I am a Music Lover

Hi my name is Jesse and I’ve been a music lover for about two, maybe three years now. It’s a pretty recent development in my life. I might have claimed to be a music lover before this time but I would have been lying, denying the truth. Before I became a music lover I was very passive, a bit indifferent, to music in general. I listened to whatever happened to come my way, whatever was handy and tolerable. I had favorites here and there but I never really got into them heavily. I never felt motivated to go out and find music, I discovered new music through recommendations or I osmotically absorbed it through mediums like radio and television.

My musical life was passionless, a confused, aimless, wandering through different genres. I’d often follow trends. I’d get into whatever was popular at the time. I always felt like I wasn’t getting enough out of music, something about my musical shambling seemed hollow, like I was missing the real point, like opening a Kinder Surprise to find nothing inside. I happened to know some true music lovers and I envied them. I was jealous of their ability to get a purer experience from music then I was.

I’ve always listened to the radio a lot. There was always a radio playing in the background at my parent’s house and I spent a lot of time in or around trucks at work. I listened to the standard commercial radio stations and heard the same things over and over. Eventually something snapped inside of me, I couldn’t handle the standard music like I used to, I was having a tough time stomaching it and the advertising that came with it. In a moment of desperation I turned to something else, the dial spun, I was looking for anything new, something I hadn’t heard before, anything without loud aggressive advertising or phony DJ’s! Something! Anything! By chance I landed on public radio, CKUA to be exact. I breathed relief, it was new, it was calm, it was diverse and accepting.

I didn’t think much of it at first, I’d tune in to it now and then but still followed my usual habits. Gradually I started to tune in more and more. It opened my ears! Here was something built around, designed for the sole purpose of enjoying music! It wasn’t trying to sell me anything! It stood alone, aloof, basking in its truthful glory. It seemed to say,

“Here I am in all my glory, I exist only for you. I exist solely for the benefit of those searching for higher quality. You may come to me and I will embrace you and love you but only if you come of your own free will. I will not be saddened if you do not, I will hold no grudge against you, for I believe, and am confident in my purpose. I will remain here, happy, waiting for those searchers to find me, forever in the air around you striving to uphold a higher purpose.”

I’ve been listening to CKUA for three years now and I am cured. I care about music. I have passion for music. I’ve started to think about music in terms of artists and albums instead of just individual songs. I discover artists I like and try to follow their works. I like to learn about them, where they came from, what their influences are, what they were trying to achieve or what they were feeling when they wrote their album. I can often be found spending hours reading the CKUA playlists and watching videos of the artists on YouTube, looking for something I like. I now take initiative in discovering music; I look for it instead of always waiting for it to come to me.

The DJ’s at CKUA actually care about and have passion for the music they play. You can hear joy in their voices when they talk about music and it in turn awakens joy in yourself. Instead of just playing the song, they talk about the artist, they let you know a bit about them and make you want to learn more. Why, one of their announcers even broadcasts from a cabin in the woods and reads poetry. While you listen to the music and poetry you can hear the crackling of a fire or the chirping of birds in the background and feel at peace.

I crave variety in music. I’ve come to find myself listening mostly to Folk, Indie Rock, Blues, Down Tempo, Lo-Fi, Electronic, Soul, World and Alternative. But I like almost anything that is high quality and sincere. I crave singers with passion in their voice and emotional attachment to their music. It could be the simplest or the most complex music but if it’s passionate I will like it. I love how I get chills every time I hear Bon Iver sing “Skinny Love” or Martha Wainwright sing, “Bloody Mother F***ing A**hole”.

I tend to avoid most main stream music now. It’s not that there isn’t anything good out there, it just seems tainted to me now. Maybe a lot of these famous, popular bands lose some of that passion when the money starts rolling in. Instead of creating music as an artistic, emotional, expression of something you feel strongly about, it becomes a means of sustenance. Instead of creating music to express themselves, they make up stuff they aren’t passionate about and slap it onto a CD because they know their former glory has earned them a reputation that will allow them to sell it, even if it has lost that certain something that made it stand out above the others. . Since I’ve come appreciate music more I like to share it with people. I’ll recommend artists or talk the ear off of anyone willing to listen to me babble about awesome songs.

I am overjoyed and surprised that I can call myself a music lover. I always wished I could and now I can. Still, I can always improve. My lyrics appreciation could use a bit more work. CKUA was my medium to find a love for music. There are many other ways out there to discover music; you just have to find them.

This was a lot of fun to write.