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General Random thoughts and ideas. "General" does not mean random drivel, nonsense or inane silliness. |
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#1
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Does Music Affect Who You Are?
First off, admins, if this is better suited for the media forum, then by all means, feel free to move it there.
So the title says it all, does the music you listen to affect who you are? An example -- does listening to Eminem have you tend towards more violent behavior, or perhaps a larger inclination towards swearing? Does the music you listen to affect who you are, or perhaps your moral values? I, personally, feel that my music does not affect me as a person, I listen to it because I like the sound, and every now and again, a song may open my eyes to certain things (e.g. sympathy for certain causes or certain people). But I don't think it affects your reaction and attitude as a person. My most solid reason for belief in this is myself, because, I may listen to music from Eminem, or Maroon 5, but the messages in their songs don't (usually,depending on what they are singing about) stick to me. As a matter a fact, a lot of entertainers admit that what they are singing about isn't always meant to be taken literally, as what they believe, or necessarily want. Anyway, what do you guys think? Especially from you parents, how do you feel about your kids listening to dirty music, or about violence, or divorces .etc? ~JS, just curious to what a lot of people out there think |
#2
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
Just recently I tried a simple experiment with a sample size of me. I decided to smile on my roughly half hour commute. Not a big smile, mind you. Just about like what you see on the Mona Lisa. It had a pretty interesting effect on my mood, and how I reacted to other drivers. What would have prompted me to get irate and swear at other drivers the day before made me laugh that day. That was all reasonable based on the hypothesis that smiling makes you feel better. The thing that really surprised me was that I couldn't listen to certain music. Stuff that was more aggressive, for example. And these were songs that I liked. It wasn't a case of trying to listen to something outside of my wheelhouse.
That being said, I don't really think that music affects who you are per se. I do think that it can affect how you think, and over time that can change who you are. Where it really gets interesting/complicated is that I think that it has a reinforcing effect on how we think and feel, or how we want to think and feel. How many of us have a song or set of songs we like to listen to when we are happy, sad, angry, or any other emotional state under the sun? I think for the most part, music is a part of a subconscious, self-administered, self-hypnosis regime. I think it is much more a case of subconsciously wanting to feel a certain way, selecting music to serve as a suitable soundtrack, and letting the program work. Lather, rinse, repeat, and over time the effect could be a change in who we are. Beyond that, I think passively listening and changing is less likely because of how differently we can interpret the same piece of music. I remember some religious friends who were listening to a song that was pretty peppy and they were kind of dancing and bobbing their heads to the rhythm. I don't think they picked up what the lyrics were saying at all. My interpretation at the time was it was about getting loaded and masturbating. In the context of the group, they thought it was a fun song, I thought it was horrible. Without knowing the lyrical meaning, it isn't going to make anyone do drugs. Knowing the meaning might have been enough of a reason for that group to stop listening to the song altogether. Follow the adventures of Agent Minivann
http://agentminivann.blogspot.com/ http://opensourcevolleyball.blogspot.com/ |
#3
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
I don't think that music changes who you truly are. I do strongly believe that listening to your favorite music can temporarily make your mood better, and maybe even make you a happier person in the long run.
I agree with Agent Minivann, some songs sound really cool, and sometimes it doesn't matter whether or not you know the lyrics or meaning behind them. I've heard the macarana (sp?) is a song about a prostitute or something like that, but I sure love doing the dance, and it's a catchy beat. I used to listen to it while playing Halo 2, loved it. This may also be just me, but I tend to make a sort of "snap decision" of people, based on music they listen to. I think that the music you listen to may affect how others perceive you (unless you're alone, lol!) I've always hated metal, and I generally find that I get this sort of negative image in my head when someone is listening to/says they like listening to metal. On the other hand, I tend to look more positively upon someone that listens to classic rock, because it's my favorite music. |
#4
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
Similar to Agent Mini, I think of music as a feedback cycle. To the extent we connect with music, I think we allow the music to subtly shape us. And as a form of art, it will tend to affect different people differently.
For example I don't listen to much rap music, but two of Eminem's songs have resonated with me - "Lose yourself" and "Love the way you lie". Whenever I want to reinforce a "Carpe Diem" (seize the day) attitude in myself I put on Lose yourself. It has little to say to me about growing up poor or only having a single chance. For me it is about maximizing opportunity. "Love the way you lie" makes me weep. It reminds me that people are suffering and don't know a way out of their cycles of addiction and that I need to do more in my community to be a resource to them. It doesn't connect with anything I've ever felt relationship-wise. One of my favorite groups is Icon for Hire. They have a song on their latest album where the lead singer talks about how parents are convinced that the lyrics of music contain demons and drugs and rock & roll thugs so they want to destroy the music their kids are listening to. I think that's backwards. Kids are going to be attracted to music that satisfies their feedback loop. So if a kid is listening to music that a parent thinks is horrific, there's something there worth taking the time to understand. Parents can't monitor their kids constantly - and they shouldn't even want to try. The goal is to raise kids you trust - and then to let them screw up and hide it from you (just like you did with your parents), knowing that they're good kids and you've done your part of the job and you can trust them to figure out their part. ~Aldin, who thinks general is a great place for this He either fears his fate too much or his desserts are small That dares not put it to the touch to gain or lose it all ~James Graham |
#5
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
Quote:
"They are too numerous to fight. What shall we do?" "Fight anyway." "You can never defeat another if you know not how to defeat yourself." my tradelist Last edited by Heroscaper Guy; March 5th, 2014 at 12:14 PM. |
#6
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
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Trying to add a little to the thread, I remember back in my teen years, my mother hated that I listened to groups like Rush, Tom Petty, Boston(I can almost play all of the lead guitar parts of their first album!) Aerosmith, Van Halen, etc. and she always thought they were all about love and drugs. Don't disagree much there, but it didn't influence me. I have never touched tobacco products or drugs. Only had alcohol once, at my wedding, tried one glass of wine and hated it. Plus, I was a virgin until the day I got married, so I definitely don't think the music influenced me. I suppose music only has as much influence as a person allows it to have on them. |
#7
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Doesn't Everything?
