Just read a comment from someone(may be on here)regarding how the music of the Prodidgy guy was/has been such an influence on his life. I had a similar conversation re the Punk era with an ex colleague.
I must admit to not understanding these influences!!!!!
Am I missing something?????
Educate me….
I only have a handful of records, not many more cds and do not subscribe to any streaming sites due to budgetary constraints 🤔

Music defines personal moments like holidays and those of political and historical importance, it connects people and divides them. It can reflect people’s personality and identity, if someone says they like a certain artist or genre we associate it with a certain style and attitude. Some lyrics may strike a chord and resonate and some beats just get you bouncing, so Pump Up The Volume

When I was running late for school I’d shove Slayer’s Reign In Blood cassette in my walkman. Always got there on time.

Music has been used as a tool for political and social change and documenting history for as long as it has been around. Read up a little on classical and romantic composers some really obvious stuff. Ditto folk in the Vietnam era, punk in the economic and political morass of the late 60s and 70s.
Plus it makes you smarter. Makes plants grow better, can give your brain a rush of feel good chemicals.
Can almost make you more prone to driving accidents if you listen to it loud enough.
What doesn’t music do!

Music can connect with you, I’ve thought a lot about it listening to Colin Murrays Blood on the Tracks podcasts and the reasons/stories behind the guests choices and wondering what mine would be.

The music that was with me growing up connected, I couldn’t imagine the world that Jarvis Cocker painted of inner city Sheffield but the descriptions of awkward teenage years struck a chord , stuff resonated through events, where you went, who you met and where you ended up. Like climbing and biking took me down a path music takes others to places they would never have been otherwise.

The added euphoria of seeing something live with a hundred, or a thousand or ten thousand other people especially if it’s a one off is hard to beat. It’s an experience you share with the people there and can’t really convey to those who were not.

“But you don’t really care for music, do you?”

As Rusty Spanner says : ““But you don’t really care for music, do you?”
Mum played piano an accordion, cousins played in various accordion bands..
Never been to a big concert.
Did see Black Sabbath locally before they were famous and a friend of mine was his girl friend before whatshername??
Other than that all I have done for 60 odd years is listen to radio!!!!!
Just never have been able to justify or afford the luxury of buying into music….
Country boy, farm workers son of the ‘50s etc……
Son never interested in music…
Daughter took up piano and sax + played in school band. Her kids are now playing guitar 🎸Sons kids not too bothered…. 3 grand daughters do dance classes x 3……and are fit as *****

Dopamine innit?, perhaps serotonin as well for those of us of the rave generation and the combined group therapy of dancing like a loon with total strangers for 8+hrs in a field…in the middle of nowhere, loads of studies recently been published that show it can permanently alter brain chemistry for the good of society, prob why the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 was brought into force by the government of the day, they felt threatened by us…..bastards!.

Hallelujah.

It’s just always been there.

Sinatra and Ella, classical, Nat King Cole and big band stuff always on in our house as a kid, mum, dad and family dancing round the room.

Brass band in junior school onward, first proper gig at 7, clubs with mates from 15, parties, raves, sweaty skankin’ dancehalls, falling in love and splitting up, getting married etc.
All accompanied by beautiful, beautiful music.

I’m not a snob. Like art, it’s all valid, it’s all important to someone.

And it’s good for you. If you’re feeling down depressed and lonely, I know a place where we can go….Colne Muni during the winter for some Northern Soul therapy.

“Gimme the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away……”

Yup, heard about all of this stuff but much too late for me…
As a ’50s country kid I started work as soon as my feet could touch the pedals of a’ fergy… IE 8yrs old!
“There was no money left for buying records…
Same goes for the years that followed, buying records was not a priority.
Married and bought first house @22

It’s never too late. 🙂

I used to skip lunch and walk miles to school to buy that ‘essential’ album.
Still have every record, CD and tape I’ve ever owned.
Still listen every day.
Don’t regret a single penny spent on music.

“Never had a big car, but I’m not on the run” as Mr Lancaster once said.

