LHM Sounds Off: Why I love music.

    Now that people are starting to notice my blog, I thought I'd share some stories and some background on why music is so important to me. Maybe you'll connect with me at some point, maybe you won't, but either way, it will definitely explain why so much of my time and my life is devoted to researching and learning new things about music.

    When I was four, Kurt Cobain died. I remember the day clearly, because I was taught his music from birth by my older sister, Kelly. "All Apologies" was the first song I could ever sing from memory. (Okay, okay it was probably "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "Baa Baa Black Sheep" but you get the idea.) Kelly wore black that day and didn't go to school, and I cried with her, partly because watching Nirvana perform was such a big part of my bonding with my sister, and partly because I hated seeing her sad. Kelly taught me early on that you could love any kind of music and that no one could tell you that your taste sucked. It didn't suck, it was simply mine, and not yours. THAT theory has been implemented into my daily life ever since, and I try not to ever forget it.

    As I got older (8, 9, 10) I did succumb to the boy bands and the girl power invasion. My first real concert was The Backstreet Boys and I bought Spice World on VHS the day it came out. I'm glad I experienced all of that because it's something that every generation of young girls gets. Before me, it was New Kids On The Block, right now it's One Direction and Justin Bieber. It is something that every generation experiences and yeah sure, there are those girls and boys who say that they never listened to "that shit", but I for one wear it proudly. I'm glad I wanted to marry Zach Hanson. I'm glad I cried when I saw the video for "The One" by Backstreet Boys premiere. I'm glad I thought 2gether was a real band. For me, music is something to bond over, and even if you don't share the same musical tastes as an adult, most people can geek out together about whose face covered their bedroom walls as a kid.

    Blink 182 was always big with me. I saw them for the first time when I was 12, and a lot of people don't understand my love for them when most of the music I listen to comes from the 50's through the 80's. Well, I'll tell you why. When I was in eighth grade, I was bullied pretty bad. Not by the popular kids, not by anyone you'd think, but by my best friends. They left me out of everything starting about halfway through the year. They went to the movies together. They went dress shopping for the end of the year dance together, didn't let me come, and then warned me not to show up in the same color as them. They read notes I had written about my sadness over a breakup out loud to the entire class. When I cried, they told me I wanted attention. When I didn't want to talk, I was being a bitch. When I crossed my arms, I was trying to show off my cleavage. "Everybody knows you have the biggest boobs in the school, Lizzy, you don't have to flaunt them everywhere." When I was put on anti-depressants, I was trying to be cool. I think you get the idea. They were mean. But I clung to them like a tick because they were my best friends, and because there were certain days when they were nice to me. And I loved those days. Through the year, I listened to a lot of Blink. I felt like they had songs that understood my pain. There was one in particular, called "I'm Sorry", that had plenty of play through that year. The lyrics that got me through were as follows: "Don't bide your time, cuz it almost over. I know you're down, I'll see you around. I know it hurts, but you're just getting older. I know you'll win, you'll do it once again." They really got me through all of that bullshit I went through, and gave me the strength to move on and get away from those who had hurt me. So I carry that with me, and hold an attachment to the band not just because I love the music, but because I have that emotional experience with it as well.

    I have always loved classic rock as well. I have an intense love for Bob Dylan - a man who knows how to get to your gut and someone who loves music just as much as I do. I think that's one of my top reasons for respecting him like I do. I feel like he understands me, he traveled across the country to see his idol Woody Guthrie when he was ill in the hospital. He wrote a song for him. His senior picture in the yearbook listed his ambition as: "To be like Little Richard." Dylan didn't and still doesn't give a shit that he can't sing like some of his predecessors and those that came after him. He spoke the words that no one else could speak and he refused to sell them. Because no one can sing your own words like you can, no matter what your voice sounds like.

    All in all, us music lovers have something special. We have something consistent, something that doesn't change. Sure, there are a million genre's, and sure, the radio is changing and the top 40 is wildly different today than it was in 1969. But music is music. Sometimes, when my world is terrifying, and changing, and bringing me places I did not want to go, I turn on a song I've known forever, and I listen to that consistency. That song that never changed and will always be there for me. Music will never let you down. If a band that you love comes out with a disc that you don't enjoy as much as those before it, you still have those albums that came first. You are not required to listen to anything you don't like. It's much unlike life, where we have to do a lot of things we hate doing. We have to work at jobs that we dream of not needing anymore. We have to smile at customers who are yelling at you for raised prices. We have to have our hearts broken. We have to share our children when relationships end up imploding. We have to move home when we lose our jobs. We have to learn subjects in school that have nothing to do with what we want for the rest of our lives. But when I have my headphones on, I get whatever I want. I can listen to whoever I want and I can love it. I've never been let down by the people inside my iPod. And music has an intense community of artists who shared the same pains that I did. It has other people like me, who know how to get into my soul. It's powerful. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry. It makes you angry, it makes you strong. I love the fifties, but there are bands who have come out in the last few years that I see immense talent in. I thank God for allowing the world to share a love like that.

    And that, all of that, is why I talk so much about it. Why I live and breathe it. Why I plan to spend the rest of my life incorporating it into every piece: my job, my family, my friends, my spare time. I hope that I can share this love with others. I hope I can teach and learn and inspire others to share it as well. It is never a bad thing to love what you love.

"Without music, life would be a mistake." -Freidrich Neitzshe