If by affect you mean have some influence on me than most certainly. If by affect you mean change significant portions of my being not really. I listen to a very eclectic range of music and I will often find myself going on binges of certain music (80s, symphonic metal, Disney, songs by one artist) just because. At other times, I'll listen to songs that amplify my current mood. Music like any other creative medium allows me to experience things in a way that is both enjoyable and potentially opens me up to something I hadn't quite experienced or felt (or allows me to empathize with something someone else experienced or felt).
As an unmarried adult without kids, I don't think I've made up my mind on the music area. I honestly just hope that myself and my future kids will be able to discuss the deeper issues over a flat out ban because I said so. (although I'll admit I'm living in happy idyllic land and so I could be very off on how the actual dynamics go down) In summary, I think music is like movies, books, art, or any other medium in that it can affect you but doesn't necessarily "change" you. ~Dysole, jumping all over the place My Twitch Channel where I play Scape and other things My YouTube Channel where the games get uploaded later Dysole's Draft Rankings Map Thread (Not responsible for psychic damage) Customs Battle Reports This sentence is seven words long. This sentence is not seven words long. |
#8
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
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Now I know that not all of here agree on who Jesus was, but could we agree that the following quote is a pretty wise saying? Quote:
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As for your attitude... Heh, I've used music to get me out of a bad mood or get me energized more times than I can count. Conversely, I've used music to calm me down after someone reeeeally ticked me off. Music is also used to set the mood in video games and movies, which seems to indicate to me that it can affect your attitude, at least. Quote:
So what do I think? I think that you should be careful what you listen to, and more importantly how much of it you listen to, because I believe that music is one of the most powerful forms of communication in the world. It's able to put us on edge in a horror movie, get the adrenalin pumping when we fight a boss battle, or let us know something bad's gonna happen in a game 'cause the music suddenly cut. It can convey ideas, hopes, and dreams, whether religious or otherwise, and connect us to people around the world through a verse, a chorus, or an awesome riff. Thanks for the interesting topic! Last edited by Sir Yeshua; March 5th, 2014 at 09:48 PM. Reason: And I was deliberately trying to avoid going 'churchy' on you. lol |
#9
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
@Agent Minivan
I must agree, despite how I said it earlier, music can affect your emotion or mood. But I meant more to the extent of who you are from a day-to-day perspective. Quote:
@Brandonwiker I used to judge people based on there music also, but then realized that the music I listen to doesn't reflect me all that much, and that I can't judge people based on that. @Aldin Seems reasonable. Quote:
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Are you saying that the adult needs to understand why the kid likes it? Or that the kid needs to see why the adult doesn't like it? @Dysole Quote:
@Sir Yeshua Got to go now, but I'll respond to you tomorrow. ~JS |
#10
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Yes
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~Dysole, clarifying My Twitch Channel where I play Scape and other things My YouTube Channel where the games get uploaded later Dysole's Draft Rankings Map Thread (Not responsible for psychic damage) Customs Battle Reports This sentence is seven words long. This sentence is not seven words long. |
#11
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
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I'm saying this poorly and I'm not sure how to be more clear. Okay, when I was a teen I really LOVED the song "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa. Had my conservative Christian parents known, I rather suspect they would have been concerned about my sexual activity. But... I liked the song because the electronic keyboard sounded so good to me. I never really thought about the lyrics, in fact, while I'd hum the keyboard piece I never sang snippets of the lyrics. So turn that around. Now I'm the parent and my son loves... say... Rap God by Eminem. Why? See, it'd be easy to look at the explicit, misogynistic, homophobic and offensive lyrics and want to think a) that there's a problem and b) the problem is the song. But I have no idea WHY he loves the song unless I ask. Maybe he saw the video and loves Max Headroom and thinks the video is awesome. Maybe he's really impressed by the skill displayed. Maybe it's popular with his social group and he wants to fit in. Maybe there's a line or a comment or a riff that appeals to his artistic sense. Perhaps he sees Eminem as a reminder of how easily we can go wrong when we prioritize ourselves and get all narcissistic and Rap God reminds him of that. Maybe he's struggling with feelings of misogyny or homophobia. Maybe he feels like he is never allowed to express how he really feels and he revels in music that reflects no filter on expression. How could I ever know unless I ask? Depending on the answer, there are a lot of different conversations we can have, but in any case the issue is not the song and there may or may not even be a "problem". If I don't like the song, deleting it off his iPod and metaphorically throwing it out in the trash doesn't do anything but drive a wedge between us and prove to him that I just don't understand - because I didn't even try. ~Aldin, in loco parentally He either fears his fate too much or his desserts are small That dares not put it to the touch to gain or lose it all ~James Graham |
#12
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Re: Does Music Affect Who You Are?
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"Our mother has been absent ever since we founded Rome; but there's gonna be a party when the wolf comes home." |
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