jimesq

Why do people write and perform music? Granted, they must all receive some sort of personal enjoyment or benefit from it, but what digs at them? What emotions cause them to write? What are they even writing about? While I cannot yet create a "one-size-fits-all" answer this question, I can start to answer it for a couple of bands.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a concert at which both Common Market and the Blue Scholars performed.

For those unaware, both groups are Seattle-based, conscious hip-hop duos, and that started to make me realize a couple things about the state of music today. While I thoroughly enjoy rock music (especially Welsh) such as lostprophets, often rock music revolves around a few broad themes, including emotions, love/heartbreak, telling themselves/others that life isn't that bad, and revolution.

At the concert I heard completely different themes. There were still some of the revolutionary "down with Bush" ideals being voiced, but much of the music concentrated on people, and not their emotions.

Honestly, I never thought music could, much less would, make me more aware of my surroundings and the people that inhabit them. Their lyrics made me recognize what I was doing for my community but, more importantly, what I wasn't doing that I could be. As Common Market says: "Connect For: The sake of the kids, if nothing more // They can’t afford to face another closed door"

Who am I, I realized, to just act for myself? Is everything I do just for my benefit? Do other bands do this? Questions like these have made me think about my actions and their consequences, both good and bad, on the people around me.

While this isn't going to stop me from listening to the music that I've loved for so long, it has already catalyzed my move towards making a positive influence on the community around me. Isn't that what music is supposed to do?