The Role of Rock

December 3, 2007

To me, rock music is not an entertainment.

Sure, it engages and entertains me, but it’s much more than that.

It’s more like a cry for life.

It’s born out of more essential energy. By “essential” I mean, it’s closer to the core of life, the fundamental of our being. It is a cry coming out of conflicts deep within us. The turmoil, the anguish, the struggle.

Why is it so serious?

Well, it’s because rock music, at least the kind I like, has a lot of energy, momentum and heaviness. And to me, issues less than those fundamental to life are unworthy of such investments. I can accept uplifting rock, or joyful rock, or funny rock. But I don’t need rock music to express those things. I can fully express them in my day-to-day life.

It’s the things that don’t have anywhere else to go that come out with such desperate energy and dramatic gestures. Fury, despair, loneliness, agony. These are all things that need to come out, gaping, bleeding scars that yearn to be healed. It’s very personal, yet it’s also universal. We all carry it in us.

It’s no coincidence that smart people from Neil Young to Eddie Vedder to Zach de la Rocha are using this medium to express their political protest. It is the ideal medium, full of life, energy and passion. Their music may be nothing more than entertaining to you, but yet, if you’re singing their songs in your karaoke bar, I dare you to sing them without getting affected, without expressing a piece of what you yourself feel.

It’s too intense, it’s too painfully true to just brush up casually. But in the right context, it’s unbelievably powerful. Rock concerts can achieve a state that few politicians can. Tens of thousands of people, of all creed, ethnicity and backgrounds, can come together in a single, unified whole.

For me, my forte is in focusing on smaller, personal matters. Because that’s where my interests and experience lie. I know myself how deep and dark those holes inside can be, how much effort and resources it takes to heal one person. I’m not against calling for revolutions from masses, but I consider it my mission to zoom in on individuals and inspire a personal change. I won’t say I’ll never write a protest song (I think I already have) but I’m drawn to and compelled to write about individual turmoils. They can contain such strong emotions — so deep and heavy, that they require nothing less than the energy, momentum and heaviness that rock music can offer.

We could be writing light-hearted sing-alongs. And using heavy rock to do that, is perfectly acceptable — I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. I have a few of those up my sleeve myself, though they are not rock — more like pop or folk music. I like them, I plan to get to them down the road.

But the first thing on my plate is to revisit those dark places. I’m not an unhappy person any more, but yet what inspires me to live my life is to seek out those songs that have the unique ability to reach all the way down the most hidden and vulnerable part inside me, and somehow connect it to the greater whole. It’s not often that I encounter music that can really touch me down there — the recent one in memory is Jerry Cantrell’s “Degradation Trip” — but when it does, the experience is transcending. Those songs have been with me in my darkest moments. I don’t think of them as entertainment — in fact, I don’t listen to them casually at all. I save them for those special moments, when I need to open myself up. They are my life savers.

I don’t make music with the intention to “save lives.” When I do, the music invariably becomes contrived and preachy. I’ve learned that the only way to do that is not to intend it — rather, simply let my honest self show. It’s in that sharing and exposing of tender sides that we find comfort.

If you find my songs entertaining, I’ll be thrilled. If it’s a perfect karaoke material for you, I’ll say be my guest. I’m comfortable with things being different from my intentions.

But my intentions are to give back. To the world that gave me the life saver songs. Here are my best attempts to recreate them, in my own way.

I trust that you can use them in some way.

Filed under: Ari, Aries9, Music, Reflections | Comments (0)