Radio is amazing…..”emotional feedback on timeless wavelengths, bearing a gift beyond price for almost free…..” 🙂

Mrs S is away this week.
I’m currently listening to Chet Baker and wishing we were both in Paris.
I could do that without music, but that would be like a pie without a full crust……

And don’t forget, you could be laughing 65% more of the time……

There was no money left for buying records…

That’s a piss poor excuse and you either know it or you are being deliberately obtuse (with due regard to your obvious compassion for nursing), have you heard of a modern invention called radio?.  I’m never quite sure what to think of folk who say they are indifferent to music 🤔

Kids who learn a musical instrument do better at school and in life. It helps with brain development and neuromotor development.

In terms of direct influence of lyrics the combination of three songs no doubt changed my life. One line from the House Martins that used to haunt me:

“do yourself a favour give yourself a break, that’s one risk you’d never take” – so I took the risk

And two songs by Goldman that inspired, Là-bas and J’irai au bout de mes rêves.
Honourable mentions to Die Arzte and Néna whose music helped me to learn German. maybe my Spanish would be better if there had been any Spanish music I liked when I lived there.

I think it’s a bit self fulfilling. Music, like taste or smell is evocative, and a song (hell a riff, even a chord*) can trigger memories and emotions if its already been wired in against them. If you haven’t had music as a major part of your life then it won’t have the same trigger effect. You won’t have found that track that makes the smile come or the tears flow. You just haven’t earned it yet baby.

* not even a chord. At the start of Everyone thinks he looks daft, the first track of George Best, the soundtrack to my university days, DLG takes a deep breath. Even that breath immediately takes me straight back!

Music has helped me through some dark times and soundtracked some of my best memories. Both listening to and playing, I can’t really imagine life without it to be honest.

Music’s always been an important part of my life. Listening to it and going to see live music, that is (I can’t play an instrument).
Certain music lifts my mood, some fires me up for intense exercise, some reminds me of good and bad times. Some music sends a shiver down my spine.

Punk era meant music got interesting for little scumbags like me who didn’t know much about the world. This meant I started to read stuff, like the NME, which was full of politics – from stuff the bands said in interviews to articles about racism to book reviews, films etc. Completely influenced my views about life, probably as much as my parents did, maybe more.

Ignore my reference above “(with due regard to your obvious compassion for nursing)”, I got Trekster/TJ mixed up……note to self…..dont post anything after 3 days of chemo/steroids and raging fever………..doh…

Music. How can/does it influence the way you think?

I’m a sucker for novelty records and parody tracks.

Is that because I was born a daftie or did listening to these songs make me that way?

Music was my first love
And it will be my last.
Music of the future
And music of the past.
To live without my music
Would be impossible to do.
In this world of troubles,
My music pulls me through.

Music has and will continue to surround every emotion of my life.
Highs, lows and everything in between.
The best bit though is that there’s more to come.
To still be discovering new music is an absolute joy.

music in general just puts me in a good mood.

Composers have always understood the power of music especially in creating a feeling of mysticism. For centuries before jazz, rock and roll and the rest arrived on the scene, classical music has played an important part in people’s lives.

Interestingly BBC Radio 3 is doing a slot every morning between 8 and 9 on music for computer games, there’s some amazing stuff being written for this new genre.

Powerful mood enhancer. There was some sports physiology study that showed listening to appropriate music reduced the perceived effort / pain of maintaining a high level output. The subjects didn’t produce any more power, but they could produce the same power levels for less subjective pain.

I guess the extent of that would depend both on the music and individual physiology / psychology – presumably if you don’t ‘get’ music, like the OP, then it’s not going to make any difference.

@Fasthaggis – so I say, thank you for the music mate. For giving it to me.

Dezb.
I can honestly say that over my years on here you (and that very big thread) have steered me on to some absolutely cracking tunes .
Cheers

I spent all of my first full time paypacket in hmv on indie cd’s. Music is very special and can bring back memories. I think there’s such a thing as music therapy for mental patients too.

Cheers Fasthaggis. Glad to be of service 😀

i have found now that my music taste is all over the place because it is now the best bits of all the different periods of musical taste or of my life..

At 12-14 i found Guns ‘n’ Roses and those hair metal bands, i think mostly because it sounded angry and had swear words, i listen to very little of it now, but the opening chords of Welcome to the Jungle, will always bring back playing it too loud and annoying my mum.

15-17 came bands like Public Enemy and Rage against the Machine, plus a softer side with the Stone Roses and James, a knowledge of their politics came with it, again just the opening of Fear of a Black Planet or Killing in the Name, just brings back that period, and i went to see the Stone Roses last year at Wembley.

