Bloc+ May 2010

I wish that I knew what I knew now, when I was younger...Ooh La La

This month I am mostly feeling old. 

I was reflecting recently on how I used to absorb gigs.  When I was 17-20 you would find me going daft at shows, stage diving, mosh pits and the like.  I was at shows all the time, I knew about new bands coming out, I bought music magazines and spent all my money on music and merch.  I felt like I had a real hunger for music and no amount of sweaty gigs could satisfy it.

As I hit my early 20’s I found that my habits as well as my taste changed slightly.  I was definitely more selective of shows I would go to and would save up the ‘gaun mentaaal’ for special shows or rare special occasions. 

And now in the tundra of my late 20’s, there’s very rarely dancing and screaming. I like to really observe and absorb gigs from a comfortable vantage, I like to have a nice pint and hopefully not get stuck behind someone taller than me (5’7!) and I often consider the venue and the sound quality as a factor in me attending or not.

To be honest I don’t really know what changed.  I certainly have more responsibilities and less money but then again I always had responsibilities and no money and I’ve never had a wife and children to provide for, so, was it just a case of getting older?  Is that just what happens to people? 

I think for the most part, and especially when you are younger your music taste and your social life are ridiculously intertwined.  Your music taste usually defines your social role, status, fashion, friends and hangouts.  This is your youth and it’s probably going to define who you are for the rest of your life.  But, if like me you really love music then it would be impossible to imagine being into the one thing for the rest of your days. 

From an older perspective now I definitely love looking back nostalgically at me with green hair down to my ass and piercings all over the shop emerging topless and bloody from a Biohazard show and spending the night in a bus station with my friends.  There are guys you see who are still ‘living the dream’ 10 years older and 10st heavier from drinking Cider & Black throwing 16 year olds around the Cathouse dance floor and it just kind of reeks of stupidity to me.  I know that’s pretty callous to say but I definitely feel happy that I’m not like that.

As this goes on I’m starting to see the brighter side in getting older.  It comes to us all and I suppose the more you fight it the worse you’ll look and feel because you simply won’t be able to keep up with the youth of today.  Your main responsibility when you’re getting older should be to keep yourself educated and stimulated.  You probably have a tight social group that doesn’t revolve around your music taste so you won’t always be searching for that new cool thing or group.  That is a very good thing if you ask me, and it opens up a whole new way of absorbing music that allows you more freedom, exploration and opinion. 

I seem to find myself looking backwards a lot now to music that I missed either because I wasn’t born yet or I simply just wasn’t interested when I was younger.  Is that healthy or am I just going to turn into a record store snob or jazz purist or the like?  Who knows?

In the end there are no real answers, and in this case no real questions!  Just food for thought though I suppose. 

Some words a friend said to me once kinda ring true when writing this, he said ‘Set me on fire’.  If you knew the guy you could easily take it literally but what he meant was that he just wanted music  to lose some sense of control to, to affect you, to make you think, move, cry, laugh and ultimately react.  The music you are into should be the music that sets you on fire, no matter what it is. 

I guess that gets a lot harder as you get older...just try not to think about it.

Crag