Time for a confession......

As someone who is interested in music and feels the need to talk about it and write about it I feel we need to address something. I am a little nervous about this. Here it is folks, I am going to admit to something that will either drive a wedge between us or bring us closer together as musical buddies;

I don't like Rush.

Division Bell Cover

Wow, I feel lighter, freer, more at peace with myself in the digital universe.  Why is this such a big deal anyway? But as far as I can tell there are two types of people in this world; those who love Geddy Lee's ear piercing vocals, and those if us that can't seem to stomach it. Sure, the members of Rush are very talented musicians, but I just can't get into the prog-rock thing.  To be fair, it's not just Rush, I don't really like any progressive rock. I tried to like Pink Floyd but I couldn't keep up the facade. I bought "The Wall", listened to "Dark Side of the Moon" and even bought "The Division Bell" but after a while I just felt like a sham. I don't truly appreciate or get the sounds and ideas coming from this vein of music.

Now I have to admit, as a proud Canadian, I do feel like a blasphemer when I say I don't enjoy Rush. Perhaps it's the underdog in all us Canadians to root for and support one of our own that I feel that I am betraying slightly,  but I really don't enjoy their sound.

This brings me to maybe the point I am trying to get at, what helps form our musical tastes and opinions? Obviously popular culture has a major part to play in this all. Picture the impressionability of a teenager watching Much Music back in the day when all that was on were music videos and you were able to create some in many teenagers a taste that would sell and promote the popular records of the time. Sure there was "The Wedge" which featured alternative music, but that was not on during prime viewing times. At least this is what I experienced. Today, I don't really know how teenagers get exposed to the music they listen to. I guess radio, Facebook, iTunes. Regardless of how it is conveyed to us, pop culture and the media have a part to play in the development of our musical tastes, for better or worse.

However, there is one other aspect of musical development that is truly fascinating about us as individuals; we all experience music in different ways.  It still floors me when I give out assignments in my music classes and ask my students to reflect on what they see or get out of a piece of music we are working on.  Even if the piece has a specific and descriptive title, each and every student will hand in a different description of what they see or get out of the music. I think this is pretty cool.  

Now I know what you are thinking, "Ethan, you are wasting my time, of course everyone has different tastes. I like brown, you like blue. Big deal".  But there still is a big deal. Simple tastes are one thing, musical preferences are another I think. Music is such a personal and emotional thing. It can take you back in your mind, it can make you feel different (notice how you react to things after listening to something slower and mellower - think Elliot Smith "Miss Misery", as opposed to say,  gangster rap). So not liking or liking music can have a very visceral response in people. Just today this happened during a conversation I was having with a couple of people. They were playing Rush in the band room, I said I didn't like Rush. What ensued was probably the strongest reaction to a distaste of mine that I have ever experienced. Crazy!

What it all boils down to is the passion we have for certain music and artists. Our emotional connection to it all.  This makes me think of a line from "Love Actually" when Emma Thompson's character explains why she likes Joni Mitchell - "She taught your cold English wife how to feel." What makes me so nuts for U2 and my buddy so crazy for Oasis? What makes Rush fans so adamant about their tastes? I don't know, but as I said, it is interesting. I think though that true artists, and yes I am going to put Rush in this catagory, create strong reactions, positive or negative. And after all, is that not the true goal of anything creative, to make us feel something?

As a final note, I think I am going to give Geddy and the gang another chance. If there is anything I have realized as of late is that sometimes it is worth giving something a listen after some time, you just might come to appreciate it or find new energy in some music that you thought was lifeless to you.

Cheers!