Originally printed in fAZE 3, Feb. 98 issue
Music as the Mirror of the Soul and the Eternal Beat
-John W. Patterson
There will be music forever. A rhythm pervades the silence of the Void. Stars twist space
into a swirling downbeat in the mesh of space-time. Up is down, in goes out, here goes there, and
now is forever's song. Pulsars scream the chorus of another universe long since past.
And we curse the incessant drip coming out of the radio and the gorilla stomp flatulence
blasting us from the low-rider rumbling at the red light next to us. Why do some sounds called
music, grate across our psyches and pummel us with disgust? The answer is simple.
Real music is an attempt to echo the mystery of man's soul, the song of the spirit, the
sparks flying across the neuronal gaps of the mind. People will automatically relate to truth, to
heart, to "soul-fire" as I call it.
Easy "music", baby stuff, ga-ga-goo-goo, is deep brain stuff, limbic surges, hormonal rush,
get down and boogie your booty. It is structured, packaged, easily delivered, and enjoyed
maximally by kids jumping around in day-care, teens looking to mingle and bob their multi-
colored heads in unison, and fallin' down drunk rednecks shooting another hole in their neighbor's
mobile home.
Don't get me wrong cuz rock and roll is always in my head, ready to push chainsaws into
high voltage transformers. I can get into a wall of feedback pinning me back in my easychair.
What I am saying is, there is so much boogie down, head-bangin', plunkety-plunk, whang-
whango out there with no music in it. It is copycat, oneupmanship, cookie-cutter styled funk. Few
musicians try to get their inner song out. Is it $$$$$? Is it lack of inspiration? Is it rock and roll on
cruise control, insert new guitar hero, sell CDs, tour, burnout, make a comeback, die famous?
Where's the REAL music that speaks to the eternal soul and lives on generation after
generation? Chops are chops, flash is flash, novelty is novelty but the "stuff", the "no sell-out"
music is what counts.
What am I talking about? I don't know honestly. What I do know is this. My frustration
with most music is that I rarely feel it touch the magic spot in my head and heart. I am not alone
in this. Musician friends of mine within the cyberspace planet chat with me regularly with similar
observations.
Do this folks, listen to who you are inside, then write that song. Forget trying to be like
those other bands. !!JUST MAKE MUSIC!! Try and hold a mirror up to your soul and latch
yourself onto the eternal beat.
Ahh, now that's cool, that's the groove, yeah, way to go!
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