Music: My "Mind Altering Substance" of Choice

This morning, I added a couple of new choons to one of my YouTube playlists.

As I did so, I did a little "housekeeping" on the list, which now has about 350 clips on it... and noted the fact that the first video/tune on the list was uploaded in December of 2010.

I've been adding to this for eight years.

I have a couple of other playlists that are pushing ten years, now...

The Golden Hour

How Things Change

I didn't really grow up with a lot of music around me.

Whereas my parents claimed to "love music," music wasn't so much a fact of life, as it was an activity: something you gave part of your day to: "Listening to Music."

I suppose it might have been because they were "older" when I was born, and raised during an era where music wasn't as on demand, and listening required active interaction... like putting a vinyl LP on the turntable.

When I was about 14, I was given an old "hand down" transistor radio to use in my room... and I spent my teen years deeply immersed in the now legendary sounds of Radio Luxembourg, (basically a "pirate" station back in the days when most of Europe ran exclusively on "state run" programming) tuning into a lot of "bleeding edge" alternative, punk, techno and new wave... before any of these were really much of "a thing."

Salmonberries in bloom...

I suppose... Because I spent so much time alone — rather than with my peers — my musical tastes were shaped "internally" rather than what I was being told was popular.

And so, it was the influence of legendary UK DJs like John Peel (with whom I shared a birthday) and Kid Jensen who shaped "my" music; years later — in the earliest days of MTV — I was always up late to catch "120 Minutes."

The Soundtracks of Our Lives

Maybe it's a relatively modern thing; to have music in the background of what you're doing, all the time.

The sounds I prefer tend to make me feel more productive, and more creative. My mother was eternally "after me" to turn off the music "so I could concentrate," but the effect was almost exactly the opposite.

By most societal measures, I have what's known as ADHD, and particular beats/sounds seem to create either an "interrupt" or "harmonization" that allows me to stay focused for long periods at a time... something I find almost impossible to do in silence... or with anything that resembles "popular" music.

Classical music also doesn't work for me as work music because it is "foreground" music (at least to my ears) that demands being actively listened to.

At a relatively young age, I realized that my preference was for something you were unlikely to ever hear on the radio... or outside the company of a very esoteric and small group of people.

No, I'm not going to bother you with the entire playlist... just with the LAST thing I added...

That said, aforesaid YouTube playlist (which is "public") has been accessed almost 5,000 times by people other than myself, so I guess it's not that strange or esoteric!

Thanks for reading!

How about YOU? Is music important to your life? Are you an "occasional" listener, or an "all the time" listener? Does music help you work? Or does it get in your way? Are your tastes pretty "mainstream," or more out on some fringe most people aren't familiar with? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190206 23:48 PST
0874