Music is an insufferable interest. Despite what the coffee shop barista's will tell you, its the only art with an unbearable cult following and despite it being a traditional bastion of anti-religious folks, these barren souls walk around professing its scripture as if they not only believed in God, but they'd spoken to him and he said "thou shalt not enjoy past the first EP!"
Alright, so thats a little far. God's no hipster but for christ sakes all of his followers are. Whats humorous to me as I walk around these boards is that I've got ever idiot who just discovered Velvet Underground telling me how religion is a joke, but they'd sleep with someone for being as into WH/WL as they were.
For too many around these boards, they're Christians without the Sunday Mass; Evangelicals without the roof of a Megachurch.
But if I'm going to continue with this beleaguered metaphor, then let us be Buddhists - or at least Quakers - and count ourselves as believes in the awesome faith of music, but tempered with a strict patience and discipline. Not because I'm sick of you running off at the mouth about how great something is (I am), or racing to recite facts about bands/songs/et. all to a room full of people who already know just to prove you're a little smarty pants (I'd love to ****ing punch these people) but because we, as an old and wise people, with a deep appreciation and a keen eye for integrity know that, just as in life, love doesn't mean infatuation but an endearment to the flaws of thing.
If music were a woman, there would be some we'd love to **** repeatedly. There'd be too many we'd **** for a night and regret. Still more than would break our hearts, and a few that could snore at night, watch terrible television, nag you when you change lanes too fast on the highway, and buy us ****ty presents for Christmas but that we'd love because of those things. Because deep down, underneath that abhorrent veneer would be a genuine person who cared for you in return.
Too many around here run to the precipice, counting the ways in which something appeals to you, like some Shakespeare with a flower full of petals, never concerned for its failings or flaws until one day they arrive and we all grow disinterested. But like the more reasoned among us, our faith in the deliverance of things like music is only reinforced when it becomes less obvious at the intrinsic value of something.
I know these boards are no fan of religion but since I've dug myself this deeply, let me close with one final comment. And since I'm sure everyone's Pro-English, I'll even choose a quote from C.S. Lewis. The man once said (the jist of) that too many dismiss religion and its powers because a daily miracle isn't seen even now and again. And while no one turns water to wine, every day the trees drink up the water and nutrients, create from them fruit by which we make wine.
Sometimes its hard to notice the value of the candle when we're hunting for fireworks, but to those reasoned and patient enough, its not only seen but enjoyed to no end. I hope my comments here today can shed a light on what I rant and rave against here on a daily basis. That the raw awesome power of any bands first EP may fade, certainly, and sometimes that really is just selling out. But sometimes, if you look correctly, its just refined and tempered, somewhere out of plain view, if you're patient enough.
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Edit:
For my own personal count, there have been 78 posts (some of which must be mine) and 4,513 views. Which means, assuming none of the responses were mine, one in 58 viewers respond. Including me its likely to hit 1 in 70.