Is music good for one?

Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
It's an entirely pervasive assumption in almost all modern societies that music is healing.

Everywhere you look it's a totally unchallenged assumption - even in therapy - that music is good for you.

I think it's interesting though that in various spiritual systems - in some monastic Buddhist contexts or for instance in the Islamic state - music is forbidden.

More and more I'm coming round to the idea that as much as music usefully reveals "the self" - that electric transpersonal consciousness - that listening to it's a little like laying yourself on the current.

You know the current is there - do you need to stick your fingers in the socket?

I wonder also if the explosion of mental illness has some intimate relation to the all-pervasiveness of music. Especially music experienced alone.

Do I think Bach and Beethoven are any less sickening? Not a bit of it - they're as bad as the rest.

[We may have had this conversation before? Looks like we're having it again...]
 
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Simon silverdollarcircle

Well-known member
If I listen to lots of music over a few days, like on pretty much constantly, then I definitely feel a bit nauseous and have to give it a rest for a while.

It's too demanding on the synapses.

But "everything in moderation" is of course the most boring answer to this question, so I'm going with MUSIC IS MAKING US SICK AND MUST BE CANCELLED
 
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Simon silverdollarcircle

Well-known member
Music deadens and dulls us of course. Weakens our defenses against the pull of our basest urges. All evil lizards know this and use it to their own ends - Trump with his obsession with playing the Stones at rallies, shopping centres with piped in Snow Patrol, etc etc
 
craner

craner

Beast of Burden
I don't know if this is relevant, but I felt like shit for a decade and consequently had very little interest in music. In the last couple of years I've felt (spiritually and physically) a lot better, and music is full of colour and meaning again.
 
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Simon silverdollarcircle

Well-known member
Self preservation. Your body knew that it did not have the defenses to cope with the sickening effects of music and so wisely steered clear of it. Now that you're feeling better, you can again indulge.

But it's still a poison
 
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Simon silverdollarcircle

Well-known member
I've never been cool enough to work in one of those offices where music is playing constantly but it sounds hellish.

That said when I worked in a factory the radio was on constantly. But that was ok cos sugababes were at the peak of their powers then.
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
My whole day revolves around listening to music. One of my biggest fears is going deaf.

Note listening, not hearing, an active involvement.

Because there’s so much good music to be discovered on top of already massive personal playlists, I think my mental health would deteriorate substantially if these patterns were obstructed.

I can see the logic in the argument though @Woebot but some of us benefit beyond words. It’s a flow state that can be tweaked depending on the music involved.

My tuppence worth.
 
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Simon silverdollarcircle

Well-known member
Talking Heads "fear of music " relevant here of course. On one hand its a reference to an incredibly rare psychological phenomenon. But it has a resonance beyond that that means it works as an album title. "Fear of art"? Nah. "Fear of books"? Nah. "Fear of music"...yep there's *something* there...
 
WashYourHands

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Matthew said:
I wonder also if the explosion of mental illness has some intimate relation to the all-pervasiveness of music. Especially music experienced alone.
Click to expand...

Societal pressures would surely underpin much of this, on top of social media. Body image, performative personalty and the ubiquitous ‘like’ as a word virus and as a validation tool on Facefuck, Instagram etc. The problem is with deteriorating self image and severely underfunded mental health care services. Imho it’s an image corruption, compounded by good ol’ life traps. To concede a point, so much music these days is a crime against art, so if someone surrounds themselves with these dirges, it can’t help.

If there’s one things that boils my urine it’s being with people who set about playing music with you, but then proceed to skip every song after 90 secs.
 
T

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
Matthew said:
I think it's interesting though that in various spiritual systems - in some monastic Buddhist contexts or for instance in the Islamic state - music is forbidden.
Click to expand...

Ironically a lot of minimal music like krautrock and techno can be directly linked to the polyrhythmic musics of the islamic magreb region, specifically morocco. Which problematises the kraftwerk vs george clinton wars in techno, of course...

I like to listen to a lot of atonal, noise and hard acid when I don't want to be uplifted but hit over the head to feel even shitter.
 
Corpsey

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Aren't most of the best things in life bad for you?

Drinking. Smoking. Murdering. Etc.

What's good for you is eating salads and running a marathon. Horrible.
 
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