17 – 24 – were lost in a mixture of rave music, then a mixture of house, techno and drum and bass, again i listen to very little now, but some of the club classics, or some of the early jungle tunes, still make me smile and pop up on my ipod.

24 -30 was more about the music that had been for sunday morning when clubbing, getting really into DJ Shadow, Cam, Unkle, Massive Attack, Tricky.

30 -35 a come back of guitar bands with White Stripe and their ilk.

Now an old git, of 43 i have both a new found love of funk and soul, much of it triggered by knowing what was sampled by hip-hop and drum n bass, and then a new love for bands like Idles and the Chats, who bring back memories of hearing RATM, or Stooges tracks for the first time as a lad.

My ipod just has the best tracks from each of the above era’s and often when riding or at the gym, just the opening bars or beats, takes you straight back to that period in your life, to that gig or that field, i find music can really transform your mood, can relax you, can make you push harder in the gym and can soundtrack definitive points in life, everyone has had relationships where “that was mine and x’s song…”?

I only have a handful of records, not many more cds and do not subscribe to any streaming sites due to budgetary constraints

Which is presumably why you don’t understand its impact/effect/influence or however you care to couch it.

Other than that all I have done for 60 odd years is listen to radio!!!!!

Loads of music on the radio.

Composers have always understood the power of music

So do dictators.

I used to skip lunch and walk miles to school to buy that ‘essential’ album.

I used to bunk off school to get those albums then go home and listen to them all day.

Tapping into the various emotions and all that.

Tribal/like-minded/being a part of something at a particular time and/or place.

I think people have a natural inclination towards different forms of art. I’m not particularly into visual art, I’ll walk around a museum and look at the paintings but they don’t do much for me. Some paintings can cause people to weep openly with joy.

Sigmund Freud detested music, I can’t imagine a world without it. I could easily live without watching TV ever again, but I’d be distraught if my HiFi went on the wonk. Different strokes for different folks innit.

It’s an interesting one. My dad (similar age to the OP) isn’t musical at all. He doesn’t mind listening to music but would rarely put it on, and hardly owns any records. His thing is building radios and tinkering with electrical things, with Radio 4 on in the background.

My mum’s side of the family includes various professional and semi-professional musicians. It’s just a case of what grabs you. Some people aren’t driven to obsess about music, some are. But I’m not having this:

“There was no money left for buying records…
Same goes for the years that followed, buying records was not a priority.

Those are two different things! ‘Not a priority’ is fair enough – but there is always money for buying records, if you’re prepared to sacrifice something else – new clothes, a meal out, whatever. There are 2nd hand shops, friends who’ll copy you an album onto tape, if there’s a will there’s a way!

I am a bit envious of kids these days who can just fire up Youtube, and instantly call up any record from any era and listen to it. Doesn’t cost a thing. The gits. Wish I’d have had that in the 90s!

”emotional feedback on timeless wavelengths, bearing a gift beyond price for almost free…..”

Nice Rush reference!

Signals is one of my favourite albums, takes me right back to 1987 and cycling around Cambridge at night listening to it on an AIWA walkman…

My closest friend blames Monster Magnet for him quitting his first job after uni (where he studied music). He was listening to a compilation of tracks from their first four albums on the train. Got to work and decided he couldn’t be arsed with it so just left.

Can’t really think what my life would be like without music in it ..and different kinds of music reflect my mood ..I choose what I listen to match that ..
The best jobs I have had in my working career have been within the music industry first as a record company rep selling vinyl way back when ..through eight track cartridges / cassettes & CD’s moving into Regional Management for a major distributor selling into non traditional outlets on behalf of all the major labels ..the internet changed everything ..for the better really but ultimately lost me a job that I really loved ( and the perks that went with it ) ..
I actually feel a little sorry for you OP ..you have missed out on so much ..

When done properly, music is transcendent.

@funkmasterp
Did he become a space cadet instead 😁
Can’t beat a bit of Monster Magnet..and Dave Wyndorf just keeps churning it out at 62 years old ..
Old rockers never die !

He’s definitely a space cadet and lives by his own rules. Somehow managed to hold down a job for about twenty years now though. Dopes to Infinty is a classic album.