and influence others positively.

Typical pop music is about the artist and his or her desires.

The music I like most is “real,” about something important, instead – not that the artist isn’t important, but the artist’s importance is primarily to the artist and not to me, and my acceptance and appreciation of that importance will always be artificial.

That’s why I say it’s “real.”

“I got a nice car, I got a nice grill, I got a woman and I know she will” isn’t real – it’s me projecting the things I have onto you, somehow. The best I can hope for is to impress or stun you. The effort poured into the creation of such art is destructive, because the creation consumes everything that goes into its making.

But “I want our children to some day be able to play in peace in their way,” well, maybe it’s not perfectly formed, but it’s more real than personal glorification.

The effort poured into this “real” music is constructive, because hopefully it inspires someone to think this way, to see the world as something beautiful to be preserved, to bring the light of God through the shell of evil that surrounds us and into the world for all to see.

Shalom.

Originally published on Dec 22, 2011.

Listening to Music

Making Modern Music