Music Is The Opiate Of The Masses

(Originally Posted March 16th, 2005)

As I was walking down the stairs of my apartment building, and listening to my Ipod, I had an epiphany. I could suddenly, finally, and almost concretely describe how music affects me. Music is like a drug. I say that it is "like" a drug only in the sense that it is not a physical thing, and therefore cannot be classified as a drug as we know it.

But it is a drug. Lets examine some characteristics.

Music affects every person a different way. Just like a drug, whether it alcohol, cocaine, or designed to help with depression, it affects someone's biochemistry a different way, because everyone is different.

Music can be designed to make you feel a certain way. Whether consciously or unconsciously, people make music that will affect the person listening to it. It makes sense that someone would have an idea of the affect they want to reach as they are creating the music.

Music can help develop and strengthen bonds and relationships. Its been done for thousands of years, possibly for as long as humans could have been considered humans. Look at religion. Music is simply distorting the sounds one can make into a mixture that is agreed upon as music.

So, if you think about it like that, that means people have the power to affect others in a powerful and extremely deep way. Simply by singing, people can make the listeners scream, cry, laugh, or hate. So when people simply talk to one another, make a sound as they pass, it has the potential to affect someone in the most intimate way...even if they aren't consciously listening, if any part (and there are many many parts) of their mind picks up on that sound, it can affect it.

So, back to my original point. Music is the opiate of the masses. It has been said, quoted, cliched, and now again, said by me. I don't say it because its been said, rather I finally understand it coming from my own direction. As I said, music can affect you, like a DRUG. It can change the way your body works. So music can be used to keep people happy (or angry, but we'll stick to the happy side, for now). If you have music, its like you have drugs, so you can make yourself feel different things. Have a problem? Feel bad? Listen to a song. You'll feel better. If not, than you have this wonderful music to lose yourself in, so you won't feel anything.

So, in short, commercial music of the last 50 years or more has sought to take advantage of that weakness in the human condition. It has grown into a huge and powerful industry that churns out bands and singers that are put together by formula. Business smarts, capitalist business smarts, has always stated that if it sells, keep selling it. Don't change. So we've been fed the same garbage for years, but we still love it. Yes, there is innovation, yes, music can be anything, I obviously think that, but POPULAR music, as it is known, is formulaic. The formula will grow and adapt itself, but it still remains a way to make money.

So, music is the opiate of the masses, and people feed it with their souls. Does anyone have any questions?