A healthy diet equals a healthy lifestyle. Too much fast food, we get fat and lazy…but eating healthy food in moderation with the occasional treat is what keeps us “fitter, happier, more productive” people.
Music, like nourishment, is in mass production these days, which can both be a good thing and also bad - an unhealthy way of taking in our five a day of stimulating, fruitful culture if you will.
What’s dished out to the masses isn’t necessarily what’s good for us. Sure it can be a tasty quick fix, but the effects aren’t long lasting (high cholesterol is long lasting but it will kill you). Who remembers the double cheese burger they had last week down at the golden arched greasy spoon we’ve all grown out of our XXL jeans to love? The answer is probably no one... but ask yourself where the best meal you had this year was, and that answer will most likely have a much more significant, possibly nostalgic story behind it.
The same goes for music. The best sounds are the ones we find through chance, through word of mouth, through hours of trawling the internet for that song you heard at that party, or being so obsessed with that obscure underground band, that you had to delve even deeper into the recesses of hipster hinterland just to sate your self.
Jokes aside though, finding good music should be time consuming. Nothing worth its weight in gold was just thrown at us, or fed to us through some vacuous slogan. There’s an amazing quote about consumerism - “If something is being advertised…you don’t need it!”. Think about that next time you see a commercial for the latest album that “you simply must have!”, or the most current ‘talent’ competition hosted by burned out pop stars, beamed at you through the telly in glorious hypnotic 3D, surround sound, technicolor.
If the music we consume is something that is just laid out in front of us like a TV dinner then surely, like processed food, it can’t be very nutritious either. The key word is “processed”. A lot of what we hear on the radio and on television is just processed sound, there’s no real substance to a lot of it, songs often coming across as just formulaic mishmashes of reincarnated grey sonic slop. That’s not to say it can’t be enjoyed like we can enjoy the occasional boxed pizza...but isn’t home cooking made with love and affection that much better? Who wants a processed high saturated fat tootsie roll, when you can have prime cuts and organically grown produce? If the answer to that question is you, then I’m afraid humanity has failed you.
We can also look at this in a business sense. How many times has a small independent business been shut down simply because of large, faceless, corporate companies jackbooting their way through the country erecting bland coffeeshops, fast food joints and gargantuan sized never-ending supermarkets? Small companies don’t get a word in edgeways as a result of their voice just not being as loud and obnoxious as their fat cat counterparts.
So if you now feel you suffer from being a little musically obese, why not kick start 2014 with the New Year’s resolution of trying to listen a little healthier? No need to get rid of all your favourite top 100 smash hits though, they will always be there sitting in your media players like tubs of caramel soaked ice cream for those rainy days in alone...however don’t be afraid to try new flavours too.
Like food, there is so much more variety out there in the world of music than what’s lurking in the cold, seductive, well lit fridges of the mainstream. You never know what you might like until you try it.
